Popularity of virtual-fitting services surges in Korea

One in four South Korean consumers has used either an augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) based fitting service that enables them to try on fashion items virtually.

The figure comes from a survey of 831 consumers who had purchased fashion items online, conducted by the Korea Federation of Textile Industries.

Among the respondents, 25.3 per cent said they had used a virtual-fitting service at least once.

By gender, the share of those who had used such services among male consumers stood at 31 per cent, higher than female consumers (19.8 per cent). By age, those in their 20s showed the highest usage rate of 32.8 per cent.

“It’s too early to say that AR or VR shopping has been widely adopted. Nonetheless, as non-face-to-face consumption is on rise, the penetration of AR and VR shopping culture is expected to accelerate further,” the industry group said.

In fact, an increasing number of domestic fashion companies are introducing virtual-fitting services.

Lotte Home Shopping, the TV shopping channel of South Korean retail giant Lotte, unveiled its virtual fitting service ‘Real Fitting’ in July last year. The number of uses so far is estimated at about 430,000.

Shoppers can use this service by selecting items in the company’s mobile app, displaying their face on their mobile phone using its camera, and viewing the resulting composite images of the top, bottom, left and right depending on the movement of their face.

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