Online fashion retailer Zozo will launch its first physical store in Japan this month, after years of investing in the e-commerce market.
Located in Omotesando, one of the most bustling shopping streets in Tokyo, the physical store will not sell garments on-site, rather it will provide consumers with freestyling guidance.
The store, called “niaulab”, is designed with the concept “Step into a fitting room”. It uses Zozo’s AI to make suggestions for customers from more than 700 products. Zozo says its AI will learn from around 13 million clothes on the outfit-sharing app Wear and will recommend three outfits depending on a short form filled out before the visit.
“While the term ‘personal styling service’ itself may be familiar to a few, niaulab will offer ultimate personalised-styling service free of charge, that anyone can try out more casually,” Zozo wrote on its website.
The location will be reserved for each customer’s exclusive usage for more than two hours at a time, according to Zozo, who hopes to serve about 1000 individuals annually. It will initially allow four to five guests each day.
On December 16, the same day the store is scheduled to open, the brand will begin taking bookings using the Line messaging application.
Established in 1998, Zozo provides services such as ZozoTown, a fashion e-commerce platform; Wear, a smartphone app for sharing stylings and outfits; and creates technology gadgets for body measuring, including ZozoSuit, ZozoMat, and ZozoGlass.
In 2018, the Japanese store launched its “Zozosuit” 3D body-measuring suit, which was aimed at online fashion shops looking to reduce returns.
