Mobile retailing is, by all accounts, where virtual shopping is trending. According to Nielsen, shopping on mobile devices doubled in 2013, compared to 2012. And research firm Distimo reports that buying products—on mobile apps bought in the Apple Store or Google Play—has now eclipsed all other app-related endeavors, including gaming and social media.
So if you’re still stumped as to how to enter the mobile space, you may want to consider a new app developed by a jeweler and made specifically for indie jewelers and designers.
The TryItOn Jewelry app allows retailers to set up a branded storefront app (you even pick the name of the app to reflect your store) that lets consumers try on your jewelry virtually. Customers save photos of themselves wearing no jewelry, and choose pieces to try on, which are superimposed over their selfies. Then they can save the images and share them on social media networks or via email/messaging.
A screenshot from the TryItOn Jewelry app
Chris Roberts, owner of the Unique Diamond Boutique in Winter Park, Fla., conceived the app with partner Brent Richards because, “when it comes to technology, the jewelry industry is a hard sell,” he says. “I know guys who have iPhones and barely know how to use them. We don’t relate to the selfies—what is all that? We would never do that.”
TryItOn Jewelry is an app, but it’s really more of a service—when you upload product images, the company converts them into graphics consumers can try on in the app by putting them through a Photoshop-style coloring/shadowing process.
Accordingly, the app isn’t of the $3 variety. The standalone storefront TryItOn app costs $3,750 for set-up, with a monthly service fee that begins at $100, depending on how many images you are uploading. “You would market the app as though it was your app,” says Roberts. There is also the option to add your images for try-on to the app, but not have it branded as your store (images would be watermarked and would link to your home site). This option comes with a $1,250 set-up fee, with a recurring $100/month payment.
A screenshot from the TryItOn Jewelry app
Features in the app include a blending tool that ensures the lighting on the jewelry matches the lighting on a person’s skin—to enhance the reality effect. There’s also an “erase” functionality that lets users erase part of, say, a necklace, where long hair would naturally hide it. And of course all images are shareable to social networks straight off the app.
“Social media is the new word of mouth,” asserts Roberts. “You want all your customers wearing all your stuff and telling every one about it. This is what this app does.”
Links to buy/get more info:
All images courtesy of TryItOn Jewelry
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