Zugara is proud to announce the launch of “Plug & Play”, the newest version of our Augmented Reality Ecommerce Software, “The Webcam Social Shopper” (WSS). WSS Plug & Play is a product that integrates right into retailer’s ecommerce product pages (seamlessly, just like a “zooming” feature does) and provides shoppers with a more engaging, personal and emotionally satisfying way to determine whether an apparel item’s style and color are truly right for them.
Today’s launch of WSS Plug & Play ushers in several key advances to our existing product, including:
ONE DAY CONFIGURATION – Configuration can be done in as little as a few hours and without any backend integration.
MARKERLESS TECHNOLOGY – The first truly markerless product of its kind, the apparel item actually tracks to the shopper (a video demonstrating our award winning markerless technology is embedded below).
A NEW SHOPPER EXPERIENCE – Four screenshots detailing the experience are included below.
As “augmented reality” continues to be the hot new buzzword, we’ve seen several companies attempt to compete with our patent pending ecommerce product. The fact is we have several key differentiators that retailers and potential partners should be aware of when doing their due diligence:
Differentiators For Shoppers:
It just works with a regular computer and webcam. No need for fancy 3-D cameras or souped up systems that shoppers don’t have.
No annoying downloads.
No paper markers to print and hassle with.
Simply put, for shoppers, WSS Plug & Play is a barrier-free experience.
Differentiators For Retailers:
As noted above, configuration can now be done in under one day, and without any backend integration.
Because we eliminated all shopper barriers, retailers who integrate WSS can reach a higher percentage of their shoppers.
Technology moves fast, and our constant development cycles ensure retailers will always have access to the most thoroughly tested, and innovative solution on the market.
For more information, please feel free to contact us at info (at) Zugara (dot) com.
Hey folks, today is a gigantic day for us at Zugara, and we just wanted to share the news with you. We’re currently privileged to be presenting the latest advancement to our Augmented Reality E-Commerce Software, “The Webcam Social Shopper”, at the DEMO conference in Palm Springs. The latest advancement? The technology is now markerless. Truly markerless. We’ve developed a way to get rid of the paper marker and allow an apparel item to track to the shopper’s body. So as the shopper moves around within the webcam’s video feed the apparel item automatically moves with them, creating a “hands free” experience that’s more natural than anything else on the market.
This is a huge advancement in online apparel visualization and validation. As always, our product is built in Flash, so for over 99% of the population there’s no download required. By creating a markerless experience we’ve eliminated the last major consumer barrier: the need to print and hold a marker. So now, a shopper surfing on a retailer’s site (that has integrated our product) only needs to stand in front of their webcam to visualize and validate whether or not that piece of apparel’s style and color are truly right for them.
“This is really not about buzzwords like Augmented Reality, or Social Media,” said Matt Szymczyk, CEO and Co-Founder of Zugara. “This is about using technology to create a better online shopping experience for people, and an easy to integrate solution for our clients and partners. Plain and simple. And there’s real ROI here. Results from a recent survey by Limelight Networks show us that for people who shop online more than once a month, 76% of them say advanced product viewing features make them more likely to purchase, and more brand loyal. With there being more Millennials than Baby Boomers, we think it’s time to create meaningful and engaging online shopping experiences for this digital generation.”
We hope to have a live demo of the technology on our corporate site soon. And when the video of our presentation at DEMO becomes available tomorrow, we’ll certainly post it, as we’d love your feedback. Until then though, we’ll be tweeting from the event (hashtag: #democon) so feel free to give @KobraKai (Matt Szymczyk) and @Jack_Benoff a follow.
June 23, 2009, Los Angeles – Here at Zugara, we’re proud to announce the launch of our newest application, The Webcam Social Shopper. Coupling the functionality of both Augmented Reality and Motion Capture, this application will allow anyone with a webcam to shop online right from within their video feed. We like to think of it as “Augmented Reality meets Utility”. This app allows you to seemingly hold articles of clothing up in front of yourself to see “how they look”. And the Motion Capture allows the app to track your movements so you can interact with the site (e.g. cycle through a product’s various colors/styles or take a picture of yourself so you can get immediate feedback from friends on Facebook) while standing several feet away from your computer’s controls. No extra downloads, no new plug-in, no consumer headache.
To see the application in action, check out our video below.
Now that you’ve seen the application in its “Alpha State”, think about the potential an app like this has as we partner with brands to allow their consumers to do things like:
Livestream their webcam’s feed to friends and loved ones, and get comments and feedback right next to the application in real time.
Receive “clothing care packages” from loved ones who might be somewhere else in the country and set up times to “shop together”… online.
Enter their measurements into the app and get a “fitted image”.
Match entire outfits at the same time, both top and bottom.
Shop right within a branded Facebook application.
It’s not a secret that friends/family recommendations influence a consumer’s purchase decision and beat any other “consumer touchpoint”. Now, we can help brands empower their consumers to integrate their friends and family into their online shopping process like never before. The thinking is that this application will help bridge the gap between how people like to shop offline and how they are forced to shop online, subsequently providing an enhanced interactive shopping experience for the consumer and increased sales for the brand. So, what do you think? Please, feel free to share this post with anyone and everyone, or embed the video above in your own blog. And, as always, we’d love to know your thoughts below…
(UPDATE: We’ve partnered with RichRelevance to integrate their recommendation engine into WSS and create a completely unique application dubbed Fashionista. Fashionista is currently live on Tobi.com and you can read more about that launch on Fast Company.)
About Zugara
Zugara is an interactive marketing agency with a passion for emerging media and technologies. Unlike most agencies, we don’t claim to do everything: Interactive Video, Social Media, Mobile Marketing, and Website & Application Development are our core competencies. Since our doors opened in 2001, we’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the world’s best brands such as Reebok, Sony Computer Entertainment Of America, Toyota, Activision, Jelly Belly, Casio, The Air Force, and Lexus to create strategic interactive campaigns that focus on accomplishing their business objectives. Based in Los Angeles, we’re currently in the process of expanding, and opening our second office in New York (www.zugara.com) (www.zugarastudios.com).
For more information on The Webcam Social Shopper or ZugMo Technology, please contact ar@zugara.com. For all other inquiries, please contact info@zugara.com.
Copyright 2009 ZugMo Technology
Copyright 2009 Webcam Social Shopper
Copyright 2009 Zugara Inc.
Patent Pending
We Are Organized Chaos (WAOC) is Zugara’s (www.zugara.com) interactive marketing and advertising blog where we’ll be featuring some great projects and discussing upcoming trends in the digital world. Work — good and bad — will be critiqued. Hope you’ll enjoy reading our insights and thoughts on interactive.
