Making shoe recommendations that fit perfectly is no easy task. However, by building powerful algorithms, Volumental has become a world leader in footwear fit.
Volumental tackles a complex challenge making it simple to connect shoe fit to each foot shape (not shoe size charts). Volumental’s FitTech™ platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to match a wide range of foot shapes to footwear purchases while offering a personalized customer journey, both in-store and online, plus e-commerce tools to deliver the fit experience everywhere your customers shop.
The following sections in this article provide a quick and easy overview of AI, machine learning (ML), computer vision (CV), and how Volumental’s algorithms help predict comfortable footwear.
A basic definition of artificial intelligence is a computer system that mimics how a human brain works; it is trained and evaluated on real-world data (like foot scans), solving basic to challenging problems.
Machine learning is an application of AI that trains on existing data to help make predictions or decisions for new data.
The most powerful feature with ML is how the algorithm improves over time, becoming more accurate while rapidly mining massive lakes of data. For example, the algorithm processes and builds footwear recommendations with each customer scan matched to purchases with similar foot shapes. Impressive, right? But ML is not the only technology used to solve fit; it’s also combined with computer vision.
In a nutshell, computer vision helps algorithms understand the world visually, in forms like video and images. And in the last few years, this technology has vastly improved, making CV a critical tool for accurate foot scans.
If you've used a smartphone or digital camera for videos or images recently, then you've seen how computers capture images - almost better than human vision.
Volumental 3D foot scanners use CV to help scrub out the noise. Like when you take a selfie, and it looks distorted, pixelated, or has a low light resolution - that's digital noise. When an abrupt change in the value of pixels happens during a scan our algorithms fix this for the most accurate foot scan.
For example, noise can occur when someone moves during an in-store foot scan or quickly during a mobile scan. Noise is dependent on many environmental factors. But our team of engineers built algorithms to adjust for these factors, and our scanners quickly filter out the noise to deliver a clear foot scan.
Artificial Intelligence is a game-changer for retail technology. Retailers can have the power of AI to help with the entire ecosystem of selling footwear - from inventory optimization (only showing items in stock) to delivering a fit experience everywhere your customers shop.
Sure, anyone can claim "accuracy" matching length and width to a standard shoe size chart. That's easy. Other techniques require an enormous amount of time, like scanning the inside of shoes or casts, but both of these techniques don't solve the heart of the matter. When foot shapes are matched to purchase data from other customers with similar foot shapes, sizes, and preferences, this is accuracy at its finest.
Accuracy and data insights are why many brands and retailers trust and use Voluemtnal’s FitTech™ platform. "From a consumer perspective, they find the technology highly engaging and easy to understand,” John Davidson, senior brand manager of Bauer said. “As a brand, we are gaining a much deeper insight into the core consumer."