It’s that time of the year. The global retail industry is heading to New York for retail’s big show, NRF. Volumental, the world's leading FitTech company, will be there to demonstrate their AI-powered foot scanners that improve customer satisfaction, can increase sales by 20%, and reduce returns by 18%. And this year, they’re bringing new software that makes the experience even more accessible. If you’re in the footwear industry, you need to see this.
Despite footwear being a cornerstone in contemporary B2C retail, the shoe-fitting experience isn’t keeping up with demand. It’s resource-heavy, time-consuming, and comes with unsustainably high return rates. Volumental decided to change that with the help of computer vision and AI.
Bring the power of AI to your fitting experience
It’s not enough for your customers to try on and compare the fit of 3-4 different pairs of shoes – try 36 million instead. Since 2012, Volumental has been helping global footwear brands such as Fleet Feet, Bauer, and XXL find their customers the perfect fit.
The AI-powered 3D scanners create omnichannel retail experiences by reconsidering the traditional in-store and online fitting processes – no more bracketing or inaccurate measuring tools. Instead, your customer scans their feet, inputs their email address, and gets access to unique recommendations from your inventory based on eleven different fit measurements through the world’s leading FitTech™ platform.
Up your footwear game with brand new self-service scanning software
Now, Volumental is launching the brand new beta version of their scanning software: a self-service version where your customers operate the scanners themselves and access the results immediately.
It’s specifically designed to improve your shopper-driven in-store experience and increase the average transaction size by 32.5% when comparing scanned and unscanned shoppers. In 2023, it will be rolled out in selected stores, outlet malls, and brand warehouses.
Would you like yours to be one of them? Here’s how it works:
The 5-step customer experience of Volumental’s self-service scanning software
1. Locate the scanner
Chances are, if you’ve walked into a well-stocked footwear retailer, you might have already seen a Volumental scanner. Globally, over 3000 scanners have performed 36 million scans in 52 countries.
Instead of your customer waiting for a store clerk to assist them and then trying on several shoes in different sizes, they step onto the Volumental scanner. It’s easy to operate with minimal or no assistance.
2. Scan the feet
By pressing a button, the Volumental scanner takes less than 5 seconds to retrieve and analyze the customer's foot profile. Perhaps they have an unequal heel-to-toe length or slightly narrow width? The customer is guided by helpful and easy-to-understand advice and analysis about their feet on the iPad’s user interface.
3. Enter email address
Once the scan is complete, the customer enters their email address to access the scanning data and the shoe recommendations on the store iPad or their phones. The personalized recommendations are based on actual purchase data from millions of customers along with your catalog data and store inventory.
The data and email address are then stored in your database so you can use the customer profiles for targeted and personalized campaigns and recommendations. The average Volumental user has a 32.5% increase in basket size, and 50% of the customers view their foot profile an average of almost 5 times per year. Retailers have also experienced a much lower customer acquisition cost, with customers willing to share their email addresses in exchange for their unique foot scan information.
4. Close the deal
After the scan, the customer either picks up the perfect fit straight from the shelf or asks the clerk to fetch the right fit and size. While simultaneously improving the overall customer experience, the efficiency and speed of servicing customers also increase for the store staff. When customers are able to scan themselves with minimal or no assistance, staff are able to balance customer service with their other responsibilities effectively.
5. Fewer returns
When you offer the right fit, the returns radically decrease. Statistics from 2022 show that stores that offer Volumental’s 3D foot scans decreased their return rate by 25%, improving revenue and decreasing environmental impact.
See for yourself at NRF
Would you like to try the scanner yourself? Volumental is giving a sneak peek of the new self-service software at NRF 2023.
Talk to us at booth 624 and have your feet scanned for free. On the 16th, we’re hosting a breakfast session between 9AM - 11AM if you’re up for some coffee and pastries.
Meet the engineers, sales representatives, and AI specialists behind Volumental and see how the new self-service scanners bring the same technology that specialty footwear retailers have enjoyed to many more retail segments. All to make fit a priority. Because fit is not a size, it’s a feeling.™
