Gap Seeks to Remove ‘Pain Points’ of Shopping

Gap Seeks to Remove 'Pain Points' of Shopping David Moin Gap Inc. wants to relieve the frustrations of shopping by getting "human-centric" and taking a "start-up mentality" to introduce new technologies. "The fashion industry is ripe for disruption, the way taxis were," said Gap Brands' Gil Krakowsky, vice president of global strategy, business development and consumer insights. "We have not served customers well," Krakowsky said. "We have made it extremely hard for regular customers to understand when they are looking at a garment on a web site or on a shelf whether it's going to fit them and going to look great. It's a pain point. It's superfrustrating to be shopping online or pre-shopping and not having the sense of how something is going to fit." Krakowsky highlighted several Gap initiatives, among them, a dressing room app using augmented reality and Google technology to enable shoppers to select an avatar on their mobile, based on their measurements and see an outfit on the avatar to examine the fit from all sides and angles. Gap began testing it in January. Using the dressing room app and viewing a dress on the avatar, "You can see how it hits your butt, how tight it is on the thighs, how long it is, whether it hits below Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. Read More... Fashion 3