Want to see what the future of retail looks like? Hyde Park Corner Shopping Centre in Johannesburg has installed a futuristic changing room to show you what you can do with a little imagination and a high-speed internet connection.
Yesterday, TV personalities like Zuraida Jardine and Roxy Burger were seen swirling around in front of the screen trying on outfits from stores in the centre. The sensor on the top of the prototype screen measures your body while a heat map, Microsoft Kinect sensor, tracks the body's movement.
How it works: 3D images of clothing from all the stores in the centre are kept on servers instead of on shelves. When customers stand in front of the screen, sensors measure their bodies and work out what size of clothing they should order from a particular store, tailored to their bodies. The system also stores images of accessories so that customers can try them on ''virtually".
The image of the customer in the outfit they have virtually tried on moves with them.
The technology is designed to eliminate changing rooms in stores, allowing them to be more compact and permitting customers to try on clothes that are not on site.
Of course, being able to feel the clothing on the body is important, but the idea is that once someone has tried a particular item of clothing, they can experiment with different styles and colours without needing to take their clothes off again.
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