Virtual try-ons replacing fitting rooms

Coronavirus prompts change but raises privacy issue concerns

Andrea Dragna’s prepandemic pastime of scouting new makeup colors at Sephora has given way to a new, more socially distant ritual: trying on lipstick, eye shadow and blush through the webcam on her phone.

It’s easy and surprisingly accurate, she said, and most importantly, doesn’t require setting foot in a store. “It’s the perfect way to shop in the days of COVID,” said Dragna, 40, who ordered nearly $300 worth of cosmetics last weekend after a virtual try-on session.

The coronavirus pandemic is reshaping the way Americans shop. Stores are reopening but being reoriented to avoid interaction: Fitting rooms are taped off, sample counters are closed and product testers have been put away.

That’s set off a scramble to re-create an integral part of the shopping experience, allowing people to virtually “try on” clothing, shoes, cosmetics, eyeglasses, even a new haircut or eyebrow shape, on their smartphones and computers

If consumers are presented with an authentic representation of themselves, analysts say, they are more likely to buy and less likely to make a return.

But privacy experts warn the technology could also form a pipeline to valuable personal and biometric information.

Major retailers have dabbled in augmented reality for years, quietly testing novelty apps and in-store mirrors designed to replicate fitting rooms and sample counters.

Those efforts intensified after the novel coronavirus led to stay-at-home orders and the temporary closures of hundreds of thousands of stores, catapulting the nation into recession. The industry’s decadeslong slide added to the urgency, with as many as 25,000 stores projected to close for good this year. A number of major chains, including J.C. Penney, J. Crew and Neiman Marcus, have already filed for bankruptcy during the pandemic, as shoppers put the brakes on discretionary purchases.

Jewelry brand Kendra Scott adapted to pandemic-era shopping — and the temporarily closure of its 108 stores — by allowing shoppers to “try on” earrings using their iPhone browsers.

Etsy, the online marketplace, has a new augmented reality feature on its app that shows customers how paintings, photographs and other décor would look on their walls. And Zeekit, which supplies augmented reality technology to brands such as Adidas and Tommy Hilfiger, is preparing to launch the world’s largest virtual fitting room, with hundreds of thousands of pants, tops and coats that shoppers can drag onto photos of themselves.

But privacy experts say there are inherent risks: Testing a lipstick by webcam leaves a trail of personal and biometric data, valuable real-time insights into consumers’ wants and lifestyles.

“This is data that companies are obviously very interested in,” said Patrick Van Eecke, co-chair of the Global Data Protection, Privacy and Security Practice at the law firm DLA Piper. “You think they’re taking your image and measuring your size, but the data being collected could be used for many different purposes. Once measured, once stored, it doesn’t easily fade away.”

Retailers can use that information for targeted marketing, both online and by mail, as they look for new and more effective ways to reach consumers, he said.

Shoppers, he and other privacy experts said, need to check whether apps are recording their reflections as they try on clothing or scanning their surroundings for clues on how — and what — to market to them. Even a 30-second video session to sample eye shadow could give away geolocation tags that, combined with shopping and browsing histories, can give retailers an intimate window onto a shopper’s lifestyle and habits.

“The question that’s always circling is: ‘Does the app collect information about your body or your surroundings in order to better sell products to you?’ ” said Yang Feng, an assistant professor at San Diego State University whose work focuses on how brands use augmented reality and machine learning. “But at the same time, online try-on makes a lot of sense during the pandemic: People are afraid of going to physical stores, so they’re choosing the virtual.”