What you need to know about the new direct marketing guidance note
Nadine Mather and Chloë Loubser
Zeekit launches app to virtually try on outfits before buying online or in-store
NEW YORK - Zeekit, a B2C platform and mobile app that reinvents the way consumers browse, share and shop from their mobile devices, has launched an advanced virtual fitting room app for consumers and retailers.
The company has raised $9m in a Series A round from several angel investors, including industry-leading Israeli technology investors, as well as US media, film and lifestyle investors, and is being unveiled during New York Fashion Week through a partnership with online store Rebecca Minkoff.
Using the Zeekit app, consumers can now virtually try on fashions before buying online or without having to try on in store. After uploading a full-body picture, a shopper taps a product they see online, in print or in store and is able to see how it looks and fits on their actual body. The item can then be mixed and matched with fashions from different retailers in their virtual closet, shared with friends or purchased through a link in the app. Retailers and brands can easily incorporate the Zeekit button in their online, mobile and physical stores to give shoppers the ability to try on their entire catalogue of products, virtually.
"We’re creating a new shopping experience by making both online and in-store shopping fun, social, simple and risk-free,” says Yael Vizel, Zeekit CEO and co-founder, who, along with co-founders and fellow Technion graduates Nir Appleboim and Alon Kristal, was inspired to create Zeekit by mapping technologies used for intelligence missions as a captain in the Israeli Air Force. "Our first-to-market technology is unlike any other visualisation technology that exists in the market."
Zeekit’s partnership with Rebecca Minkoff during New York Fashion Week makes it easy for those viewing runway styles either on-site at the Rebecca Minkoff show, online at the Rebecca Minkoff website, or through the Zeekit app to be able to tap the product, virtually try it on, share it with friends and purchase it.
"At Rebecca Minkoff, the integration of technology and style is paramount,” said Uri Minkoff, CEO and co-founder of Rebecca Minkoff. “Our partnership with Zeekit developed very organically and was a prime example of the best kind of integration. To be able to virtually try on a garment and give our girl the chance to access the feel of our product with immediacy – technology like that is made for the Rebecca Minkoff girl – for the millennial consumer.”
Connecting editorial inspiration and content with e-commerce
Zeekit also recently announced a unique partnership with fashion magazine, StyleWatch in which their readers can browse and virtually try on 180 pieces from the magazine's 18-page Fall Trend Report. This unique partnership allows StyleWatch to engage more deeply with its readers by allowing them to realistically see how they look in the fashions recommended in the magazine's September issue. Zeekit allows StyleWatch, as well as other fashion blogs and magazines, to connect editorial inspiration and content with e-commerce.
