MagicLeap Says We're Headed Toward Virtual Reality Shopping Sprees
Trying on clothes in virtual reality is one major goal for Magic Leap.
If there’s anything that most commonly sucks about leaving the house, it’s leaving the house to try on clothes. Hassles like these are quickly being answered by subscription box services and the obvious surge of online shopping that allowed Prime Day to be a thing for the second year in a row. Still, when it comes to finding the perfect fit, our society continues to fall behind — at least in the eyes of Magic Leap’s founders.
During a recent Q&A, the minds behind the company opened up about the uses of Magic Leap’s virtual reality technology and where the company plans to take it beyond the realm of gaming or cinematic experiences. One venue that Magic Leap is seriously considering is that particular realm of online shopping, bringing the fitting room to the living room to allow for more accurate shopping experiences.
Fortune’s conference in Aspen brought about the reassurance that Magic Leap is “more than just a research project” and a few light hints about the company’s future collaborations with its Disney-owned partner, Lucasfilm. But one stand-out answer came later on during the chat, when an audience member asked about where the company would go next. CMO Brian Wallace had a few particular ideas in mind, including the possibility of trying on clothes from the comfort of your own home.
Wallace described LookBuy, a visual shopping service that can (figuratively) assist customers with buying the clothes off of people’s backs. The LookBuy system will recognize the outfit, search for it instantly, and offer it at a discounted price. “I can also look down and see myself in it,” Wallace explained, “Close, done. All that happens — you don’t even know when that happened — as I was doing it.”
“We’re building a computer, computers do a lot of things, and you have to sort of target a couple of areas first,” said Magic Leap founder Rony Abovitz. Along with services like LookBuy, Abovitz mentioned that the company is seriously interested in health care services.
