After a successful pilot launch in their New York City, Paramus, NJ, and Dadeland, FL stores, Macy’s will expand their virtual reality (VR) furniture shopping experience to 69 stores nationwide by early November.
“With VR technology, we can offer a full range of furniture with as little as 5,000 square feet of space – down from 20,000 square feet previously,” said Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette. “This will enable us to expand furniture sales at our smaller stores.”
The virtual reality experience (VRE), which was developed in partnership with 3D streaming company Marxent, allows customers to place furnishings in a virtual room using a tablet. They can map out the basic dimensions and shape of the room, select products from Macy’s furniture catalog, and then lay them out to their liking. After their design is complete, customers put on a head-mounted display (HMD) and walk around the virtual room to see if their purchase is a good fit.
“No one likes to feel like they are being sold – that creates stress,” said Beck Besecker, Marxent founder and CEO. “With this technology, Macy’s associates can feel good about using the tool pretty quickly. As they are working with a customer, you can see the person’s shoulders drop, and they aren’t as tense. As the customer starts to put items in their room, they feel in control of the process. That’s when the magic happens. They start to add accessories to complete the look. At that point, it’s impossible not to smile; it becomes a positive experience and they associate that with the retailer.”
The VRE works in conjunction with Mobile Checkout within the Macy’s app, so customers can scan the items they want, pay for them within the app, and go to an associate to remove any security tags.
“We think of the Macy’s app as a key we hand to our customers, a key that allows them to unlock an enhanced shopping experience,” said Gennette. “With this powerful tool in hand, we give them the opportunity to engage with us on their terms. And we keep adding exciting new features to it based on what they tell us.”
Compared to stores that don’t have the VRE yet, the pilot stores have experienced an increase in the average basket size by 60%, and the return rate is less than 2% for customers who use the VRE. If the expansion is successful, the experience could be rolled out to all of Macy’s stores.
“We’re not in the commodities business,” Gennette said, “we’re in the experience business.”
