Brookfield Properties to bring AI-based apparel shopping to three centers
Brookfield Properties will roll out a new contactless shopping experience based on 3D and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
The mall operator will launch Fit:Match studios in three shopping centers, beginning with Oakbrook Center in the Chicago area in mid-August, followed by the Glendale Galleria in the Los Angeles area and Stonebriar Centre in the Dallas area in mid-September.
Fit:Match is an apparel shopping match platform that has customers get “fitched” by first answering a few questions on their mobile phone, providing their name and fit preferences. The Fit:Match technology captures 150 points of their body data in about 10 seconds. The customer then clicks a link to start shopping their personalized assortment of apparel matches.
Once a shopper has been “fitched” at a Fit:Match studio and received their unique Fitch ID, the platform presents them with an edited, personalized assortment of products that the company says has a 90% or better likelihood of fitting them. The Fit:Match algorithm, which assigns a unique relevancy score to each user for each apparel item based on their Fitch ID, data from brands’ tech packs, and specifications such as fabric type and stretch, is designed to get smarter over time as it learns more about the user’s fit and style preferences.
Shoppers at participating Brookfield centers will be able to walk in to the 778-sq.-ft. Fit:Match studio to register and get “fitched” in two minutes. They can then immediately start shopping a personalized assortment of apparel matches from participating brands without having to try on clothes or touch anything other than their smartphone.
Fit:Match and Brookfield Properties initially collaborated on a limited-time pilot of the studio concept in Houston’s Baybrook Mall in late 2019 and early 2020. That pilot generated an 80% participation rate among people who entered the studio and resulted in nearly 4,000 consumers getting “fitched” and joining the platform over a three-month period, without any advertising. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and the experience achieved a net promoter score of 90%.
“We are always focused on innovating to make the consumer shopping experience better and to drive results for our brand partners,” said Patty Hirt, Director of retail development at Brookfield Properties. “We collaborated with Fit:Match on a highly successful pilot of the studio experience in our Baybrook Mall property, so we’re very excited to now be expanding our strategic partnership and investment. We’re confident this data-driven, contactless experience will drive traffic and engagement at Oakbrook Center while permanently addressing one of the most intractable problems we all face when shopping for clothes—finding exactly the right fit.”
“Apparel retail hasn’t evolved much in the last 50 years, with stores and websites still presenting an overwhelming assortment of products to customers, placing the burden on them to select the right items,” said Haniff Brown, founder and CEO of Fit:Match. “The industry needs a transformative overhaul, and the pandemic has only increased that need. We are championing a bold future of omnichannel apparel retail that is contactless and asset-light and that uses 3D and AI technologies to eliminate fit risk, streamline the customer experience and give customers only what they want, while freeing them from ever having to try on clothes again. We’re extremely pleased to be working with Brookfield Properties to roll out the Fit:Match experience to change apparel shopping for the better.”
Brookfield Properties is a fully-integrated, global real estate services company that provides portfolio management and development capabilities across the real estate investment strategies of Brookfield Asset Management, a global alternative asset manager with over $515 billion in assets under management.