Rebecca Minkoff partners with EBay on connected stores

New York –- Specialty retailer Rebecca Minkoff has opened a “connected store” powered by EBay technology in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City, and will open connected stores in San Francisco Nov. 19 and in Los Angeles in 2015, respectively. Using EBay technology, the stores include mirrored displays with touchscreen video content that let customers request associate assistance or order drinks.



Other features include the ability to use the Rebecca Minkoff mobile iOS app in-store to obtain personalized shopping options. Connected fitting rooms let customers use interactive digital mirrors to request different items to try on and change the lighting, and with RFID the fitting room will recognize items and be able to look up the availability of colors and sizes in the store.



In addition, using the Rebecca Minkoff mobile app, a shopper will be able to check-in to the store upon arrival which prompts their personal profile to be carried across Rebecca Minkoff store channels, helping store associates provide a more personal, customized experience. A mirrored, physical manifestation of Rebecca Minkoff digital content called the “Connected Glass shopping wall” lets shoppers select “send to my room” to initiate a one-on-one styling session.



The shopper will even have the option to attach a fitting session to her Minkoff loyalty account so she can access her “fitting room sessions” in the app and online, in addition to allowing associates to see her purchase and fitting history on the associate app and make recommendations in the future.



“How do you most efficiently use physical space to let people discover products?” said Steve Yankovich, head of innovation and new ventures at EBay Inc. “Our retail innovation team is building out answers to that question by putting new concepts in front of consumers. These will lead to big, big changes in retail.”