Among other things, H&M's mirror suggests outfits to customers.
VISUALART

  • H&M is trialing a smart mirror in its flagship store in Times Square, New York.
  • Through voice and facial recognition, customers can use voice commands to take selfies.
  • The mirror was developed by Microsoft and Swedish digital agencies, Visual Art and Ombori.

H&M is offering its customers a new shopping experience and customers apparently love it, according to Lebensmittelzeitung.
The fashion group is currently trialling a smart mirror in its flagship store at Times Square in New York. The smart mirror, developed by Microsoft and Swedish digital agencies Visual Art and Ombori, combines voice and facial recognition in order to communicate with customers. 
Customers were able to use voice commands to take selfies that are virtually integrated with the H&M catalogue. The image can be downloaded to one's phone via QR code. At the same time, customers can get a discount of over 20% and free shipping costs if they subscribe to the H&M Newsletter. 

First impressions of H&M's smart mirror are positive 

As well as voice and facial recognition, the mirror also gives out shopping tips. The mirror provides customers with various outfit suggestions, which can be ordered directly from the online shop using the QR code. Initial impressions of the smart mirror were positive: Lebensmittelzeitung reported that 86% of customers who took a selfie also ended up scanning the QR code and 10% of also registered for the newsletter. 
With this innovation, it seems like H&M is bang on trend: digital assistants and smart technologies are also playing an increasingly important role in retail. However, Christian Bärwind, Industry Leader Retail at Google Germany, said the "voice control is still in its early stages." 
H&M's competitor, Zara, has taken a slightly different approach in its flagship store in London: Zara's smart mirror doesn't rely on voice control but recognizes selected items from customers and from those items, creates a virtual outfit.