Discover how technology is revolutionizing the VIP fashion experience, from live streaming runway shows to personalized video shopping.
What people seek in a VIP experience can often be seen in what people want, from delving into the world of fashion and embarking on a shopping trip. A sense of importance, a bespoke experience, finding that exact element that fits you perfectly and enjoying a bit of luxury are all elements that make for the best experiences in both regards. Now, we have the technology to deliver world-class experiences in fashion and for all VIP activities online.
Image courtesy of Marissa Grootes
Of course, shopping in person or physically getting into VIP areas will always be the ultimate way to do anything, but for those who don’t want to travel or simply want something more convenient, the options are there. You can get immersed through a live stream, be catered to by professionals, and even directly interact with products through your screen. Major fashion brands have started to up their applications of these useful bits of tech, delivering a VIP experience to online shoppers who know where to look.
Rise of the online VIP treatment
Image courtesy of Raden Prasetya
Every fashionista will be familiar with the accessibility of modern runway shows thanks to live streaming. The Milano Fashion Week stages several shows each year that can be watched online in real-time. It allows followers of the industry to keep in the loop even if they can’t make it to Italy and to do so in a way that’s first-hand. Seeing it live means that big reveals won’t be filtered to viewers second-hand, such as via social media, and shrewd camera placements allow for online viewers to still get top-class views of the models and designs. However, watching a live stream is still a passive experience in this example. Nowadays, more immersive experiences can be developed.
When done well, hosting a live stream increases participation and engagement from the audience, naturally enhancing the event itself. One example of where this has been taken to the next level for several years now is in the space of live roulette. With a few additional bits of hardware, such as a game control unit and optical character recognition cameras, live HD streams of physical roulette tables can be played in real-time. Those on their computers and smartphones get to bet on the game being streamed while being catered to by the professional croupier. The likes of Dealers Club and Real Roulette add an extra VIP touch. People want to be able to interact with those who are conducting the live stream, especially in entertainment circles. It’s a big reason why the Just Chatting programs on Twitch garner hundreds of thousands of viewers and participants at any given time as they give the sense of an interactive, two-way experience.
While the sessions appear to have come to an end now, this is a similar approach that MasterClass took in 2020. The platform is powered by videos made by experts in their various fields, from Gordon Ramsay to Anna Wintour. It was during their live sessions, however, that the online learning platform reached a new peak. Activist Ron Finley, Spanx founder Sara Blakely, and the aforementioned Vogue editor-in-chief all hosted live stream sessions to give their insights and answer questions, making for a VIP-quality meet and greet with these well-known names.
Fashion embracing online technologies
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One of the main revelations in online shopping that looks to be taking off is live shopping. A multi-billion staple of the industry in China and increasingly across the Asia Pacific, it’s yet to take off properly in North America and Europe. For the most part, people who live shop for clothes do so on social media platforms. That said, major Western brands like British luxury designer Burberry have dipped their toes in live stream experiences; in this case, a visit to the Shanghai store was streamed to Tmall.
One of the reasons why this very open form of live shopping doesn’t look to be gaining much traction here would seem to be because it’s generally targeted to the masses and is akin to the often-panned TV shopping channels. Gucci, a brand always willing to delve into quirky tech, like health rings and monitors, launched Gucci Live in 2020. Rather than being an open-to-the-public experience, it’s a personalized video shopping application that aimed to recreate the experience of being in-store and with a Gucci host. It’s interactive and bespoke, appealing to the VIP fashionista.
Also seeking to help this customer relations side of online shopping, Zalando has turned to the somewhat controversial AI tech ChatGPT. The OpenAI-powered tech is being applied to help customers find quick solutions to their questions regardless of the fashion terms that they choose to use. Funnily enough, applying ChatGPT over the usual customer service chatbot aims to make the whole process more natural and intuitive. AI is also being leveraged by Google Cloud to help modernize online shopping through recommendation features.
Live streaming has already done wonders for VIP experiences online, and now it’ll help to power the VIP fashion experience, while AI will see more applications to enhance the process for customers.