The Iconic Sees 55% Higher Add-to-Bag Actions; 21% Increase in Add-to-Wish- List with Perfect Corp. Virtual Try-On

Situation: Combining AI/AR to Provide Immersive Online Retail Shopping Experience

The Iconic, is Australia’s & New Zealand’s leading fashion and lifestyle platform. The company was launched in 2011 and is one of Australia’s largest fashion, sports, beauty, kidswear and homeware destinations with over 1,500 brands and 165,000 items, including Australian labels P.E Nation, Sass & Bide, Camilla and Marc, Country Road, Witchery and Lorna Jane. International brands stocked include Nike, Levi’s, Calvin Klein, Adidas, MAC, Estee Lauder and more. The Iconic's Sydney based Fulfilment Centre features 495,000 square feet of space, including one of the largest mezzanines and pick towers in the Southern Hemisphere. 

The Iconic has won numerous awards for its innovative online commerce, including Best Mobile Social Commerce Site/App.

When the company expanded into beauty products, it knew it needed to provide customers with virtual try-on, and needed to find the best technology partner to create the most immersive true-to-life experience.

“Beauty was a new category for us, and one of our biggest challenges—as a pure-play online retailer—was being able to give our customers the same look and feel of the in-store experience to try and test products,” says Dana Henshaw, Buying Manager for The Iconic. “We are Australia and New Zealand’s leading fashion and lifestyle platform. With such a huge active customer base, we wanted to convert our customers to also purchasing their beauty products, and for that we had to have the very best virtual try-on experience.”

Solution: Perfect Corp. AI/AR Virtual Try-On 

After evaluating its options, The Iconic chose Perfect Corp., which combines powerful artificial intelligence (AI) with its industry-leading augmented reality (AR) to provide precision virtual try-on experiences. The Iconic added Perfect Corp. virtual try-on to its award-winning mobile shopping app.

As an online retailer, offering numerous beauty brands, The Iconic initially deployed Perfect Corp. AI/AR technology to provide virtual try-on experiences for 1,500 lip SKUs and 1,000 SKUs for eye. 

The benefits of providing virtual try-on for these beauty products has proven so positive that The Iconic is adding more SKUs for lip and eye, and preparing to launch Perfect Corp. virtual try-on for foundation products.

The Iconic is also making virtual try-on an ongoing part of its multi-channel marketing efforts—inviting customers to see for themselves exactly how beauty products will look on their own face.

“Using virtual try-on to introduce our customers to our beauty portfolio will enable them to confidently try and buy the products that they love while shopping with us, while making it fun and easy for them to explore beauty products they may have never tried,” Henshaw says. ”

Benefits of Perfect Corp. Virtual Try-On Technology for the Online Retailer 

The Iconic has enjoyed a number of benefits since deploying its Perfect Corp. AI+AR-powered virtual try-on technology, including: 

• 55% higher add-to-bag actions with virtual try-on
• 16% to 21% increase in add-to-wish-list for those using  virtual try-on
• 180% monthly increase in customers using  virtual try-on
• Virtual try-on “giving our customers the confidence to buy”
• Encourages product exploration
• Builds customer loyalty
• Strong tool for attracting new brands

55% Higher Add-to-Bag Actions with Virtual Try-On 

 The Iconic sees a 55% higher add-to-bag intent to purchase action when online shoppers use virtual try-on, compared to those who don’t.

“The impressive increase in add-to-bag is one of the biggest benefits we’ve seen from deploying Perfect Corp. virtual try-on technology,” Henshaw says. “We're really thrilled to see that huge increase. This shows what a valuable tool we have with our virtual try-on.”

16% to 21% Increase in Add-to-Wish- List for Those Using Virtual Try-On

The Iconic has found that online customers who experience products through virtual try-on place more items on the app’s wish list than those who don’t use virtual try-on.

“We see a 16% increase in add-to-wish-list for our iPhone users, and a 21% increase for Android users,” Henshaw says. “We believe this is because users can not only see exactly how a product will look on their actual face, they also enjoy using virtual try-on to explore new products.”

180% Monthly Increase in Customers Using Virtual Try-On

The Iconic has seen growing customer enthusiasm for using its virtual try-on—so much that they redesigned their app interface to  make virtual try-on one of the first options customers see.

“We made virtual try-on one of the primary pieces on our drop-down menu,” Henshaw says. “Ever since, we’ve seen a 180% monthly increase in active customers using our virtual try-on, which we see as being crucial because our virtual try-on is so engaging.”

Virtual Try-On: “Giving Our Customers the Confidence to Buy”

As an online retailer, it is critically important to provide experiences which give customers the confidence to convert from shopping to purchasing, which is what The Iconic has found through its use of Perfect Corp.’s virtual try-on technology.

“With virtual try-on we’ve given our customers an experience so real and immersive that they have the confidence to make the purchase,” Henshaw says. “They can see exactly how a lipstick or eyeliner will look on their face, and we have already seen that will be the case when we deploy our virtual try-on for foundation.”

Even before initial deployment the company knew that they had a powerful virtual try-on experience to share with customers, from their own internal testing.

 “Internally we immediately saw the power of the Perfect Corp. virtual try-on,” Henshaw says. “We were all pleasantly surprised at how well Perfect Corp. AI and AR has been able to bring real life to virtual try-on. I’ve had colleagues come up to me and tell me they purchased products for themselves after discovering a new color of lipstick or some other product that they tried on virtually and loved. That was a great validation for what we were rolling out to our customers.”

The Iconic sees virtual try-on as being a game-changing technology for online commerce. 

“There is such a difference between shopping for a beauty product by just looking at an image of it on a model’s face, and actually seeing it on your own face,” Henshaw says. “The two experiences are incomparable. We see virtual try-on as essential to converting from shopping to purchasing. It gives customers the confidence they need.”

Encouraging Product Exploration through Virtual Try-On

The Iconic has a strong reputation for providing a broad range of high-quality products through its user-friendly mobile app. So as more and more customers become aware of the company’s addition of beauty apps, it is easy for them to shop for their favorite beauty products.

The company is using its virtual try-on technology to encourage customers to explore beyond their favorites, and discover new beauty products to enjoy.

“We are using virtual try-on to provide our customers with a new journey of product exploration,” Henshaw says. “This tool is enabling The Iconic to become a destination to explore products, try them on virtually, and finding products they are going to love.”

Building Customer Loyalty

The Iconic has strong customer loyalty because of the quality products it carries and the ease with which customers can shop. The company sees virtual try-on for beauty products as another way to tighten the feelings of customer loyalty.

“The Iconic as a retailer is always looking at ways that we can enhance the online shopping experience for our customers,” Henshaw says. “We anticipate growing customer loyalty because of the trust our customers can place in our app with virtual try-on for lip, eye and foundation products.”  

Strong Tool for Attracting New Brands

As an online retailer, The Iconic is always looking for strong brands to add to their customer offerings. The company has found that its virtual try-on is an effective tool for demonstrating their ability to sell beauty products online.

“This tool has been really helpful for us to demonstrate the powerful online shopping experience we offer our beauty customers,” Henshaw says. “They can see we are able to bring that in-store experience to our online customers. This has been valuable for us.”

About Perfect Corp. 

Perfect Corp. is the leading SaaS AI and AR beauty and fashion tech solutions provider, dedicated to transforming shopping experiences through empowering brands to embrace the digital-first world. 

By partnering with the largest names in the industry, Perfect Corp.’s suite of enterprise solutions delivers synergistic, technology-driven experiences that facilitate sustainable, ultra-personalized, and engaging shopping journeys, as well as equipping brands with next generation of consumer goods.

Perfect Corp. offers a complementary suite of mobile apps, including YouCam Makeup and YouCam Perfect, to provide a consumer platform to virtually try-on new products, perform skin diagnoses, edit photos, and share experiences with the YouCam Community. 

To learn more, please visit PerfectCorp.com.