Have you ever tried on jewellery without walking into a store? Fashion tech start-up StyleDotMe has launched a first-of-its-kind Augmented Reality (AR) tech platform for jewellery called mirrAR. Shoppers can now try jewellery on digital platforms of client brands, including iPads installed at various locations, without actually having to wear the pieces and get instant fashion advice from experts, bloggers and influencers around the world. The AR tech is seamlessly integrated with their fashion advice platform that enables users to get real-time advice.

While other platforms in the market require you to manually position the jewellery on yourself, StyleDotMe’s innovative AR tech works automatically on digitized versions of jewellery in real-time.

The technology will help jewellery brands increase their reach, enabling easy checkouts through providing shoppers more product options, ability to see multiple jewellery pieces on themselves in quick succession and get instant advice on the fashion look by experts. The platform redefines the shopping experience and makes it more intuitive and fun for shoppers. For jewellery brands, it helps to generate leads and sell products by making them just-in-time which was unheard of before in this industry.

Akhil Tolani, CTO of StyleDotMe says “Augmented reality is a new way to use technology that will transform the way you perform everyday tasks. Using our patent pending breakthrough in computer vision, we are able to provide an unprecedented experience in real time virtual jewellery try-on.”

Being a pioneer in fashion technology space, StyleDotMe allows jewellers for the first time to use real-time AR tech for their users to make shopping more fun, convenient and easy - a beautiful fusion of digital and real-life shopping experience. In the current technology, StyleDotMe plans to make further extensions to support predictive analytics, machine learning and big data applications to provide actionable insights for optimizing inventory costs, a major growth bottleneck in the industry.

Starting with PC Jeweller as their first client, the company has rolled out mirrAR with other marquee jewellery brands in a short period of time. These include, Farah Khan Jewellery, House of Surana, Chungath Jewellery and Amrapali to name a few. The platform help brands to showcase their complete inventory to customers across all stores, which further leads to reduction in inventory and carrying costs.

Further, Farah Khan Jewellery and House of Surana are taking this technology to reputed exhibitions like the Vogue Wedding Show without having to bring the entire inventory at the exhibition. Customers can use the app on the iPads installed at these locations to virtually try on every item in the collection.

Farah Khan Ali, CEO of Farah Khan Jewellery says “I was totally fascinated by the AR technology that Meghna showed me because it is user-friendly and allows the customer to see products in 3D without having the actual inventory in stock. It is very well designed and makes it easier to choose designs for the client as well as facilitates our presentation much better.”

Meghna Saraogi, founder of StyleDotMe says, “I hated it when my mom took me jewellery shopping in Indore, my hometown. I realized each store has very limited options and they would ask us to visit their other stores for more designs which they would show using physical catalogues. It would take too much time and effort. A high ticket purchase like jewellery which also has emotional significance at times needed to be more fun and satisfying. Given the significant inventory costs of carrying jewellery in stores, access to the pieces for trying before purchasing was a tough problem to solve for even the biggest chains. We at StyleDotMe are creating new age shopping experience for the fashion industry, starting with jewellery. I believe this will be a game changer for the Jewellery retail Industry."

StyleDotMe has raised funds from the Indian Angel Network and is in discussions with multiple investors for the next round of funding. Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder Naukri.com has been a mentor and advisor to StyleDotMe from their initial days.

The company plans to open zero-inventory stores at airports, shopping areas etc. to boost footfalls at stores through outdoor marketing activations, get customer insights through user profiling and extend customer value chain through multichannel retail solutions. The start-up is launching its own consumer facing platform where shoppers can try-on jewellery from multiple brands from around the world with the click of a button using the mirrAR platform. Jewelers will have access to a larger audience without increasing their spending on inventory and marketing to reach new customers.

From starting with an idea of getting instant fashion advice through their platform, to having great content curation to now real time AR tech, StyleDotMe is looking to become the one-stop solution to anything fashion. The company further plans to take this technology to eyewear, makeup and apparels for a new age shopping experience.