Towards a next generation universally accessible 'online shopping-for-apparel' system

Abstract

This paper reports initial research findings from on-going longitudinal participatory design studies within a national (Danish) funded project to realize a gesture-controlled 'Online shopping-for-apparel' system - A Virtual Dressing Room (VDR). A product that reduces customer purchase returns, reportedly up to 40%, which is a huge burden to the clothing industries as shopping percentile of sales online continues to increase, is targeted. Three studies are reported where results cumulate to highlight the need for continued research to realize a next-generation system to improve the user experience of online shopping for apparel where conclusions point to the need for adaptive user interface improvements. Unforeseen was that wheelchair-bound public especially responded positively to the potentials for the concept due to their limited mobility in shopping and this accessibility aspect can be a significant future market. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.