New technology allows customer to pay in fitting room

Mastercard revealed several new payment technologies at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. One of these, called Retail Mirror, allows customers to pay in the fitting booth itself.

“Present complete experience”

Mastercard co-developed Retail Mirror with Oak Labs and Panasonic and the technology uses a smartphone to pay for items, straight from the fitting room. The mirror turns into a customer interface when necessary. Once they have bought the items, customers can choose to have these delivered at home or take them home themselves.

Just like with other instances of interactive fitting rooms, the customer can also look at the colours and sizes available in the store. Based on the items and previous purchases, a real-time advisor can also propose other items.

“The Retail Mirror allows retailers to offer their customers a complete experience, with a web shop’s convenience and user focus. Retailers can also use this connected mirror to dissuade customers from not buying an item, which is an actual risk in the consumer process, thanks to real-time information sharing and the option to buy any item they desire. The retailer can also provide a personalized shopping experience”, country manager Henri Dewaerheijd said.

Contact-free payment

A New York-based store trialed the mirror last year and it will now appear in several retailers worldwide sometime this year.

The Retail Mirror also taps into the trend that consumers are increasingly getting used to paying in alternative ways, instead of merely focusing on cash or the traditional credit cards. According to Mastercard, the European consumer spent an additional 145 % more through contact-free payment services in 2017. On top of that, there was a 42 % increase in stores that allowed for this type of payment.