You mean I don't really have to go to the mall?

Virtual dressing rooms are an alternative way to try on fashion without actually being in a physical location. When shopping on line, we all want to see what the products will look like on us, opposed to how they look on the models that have undoubtedly been groomed and prepped for hours, just to capture the perfect shot. While not perfect, FaceCake Marketing Technologies ™ created a tool to allow the user to do just that. One of the products in called Swivel Close Up. By visiting a site that subscribes to this service, anyone can try on, virtually, clothing and jewelry. As discussed in “Here a Tweet, There a Tweet” (19), this technology is connecting people who may otherwise not been interested.

By copying a simple code, the technology can be added to any site to allow visitors to try on their products. After saving a picture of the newly tried fashion, the user can share it to their social media platforms. The platform is built on Microsoft Azure cloud server, which allows FaceCake to be accessed from any mobile device or computer.

Shiseido brand make-up uses ShadeScout, a product of FaceCake that allows the visitor to try on lipstick and eye shadow. You are able to make your face up real time via webcam or upload an image and play from there. It’s very cool! Once the face is made up, share it on Facebook, save it to your local drive or send it in an email. On Shiseido’s site, the user is asked immediately for comments and feedback by way of a dialogue box. This shows that they are engaged and interested in hearing about the customer experience (69) It is clear that they are interested in The show “Love, Lust or Run” seen on TLC created a space for anyone with access to the web, to log in and try hair styles and make-up to get a preview of what a makeover might look like on them.

Companies like Shiseido and TLC provide this convenience and add value to the customer’s experience, at no charge to the customer (137). While it costs nothing to use this tool, the fact that this is an option gave me cause to play much longer with lip color than I ever would have. 

In the context of marketing, FaceCake has provided technology that businesses use to reach an entire demographic that they would otherwise miss. This would be anyone, mostly woman (because I didn’t find a site specifically for men that uses this tool) who are not able to shop in person, who want to play with style without making the financial commitment, who may just have a little time on their hands and want to try on eye shadow and rouge. I learned, that a short blonde crop hair do would be disastrous which saved me a world of heartache. The experience was weird but interesting enough that I bookmarked both sites and will return often.