The Party People aims to revamp the shopping experience with AR mirror

Just in time for Halloween, New South Wales-based party supply retailer The Party People is taking buying costumes to a whole new level by trialing an augmented reality mirror store this month, which allows customers to try on, and then buy, costumes in seconds.

Augmented reality mirrors, or smart mirrors, save shoppers from taking clothes to the nearest changeroom to physically try the items on. Instead, customers can see what they look like in different styles of clothing or costumes virtually. 

The mirror will be trailed by The Party People for three weeks after Uber, Lendlease, Shopify, StockInStore, Preezie, Starshipit, and Shopexp sponsored the Drummoyne-based retailer to do the pilot.

The Party People chief party dude Dean Salakas, who owns the business with his brother Peter, says the pilot is a world-first retail execution of a shoppable mirror and would have cost him $150,000 to do the project if not for the sponsors.

“While augmented reality mirrors are floating around, we have taken them to another level by adding checkout functionality to them, and as I understand it, this hasn’t been done anywhere in the world,” he told SmartCompany. 

“But most importantly, it is fun.