BIV MAGAZINE
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BIV MAGAZINE: BC TECH ISSUE 2021 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER
RETAIL’S TECHNOLOGY EDGE Augmented reality, advanced e-commerce among innovations fuelling sales for retailers
GLEN KORSTROM
T
echnology has always been important for retailers, but the need to keep pace with competitors’ innovations, and to exceed them, has never been more important.
Those who fail to dazzle customers with innovative technology risk losing sales to forward-thinking competitors who made those investments. Many entrepreneurs and executives instinctively know technology is an investment, not a cost, and the question on their minds is often whether to spend capital to create proprietary technology, or contract out their technology needs. Sometimes the solution is to buy a technology company. In July 2020, Vancouver-based Lululemon Athletica Inc. spent US$500 million to buy Mirror — a New-York-based, in-home fitness company. Mirror’s marquee product is a device that appears to be a standard mirror, unless it is turned on. Users activate their Mirror to enjoy an augmented reality, where a fitness instructor wearing Lululemon clothing could appear, for example, ready to guide the user through a workout. The Mirror could show videos that include Lululemon representatives, or community events.
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Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald suggested on a September 8 conference call that part of the rationale for the acquisition was the “natural synergy” between driving customer loyalty and generating future sales. “Guests want to engage deeper with us, and each other, and they are willing to shift into the digital space to do so,” he said. “Mirror can be the vehicle through which we offer longterm benefits to our guests, such as membership programs and special experiences.” Lululemon earlier this year installed more than 150 Mirror kiosks within American Lululemon stores, and McDonald said his aim is to have those kiosks in 200 stores by the holiday season. The company plans to launch Mirror sales in Canada on November 22 in some of its stores in Ontario, B.C. and Alberta. Mirror is a revenue driver on its own. Its devices in Canada cost $1,895 plus tax. Mirror memberships cost $49 per-month for unlimited live and on-demand fitness
2021-11-02 3:59 PM
