Why Zara Is Going to Install iPads in Its Fitting Rooms It'll make changing your mind a lot less stressful.
This story originally appeared on Fortune Magazine
After a Black Friday that underlined the need for store owners to cater to the online and mobile shopper, maybe it's not too surprising.
Inditex, the Spanish company that owns fast fashion chain Zara, is to install iPads in its changing rooms to help customers select the items they want.
According to the Spain edition of the website The Local, the idea is to allow customers to scan their items on to the iPad as soon as they enter the changing room, and then request different sizes or colors to be brought to them by staff if they have a change of mind.
The Local said Inditex will test the scheme in one of its biggest stores in Spain before deciding to roll it out to other countries.
Zara's biggest competitor in the fast fashion space, Sweden's H&M, tried a different approach last year already to marry online and classical retail, when it put cash registers and sales advisers in the fitting area, allowing customers to avoid standing in line at checkouts.
Zara's popularity has made its majority owner, Amancio Ortega, the world's richest man, according to Forbes's real-time calculator. Forbes estimated Ortega's net worth at $79.8 billion last month, on the back of a 30% rally in Inditex's shares this year.
