eBay have released a new version of the eBay iPhone and iPod app, which now includes a compelling swatch matching feature. You can take a photo of your favourite fabric and the app will then match the colour and pattern from the image to suggest matching items on eBay.
eBay claim to be the UK’s biggest online marketplace for fashion, and leading brands now selling on the UK site include French Connection, L.K. Bennett, Dune and House of Fraser. These hot high street brands are showcased in eBay’s Spring/Summer 2012 campaign, which celebrates UK women’s individual ‘mix and match’ approach to style. The iPhone app complements this campaign perfectly enabling buyers to snap a friends outfit and the find similar garments from current designer to classic vintage looks on eBay.
I get the feeling that the new app will be more appealing to women shoppers than to most men. If you’re anything like me you’re pushed to have a favourite colour, although I know some guys out there have a tad more fashion sense than me. In general though if it fit (more or less!) I’ll wear it, but for anyone who loves to browse for hours you’ll find the new image swatch matching really addictive.
The eBay press release also added “Following a recent update to include image recognition and Milo technology, the RedLaser barcode scanning app now searches thousands of online and local retailers for the best price products faster than ever”. Sadly when we asked eBay couldn’t name a single UK retailer who have signed up with Milo who we’ll be able to compare prices with. If you have an iPhone and find a local UK retailer recommended please do let us know.
4 Responses
Given the inherent inaccuracy of this colour matching process, surely it’s a recipe for endless unhappy customers?
You’ve got the lighting of the listing photo, the quality of the seller’s camera used, and any colour errors of the iphone/ipad. It’s not going to work very well.
This feels gimmicky to me.
Colour matching on online photos is virtually impossible. So much depends on the camera settings and the lighting used for how an image appears.
A solid site-wide returns policy is a far more robust way of getting customers confidently shopping for the colours they love.