Matt Bullock
17 June 2011
The gap between online retail businesses and their traditional, brick-and-mortar cousins, is continuing to close.
The basic ingredients for an ecommerce business - a robust internet payment gateway and an attractive website - remain as important as ever. New services, however, are enabling online companies to add features that were previously outside the domain of ecommerce stores.
One recent example of this phenomenon is the announcement of the launch of robotic mannequins that will enable customers to "try on" clothes before purchasing them online.
The mannequins, created by Estonian startup firm Fits.me, were introduced for male customers in 2010. The company recently announced the launch of a similar service for women.
According to the company, its robots can adjust to conform to the shapes of different people, enabling customers to visualise how a specific garment would look on them.
"Using proprietary FitBot technology, robots can conform to over 85 percent of the female individuals that shop online today," said Maarja Kruusmaa, professor of biorobotics at Tallinn Technical University.
Since the male version of Fits.me was launched in 2010, more than 100,000 users have taken advantage of the service.
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