H&M dresses up a new collection with augmented reality and GPS

Shoppers can snap pictures of virtual clothing displays in H&M store windows and receive 10% off a purchase.

Augmented reality technology enables users to change imagery or see information projected onto a phone’s display when looking through a smartphone’s camera. Fashion retailer H&M is changing the reality of its fall/winter collection by letting window shoppers try clothes on and receive a special offer.

Shoppers who have downloaded an app from technology provider GoldRun that combines augmented reality and GPS technologies can snap a picture of virtual articles of clothing—computer-displayed imagery—in the window displays of one of H&M’s 10 Manhattan stores and instantly receive a 10% discount on any H&M purchase. A shopper can also see how she would look in an article of clothing by integrating it with a picture of herself; and she can post her photos to her Facebook page to share the look with friends.

GPS technology also plays a part in the offer, pinpointing a shopper’s location and the store they’re window shopping, connecting the virtual article of clothing on display with GoldRun’s content management system used by H&M.

“After a decade of developing digital media campaigns for top-tier brands and recognizing the explosion in smartphone sales and increasing interest in location-based marketing, I realized there was a need for a new type of media buy, one tailored for the mobile space,” says Vivian Rosenthal, CEO of GoldRun. “GoldRun responds to a specific user’s personal tastes.”

GoldRun’s content management system enables retailers to create and launch mobile media campaigns within days, the company says, allowing marketers to quickly produce and modify customized, location-based campaigns. All interactions with augmented reality objects—in the case of H&M, the virtual articles of clothing—are tracked on the GoldRun platform, which provides detailed analytics on consumer behavior, Facebook posting and purchasing patterns.