Luxury fashion startup BlinQ banks on AR tech to revolutionise retail

Users can virtually try out clothes on its platform through the use of digital cameras.

Singapore-based luxury fashion startup BlinQ assures that it's not your run-of-the-mill shopping platform as it banks on its app's augmented reality (AR) feature to allow customers to try on outfits virtually.

Users can try on clothes virtually before purchase as the BlinQ platform utilises digital cameras to measure body parametres and make sizing recommendations.

The AR feature, however, is just one key component of BlinQ’s value proposition, the other being mobile commerce. Unlike most e-commerce platforms, BlinQ introduces options to rent or buy the product and provides a curated package providing them with various options to choose from a subscription model.

BlinQ also enhances its logistics and warehousing capabilities to store the luxury products for sale or rent on its platform on a centralised location. Such products are usually fulfilled from Europe and shipped throughout Southeast Asia.

“The final pillar of which BlinQ heavily relies on is automated logistics and warehousing. This important back-end function allows for our products and stock keeping units (SKUs) to get to the right customers at the right time in order to create a superior user experience,” CEO and and founder Bob Chua told Singapore Business Review.

This function would also ensure that a wider range of products can be delivered at a shorter period of time and could introduce a more convenient means of luxury shopping.

These three functions would help the startup solve the pain point of decreasing rate of returns, which is said to be a “common plague” for online retailers as it cuts profit margins and conversion rates. This is estimated to be anywhere from 30% to 70% of purchases during peak season.

In March, BlinQ successfully bagged US$2m from its private investors and Chua adds that they are planning another funding round, which is said to be gaining a lot of interest from venture capitalists (VCs) and institutional investors across the region.

“In terms of proceeds, we have assembled a solid founding team which comprise of the best minds in tech, eCommerce, fashion and consultancy. We have also invested heavily in the development of our platform so BlinQ 2.0, which is our next phase of growth, will be a next generation of features based on our current research and development,” Chua said.