House of Fraser, Bentalls and Hawes & Curtis roll out beacon-enabled mannequins

British department store groups House of Fraser and Bentalls, along with

shirtmaker Hawes & Curtis are among the first retailers to introduce beacon-enabled mannequins to their store windows.

House of Fraser has introduced the mannequins to its click and collect store in Aberdeen, where customers are able to view its product ranges, collect their online purchases shop online via department's website on iPads and terminals, whilst Hawes & Curtis and Bentalls have launched them in-store at Kingston upon Thames.

London-based technological start-up Iconeme, previously created mannequins which are able 'talk' to customers using VMBeacon technology, which allows the mannequins to sync and transmit information about the clothing on display to consumers via an app on their smartphone.

In order to receive the information, customers will have to download the free Iconeme app, which lets retailers control what information the mannequins send out and allows them to engage directly with consumers who are passing by, or shopping in the store, within a 50 meter radius.

The information offered to consumers includes details about the clothes and accessories the mannequin is wearing, prices and links to purchase the items, or details where they can be found within the store. Shoppers are also able to save certain looks for later or share them with friends.

“It’s the first time in our history that we can get instant feedback from customers and instant sales 24 hours a day which is quite a step forward,” said Edward Smith, brand manager at Hawes & Curtis to the Drum. “I think it’s a game-changing invention and it’s something that’s quite nice: it’s actually an interaction between both your customer and your windows.”

“I think what we’ll do in the future is to actually run different offers in different windows and different looks in different windows and see what has the better take-up. That will obviously lead us to see what is more tailor-made to a particular customer,” he added.