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Life-Like Mannequins Inspire Real-Life Shoppers

by Grace Hood

In Colorado, a company says it can help retailers 零售商boost刺激 clothing sales銷售 with more life-like逼真 mannequins - you know, those custom-made定製的 mannequins. These new ones are supposed to look like the real people who shop in stores, or at least look the way shoppers imagine themselves.

From member station KUNC, Grace Hood has more on this marketing tactic 行銷策略and whether it's working.

GRACE HOOD: In this economy, getting customers to walk to the cash register takes real work, sometimes magic.

HOOD: In this Southern California Disney Store, an employee helps a young customer wave a purple wand棒 at a talking mirror. It's part of the store's redesign, which includes playful, child-size mannequins that encourage shoppers to interact with the merchandise. The mannequins appear to curtsey屈膝的, jump after balloons and in some stores, fly.

Ms. TERRI COOPER: They definitely look like they're more lifelike.

HOOD: Terri Cooper is shopping along with her daughter and granddaughter. The idea behind the new mannequins is to show children in real and imaginary play poses姿勢.

Regional Manager Jeff Zimmerman stands near a plastic, white castle. On top is a mannequin sitting cross-legged翹腿坐, wearing a blue Cinderella dress. He says they can inspire parents...

Mr. JEFF ZIMMERMAN (Regional Manager, Disney Store): ...to kind of evoke a sense of imagination of your child maybe wearing that dress, and what else to explore in this particular neighborhood.

HOOD: The 32 redesigned Disney Stores are calling their sales very strong for swimsuits and costumes shown on these mannequins. And the company believes the displays played a role in that success.

Chains like Athleta, Charlotte Russe and Dick's Sporting Goods are also putting money into new mannequins. And that's boosted sales for one of the world's largest custom mannequin makers, Fusion Specialties.

Ms. ILLEANA BARBU (Sculptor): I have a maquette小型的設計模型 here that I've been working on.

HOOD: Outside of Denver, sculptor Ileana Barbu is carving a two-foot clay sculpture, one of the first stages in creating a custom mannequin prototype原型. Next to her, gray limbs hang from a so-called arm caddy. In fact, she's surrounded by life-size body parts.

MS. BARBU: And I have a bunch of other heads, like those ones, like those ones like my colleagues have worked on, too.

HOOD: Each design coming out of this studio meets the needs of specific retailers. And Peter Huston, who manages this brand for Fusion, says mannequins can change dramatically可以有非常大的變化, depending on what they're selling.

Mr. PETER HUSTON (Manager, Fusion Specialties): That's why for Guess Accessories, a tall, sleek 光滑的 mannequin that has actually the detail removed but gives you these beautiful fluid lines 流線的外型 to accentuate 強調accessories 配件配飾is a very appropriate and unique use of mannequins.

HOOD: But the needs of Guess are very different from those of Dick's Sporting Goods, which recently updated its mannequins to have more chiseled muscles 鑿刻得輪廓分明的肌理and athletic poses動感姿勢.

For Disney, Fusion created pint-sized小型的 mannequins after studying real kids at play研究小孩子玩耍. The price of creating a custom prototype can run companies from 12 to $24,000. And that's just getting started.

Mass production for Fusion mannequins can run up to $550 each. By way of comparison, an everyday mannequin costs as little as 150. Not only is this custom mannequin process expensive, it can be painstaking.煞費苦心的

HOOD: The molds are attached to a platter大淺盤 the size of a satellite dish小耳朵(碟型衛星信號收受器). While it rotates旋轉, they're filled with a polyurethane substance聚氨酯物質. After the material dries, workers open up the mold like a cello大提琴 case. The mannequins are sanded and prepped磨光打滑 for the next stage: paint.

HOOD: There's a reason why retailers are willing to invest so much money into such a complicated process.

Mr. CRAIG CHILDRESS (Envirosell): As online shopping線上購物 grows and grows, it seems that people coming into the stores are even more and more interested in tactile experience有觸覺的.

HOOD: Craig Childress is with Envirosell, a New York City-based firm that studies consumer behavior. He says a well-designed mannequin will invite shoppers to interact with 與…互動the merchandise.

Mr. CHILDRESS: It's really amazing to us how static靜止的 retail environments零售環境 are. So anything that actually has perception of moving or is actually moving really gets attention very quickly.

HOOD: While it may start with action, a successful mannequin has to ultimately reflect反射 投射 something that customers want to see in themselves, according to Fusion Specialties' Peter Huston.

Mr. HUSTON: A well-designed mannequin will always be far more aspirational會引發熱旺的 than it is realistic. And so you walk a fine line 一線之隔there.

HOOD: A line retailers hope will lead right to the cash register.

For NPR News, I'm Grace Hood.