Rakuten Buys Virtual Fitting Room Startup Fits.Me in Fashion Commerce Play

Rakuten, Japan’s answer to Amazon.com with e-commerce operations and investments that stretch from digital media and e-commerce marketplaces through to social media and transport apps, is making another acquisition to expand its holdings, this time in the area of fashion. The company has acquired Fits.me, a startup that develops “virtual fitting rooms” — two-way technology that lets online buyers who can’t physically try something on better visualize how those items might fit them, and lets retailers collect more information about the preferences and interests of visitors to their sites.