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Sears has launched a virtual closet, called e-Me, for the promotion of its back-to-school season, partnering with Meez and Virtual Model, which powers Meez.
The site basically operates as a Sears-branded Meez. All the clothes to choose from are those that are being pushed for the back-to-school shopping season, such as The Cheetah Girls line and Canyon River Blue. Real photos are used for the items you can select for your Meez, though a digital representation is used for your actual avatar. All the other functions for Meez is included for the Sears-branded version, including backgrounds, pets, hairstyles, etc. There's also a gallery for users of e-Me, where you can check out other users' creations and rate them. Sears has indicated that it will be adding games and other user interaction in the future. Items can be saved to a closet and printed out for an in-store discount on clothes.
Perhaps testing out this particular tactic will encourage Sears to include its clothing lines within the regular Meez line-up. This could extend Sears' participation in Meez beyond back-to-school season, and even create another stream of revenue if Sears were to charge for some of its clothing items, as many items on Meez will cost you a couple of dollars. Wal-Mart is taking a social-networking approach to its back-to-school season as well, creating a group on Facebook.