Need help with a gift? Maybe Ellie the Elf can help. She's not a real elf, even though her blinking blue eyes and clapping hands at your every question make you feel as if you have inhabited her cartoonish world of snowy trees and giant gift boxes.
The Mall of America in Bloomington has teamed with Ellie's creator, Los Angeles-based Vntana, to create a "mixed reality" interactive experience for shoppers that is being used in a retail space for the first time.
Launched on Black Friday, more than 1,000 shoppers have visited the 3-D elf at the "Holiday Cottage," located on the third floor on the mall's north side.
At a time when more people are doing their shopping online, creating experiences like Ellie the Elf is one way to keep customers coming to physical stores and to make creative use of technology, mall officials said.
"Innovation is always on the forefront of what we do," said Jill Renslow, the Mall of America's senior vice president of business development. "Change keeps the experience fresh."
The Mall of America already uses chatbots on its website and a mobile app to answer customers' questions. And it was one of the first shopping malls in the U.S. to try out a robot named Pepper as part of Super Bowl festivities in February.
Ellie is a holographic projection, or hologram, that uses artificial-intelligence software patented by Vntana that connects to the mall's existing chatbots. Powered by a 3-D gaming engine, it gives people the sense that they are talking to the character in real time.
With dark brown hair, striped stockings and pointed green elfin slippers, Ellie offers shoppers a choice of gifts for men, women, teens, kids and babies. Shoppers talk to the character through a microphone.
