Shopping is getting more personal, as retailers and brands try to use data analytics to deliver curated and targeted product recommendations to consumers online—and ideally boost sales.
The latest example is True Fit, a Woburn, MA-based software company that has amassed millions of data points on the fit and style of shoes and clothing products, as well as consumer preferences. The company and its retail and brand partners use True Fit’s “genome for footwear and apparel” to make size recommendations to online shoppers and predict how a product will fit, which in theory should increase customer satisfaction and decrease product returns; to serve up personalized collections of products that a shopper might be interested in; and to deliver insights to retailers and brands that help with marketing, merchandising, and product development.
Now, True Fit will attempt to push deeper into the digital fashion industry with the help of a $25 million Series B funding round announced Wednesday. The money comes from Intel Capital, as well as previous backers Jump Capital and Signal Peak Ventures. True Fit says it has raised $40 million from investors since it was founded in 2007 by Babson College graduates.
For shoppers, True Fit aims to make it “as simple to buy shoes and clothing digitally as it is to buy books, music, movies, and consumer electronics,” CEO William Adler said in a press release. And that should help retailers and brands sell more—True Fit said retailers are often able to lift online net revenue 5 percent with its help.
“It’s an exhilarating time at the intersection of fashion and data science,” Adler said in the release.
He’s not the only one who sees opportunity at that intersection. Startups like Stitch Fix and Wantable, for example, use a combination of human stylists and computer algorithms to assemble curated boxes of fashion products that the companies mail to customers each month.
True Fit says more than 20 million shoppers are registered on its platform, which is integrated with websites from retailers like Nordstrom and Macy’s. Adler told BostInno his company counts 70 retailers as customers, and it employs 67 people in Woburn, Los Angeles, London, Munich, and Mumbai.
