Online Fitting Room Gets £5 Million For Expansion

Virtual fitting room Fits.me has raised almost £5 million to support its expansion plans. 

The funds will be used to prepare for increased demand and international expansion in places such as France, Germany, other European countries and the US. 

Fits.me says it can boost sales for online clothing retailers by giving customer more confidence to buy and reducing losses by cutting return rates. It works by taking a series of photographs of each item on a robotic mannequin that changes shape to represent different body shapes. These are entered into a database and selected to represent body measurements provided by visitors to the site. 

It says the appropriate fit of clothes depends on the customers own tastes and the software allows them to better judge whether an item is suitable without trying it on. 

Fits.me Lets Online Shoppers Decide
How Their Clothes Should Fit

'While large swathes of retailing already takes place online, there are sectors for which the real online growth has yet to come. Apparel is chief among those sectors, primarily because buying clothes is such a subjective process – most obviously when it comes to 'fit',' said Manu Mäkelä at Conor Venture Partners, one of the new investors.

Other investors included previous shareholder SmartCap, Fostergate Holdings Limited and The Entrepreneur's Fund.

The company reckons the software increases customer conversion rates of up to 62 per cent compared to shoppers using a traditional size chart and a reduction in returns for reasons of fit of up to 77 per cent. It also estimates that online clothing sales are currently about 14-15 per cent of the total retail market. 

The investment follows early stage funds of £2.25 million raised in 2009 and 2010.

Fits.me clients include Adidas, Barbour, Boden, Ermenegildo Zegna, Hawes & Curtis, Henri Lloyd, Hugo Boss, John Smedley, LKBennett, Mexx, Nicole Farhi, Otto, Pretty Green, Superdry, Avenue32 and Thomas Pink. 


Tags: Fits.me, Conor Venture Partners, SmartCap, Fostergate Holdings Limited, The Entrepreneur's Fund, Adidas, Barbour, Boden, Ermenegildo Zegna, Hawes & Curtis, Henri Lloyd, Hugo Boss, John Smedley, LKBennett, Mexx, Nicole Farhi, Otto, Pretty Green, Superdry, Avenue32, Thomas Pink, ecommerce, online shopping, clothing, fashion, internet