In our latest podcast, we speak to Rhonda Textor, director of data science for True Fit

If we are selling clothes and shoes to consumers, we like to claim we know a lot about them so we can offer them just the right products based on their preferences. But just how deep does that insight go? Is it more suited to our purposes, for marketing and financial statistics, than it is to the customer?

The answer is almost certainly yes, and if the Pandemic has taught us anything, it is that the retailer is no longer in charge of the relationship – customers are making their own decisions in so many different ways – where, when and how they shop. This much was already known, but the pandemic has thrown everything forward into the future, accelerating all the trends.

Data all over the place

So where is the data about all this that will enable the retailer to respond accordingly? Chances are it is all over the place, and the digital transformation journeys that most brands and retailers are on are simply not moving quickly enough. And even if they are, is the data really deep enough to understand the customer’s real preferences?

Some much preference data is based on history and makes predictions based on that history. And it is largely transaction-based, looking only at what happened during a particular shopping journey. The richness that is needed to ensure customers by and keep what they love is often absent.

Are you customer fit?

This is a particular problem in clothing and footwear when it comes to fit, a problem that True Fit has been addressing for a number of years, to the point where it now has recorded the fit preferences of millions of consumers as well as the sizing from thousands of brands and retailers. Add to that live intelligence based on actual transactions, including the percentage of cart abandons, returns and replacements, and you start to get a picture of the fit preferences of the nation, all the way down to the individual consumer.

In short, today’s consumer knows what they want, they just lack the confidence that they are going to get it from you. Smart brands using True Fit are giving consumers their own tools to express their preferences; and not just fit, but colour and style, retail channel, service and fulfilment, social sharing and so on.

Personal, perfect, preferred

Now we start to get a picture of the consumer built by the consumer, powered by them but available to brands to ensure that every single step of the journey is personal, perfect and preferred.

Listen to the podcast here.