By Alicia Fiorletta, Senior Editor
How many times have you opened your closet and muttered to yourself: “I have nothing to wear…”
The women reading this can probably empathize more than the men, but I’ve said the above statement plenty of times. I’m also guilty of snapping pictures of myself in potential outfits — both in and outside of a store fitting room.
When we are having trouble making a decision, we crave feedback and guidance. Whether from a blogger/influencer, friend, family member or likeminded stranger, we want people to validate our decisions and/or guide us in the right direction!
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In a nutshell, that’s why fashion analytics company Stylitics created ClosetSpace. Designed to provide consumers with a convenient destination to acquire fashion inspiration, ClosetSpace empowers users to get more value out of the apparel they own by suggesting outfits based on weather, temperature and occasion.
Now, the company has launched ClosetSpace Outfit Shop to create a one-stop shop to find styled looks from leading brands and retailers. Brands that are using ClosetSpace Outfit Shop to craft and curate looks include: Alice + Olivia, BaubleBar, Dressbarn, Farfetch, Lane Bryant and Macy’s.
On average, Stylitics is signing between three and five retailers a week. To participate, consumers can create a free ClosetSpace account, access the web site or download the app in the Apple and Google Play stores.
“People think in terms of occasions, weather and outfits,” said Rohan Deuskar, CEO of Stylitics. “Every morning they wake up and say, ‘Where am I going today, what’s the weather like, and what should I wear?’ Our outfit suggestions and planning tools save our busy users a few minutes each morning and helps them feel better about how they look as they head out the door. And now with the ClosetSpace Outfit Shop, we are helping them shop the looks they find inspiring, as well.”
The release of ClosetSpace Outfit Shop comes on the heels of the company experiencing monumental growth for its flagship solution.
“We saw record sign-ups for ClosetSpace through press and word-of-mouth, with more than 10X new users each day than on the previous version of the platform,” Deuskar said. “Users have responded very well to the new focus on outfits and managing your style.”
ClosetSpace also saw a strong response to its email campaigns, which featured outfit inspiration. For example, consumers worldwide open weather-based emails, with the average click-through rate for these messages is 20%.
“With such high open and click through rates on our outfit suggestions, we realized that consumers actually were trying to buy the looks they saw,” Deuskar noted. “And we realized there’s no shopping experience that presents customers with a wide selection of professionally styled outfits for various occasions. If you’re shopping for office attire, you have to first browse through a lot of sites to find products that suit you, and then try to style them. With the ClosetSpace Outfit Shop, you find looks you like and then shop the products.”
While ClosetSpace Outfit Shop is undoubtedly a super cool service for shoppers, there also is inherent value for brands and retailers. The team has a staff of trained stylist that works on brands’ behalf to curate outfits and, in turn, drive sales. After all, consumers are always seeking expert advice and guidance on buying decisions, and always want to see how they can get the most value out of the items they buy — especially apparel.
“When you show consumers how to style products, they are more likely to buy and more likely to buy things that go together,” Deuskar said. “So outfits increase conversion as well as average order value. In fact, we have a number of retailers who are going to be using our Outfit Gallery widgets to add shoppable outfits to their own sites.”
While the outfit curation acts as a managed visual merchandising service and is free for retailers of all sizes, ClosetSpace Outfit Shop only charges brands and retailers a standard cost-per-click and draws an affiliate fee from sales.
“The most successful brands and retailers on ClosetSpace will use the outfits we style for them in their social media, make them a regular feature in their marketing emails, and even integrate them in their in-store displays,” Deuskar reported. “We even work with them to help with storytelling. For example, our stylists can create collections like ‘20 looks inspired by the Oscars,’ and the retailer obtains access to timely, shoppable content they can use to engage their customers.”
Click here to learn more about ClosetSpace Outfit Shop!
