Stitch Fix
Stitch Fix is a service that shops for women, matching clients with boutique-brand clothes, shoes and accessories on recommendations powered by a combination of data science and human stylists. Customers pay a $20 "styling fee" to receive a box of five personally curated items either on demand or by subscription at regular intervals. They try on the clothes at home, keep what they want and return what they don't. Clients pay the full retail price of any clothes they hold on to, less the $20 fee, which is applied as a credit. Its core customer is a woman between 25 and 45, comfortable at prices of $55 and up. Stitch Fix believes that if it keeps getting it right, customers will keep coming back. Many factors are considered, especially in the styling business area, and there is much to consider when trying to figure out target market.
I completely understand that women who do not have time to shop or do not know anything about fashion why they would be attracted to this business. However, for the average person, I do not see how this can be the future. The company has the right mind frame of personalization and the shopping experience as well as convenience and technology, but realistically speaking, I do not see many people being committed to this. The article mentioned that the cost of this venture is not on the cheap side, so unless the women the company is targeting makes a substantial amount of money to be using the service often, I don't see it working for everyday people. I do think that personalized shopping is a part of the future of fashion and I appreciate unique, individual style, so I like the idea of the service, I think there just has to be a new and refreshing way to get more people interested and committed to the service. This can open doors for other entrepreneurs and competitors to improve upon or completely change the idea. Either way, figuring out how to mass-produce personalization is an interesting and exciting venture.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2016/06/01/fashionista-moneyball-stitch-fix-katrina-lake/#2e14dfa32e2e