Virtual fitting
room solutions provider Fits.me has completed a first close of £4.2m of a £7m ‘top-up’ investment from its new
chief executive, James B. Gambrell, backed by its major investors. The management buy-in comprises new money and
debt conversions and brings total investment in Fits.me to about £13m.
The MBI-round
demonstrates the growing level of investor confidence in the virtual fitting
room sector, with several other providers also raising new investment in the
past three months. Gambrell said: “We’re at an exciting inflection point
for the industry. Several start-ups have created working solutions and
attracted brand-name, paying clients. But only a select few have been able to
deliver the value that commands fee levels that justify the working capital and
investment necessary to scale their business on a global scale. Those that can,
including Fits.me, have successfully attracted new investment. Those that can’t
may be unable to attract sufficient capital to grow and will start to vanish as
they fail to secure further funding. We expect some consolidation in this
highly fragmented sector, and we will seek to take advantage of that,” he
said.
Gambrell,
announced as chief executive in June, has a lengthy track record of joining
innovative technology companies just as they go “Post-Founder’, personally
investing in them and scaling them into successful, international enterprises.
He continued:
“The Fits.me team pioneered a new industry by identifying a huge problem
impacting shoppers and retailers and created an innovative, viable set of
solutions that have successfully delivered real value to paying clients and
their shoppers. But this is just the beginning; the team is now focused on
globally scaling our operations to ensure we can support a rapidly growing
market and increased demands from our clients, while continuing to
differentiate against a growing list of competitive solutions.
“However, we
will not lose sight of what made Fits.me the leading virtual fitting room
solutions provider in the first place: innovation and never compromising on
client success delivered through shopper engagement.
While retailers and brands have taken longer than
originally anticipated to fully embrace virtual fitting room solutions,
Fits.me’s work with early adopter brands such as Hugo Boss, Thomas Pink and QVC
is now paying off as the larger market is waking up to shopper demands of ‘I
want my Fits.me!’. Now, Fits.me is ready to move beyond size and fit to deliver
on the future of fit, fashion and friends.
“In-store,
shoppers use fitting rooms for purposes besides just fit: to try on different
clothes to create a complete outfit, or to ask their friends if they like their
look. There is almost too much choice online and many shoppers would like to
see only a selection of clothes that are relevant to their fit and style
preferences. There are quite a few things that we’re looking at next, to
deliver on the promise of the complete fitting room. We’re aiming to deliver a
portfolio of functionality that retailers will recognise as being of strategic
importance to the way they interact with their customers, linking fit, fashion
and friends – we plan to move beyond mere technology to deliver on shopper’s
growing demand for an online experience which is better than they are used to
in-store,” he explained.
Shopper
personalisation and engagement are key to retailers’ efforts to secure consumer
loyalty. Fits.me has a range of online fit solutions, each designed for
different fashion retail segments, but all provide a vital source of
personalisation and engagement for their client’s shoppers.
Fit remains the problem for retailers to address first,
because consumers cite it as the biggest source of their frustration: a report
commissioned by Fits.me in February 2014 found that 45 per cent of all shoppers
who regularly or always buy clothes online find “the inability to try on
the garment to check the fit” the most disappointing aspect of shopping
online, showing that the online fit problem is not only the biggest problem but
also an enduring one.
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