H&M, M&S and New Look are among the UK’s favourite fitting brands according to the latest data from True Fit, a solution that helps apparel and footwear retailers optimise fit guidance and drive confidence for shoppers.
True Fit’s Fashion Genome™, the world’s largest apparel and footwear dataset connects preferences and attributes from 89 million active members to data on 17,000+ brands across its global network. True Fit’s shoppers selected H&M as the number one brand for fit in 2022, followed by M&S, New Look, Next and Nike, which also made the top 5 for best fit in True Fit’s Favourite Fitting Brands Report.
Topping the poll, Swedish fashion group, H&M, has focused on transformation initiatives and investment in digital over the last two years, which its CEO Helena Helmersson said were “especially important” in adapting to its customers increasingly digital-first needs, and helping it return a 64 per cent rise in pre-tax profits in its fourth fiscal quarter in November. As well as targeting “well-received collections with more full-price sales [and] lower mark-downs”, True Fit’s analysis showed H&M’s ranging to be Britain’s best fitting brand in 2022, having also topped the poll two years ago in the 2020 Report, demonstrating the role fit and sizing continues to play as an essential part of its customer engagement and loyalty strategy.
Size and fit are now critical elements of driving brand discovery online, giving first-time shoppers the confidence to convert by building trust through high-fidelity fit recommendations, to turn them into repeat, loyal customers.
Among the UK’s top ten favourite fitting brands for 2022 were several new entrants from Direct To Consumer (D2C) brands, as retailers have sought to grow and optimise their owned, direct sales channels. Already a trend before the pandemic, the D2C imperative has been further accelerated as brands look to capitalise on the rapidly growing and sustained digital demand among fashion shoppers prompted by the pandemic.
This includes sportswear and athleisure brands, Nike and Adidas, who have leveraged digital as an enabler to create direct relationships with their customers, as well as British fashion brand, Boden, for which D2C is an important channel, as 95 per cent of its trade now takes place online across its UK, Germany, Austria, France, Australia and the US sites. Boden’s director of digital trading, Nicola Huet, recently highlighted the importance of fit and size in getting to know their customers and meeting their digital-first needs, commenting: “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do and empowering them to find clothes online that make them feel their best is crucial to ensuring customer confidence and loyalty. [Fit] personalisation helps drive that experience and, in turn, has demonstrated tremendous impact on the business.”
Sarah Curran Usher MBE, MD EMEA at True Fit, noted: “Customers want to browse, buy and shop without fear when it comes to fit and size online. And this need has become elevated as shoppers have become more digitally-native and are now discovering new brands – or new categories from their known brands – online. This means they need the confidence to convert, backed up with a product they will keep, so building trust into the buying journey, delivered through high-fidelity fit recommendations that are powered by data insights, will become paramount.”
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