Retail Tech: Amazon Extends BNPL to Retailers, True Fit x Shopify
The weekly Retail Tech Roundup compiles technology news across the supply chain, manufacturing, retail, e-commerce, logistics and fulfillment sectors.
Fit technology
Shopify/True Fit
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True Fit, an AI-based platform that decodes size and fit for consumers and apparel and footwear retailers, is working to help Shopify merchants provide AI fit recommendations to digital shoppers.
As part of the partnership, Shopify merchants can connect their brand to True Fit’s Fashion Genome, a highly structured data set designed to connect millions of detailed garment specs and style product attributes to the individual commerce behaviors of shoppers.
The Fashion Genome aims to remove shopper hesitation around fit, improve conversion rates, reduce fit-related returns and grow customer loyalty. Reimagining the rudimentary size guide by providing fit recommendations powered by millions of shoppers and enhanced by AI will help merchants of all sizes grow their brands profitably.
True Fit’s expert size and fit recommendations are used by 82 million consumers, tens of thousands of brands and hundreds of retailers globally across men’s wear, women’s wear, kids’ wear, unisex apparel, footwear, swim and structured intimates categories. Merchants of all sizes can now access True Fit’s size and fit features by installing the new True Fit app available in Shopify’s app store.
As merchants grow, they can leverage True Fit’s full strategic platform of offerings, including solutions to improve the cost of shopper acquisition and access unique apparel-retail business intelligence.
Shopify and True Fit have already teamed up to help fashion brands like Few Moda, Greyson, Toast and Dia & Co. fuel growth and success.
Mizzen+Main/Bold Metrics
Mizzen+Main, a performance men’s wear brand, has partnered with Bold Metrics, a company specializing in AI-powered advanced sizing solutions for the apparel industry.
Brand customers can now use the Find My Size solution powered by Bold Metrics’ AI-driven Smart Size Chart to quickly and accurately find the best size for their preferred fit.
According to Daina Burnes, CEO of Bold Metrics, the tech company’s AI solutions create a digital twin of each shopper, determining over 50 unique body measurements through a simple survey. Garment data on a per-style basis is also taken into account and the result is an accurate size recommendation along with indications on how the garment will fit across points of measure critical to fit for that specific style.
The fit tech aims to help Mizzen+Main customers take the guesswork out of finding their size and better consider their fit preferences, Burnes said. Bold Metrics claims its technology can reduce bracketing, increase conversion, and lower return rates.
Bold Metrics cited statistics from Narvar, the online returns specialist, saying that 48 percent of shoppers bracket when sizing options are not clear, and 26 percent bracket when they aren’t familiar with the brand.
La Garrocha/MySize
La Garrocha, a fashion brand from Spain known for its equestrian-themed apparel, has successfully utilized Naiz Fit, the innovative apparel sizing tool developed by AI-driven measurement solutions MySize, Inc.
La Garrocha is using the technology to improve inventory management, increase customer conversations and drive higher sales.
Over the past two years, La Garrocha customers utilizing Naiz Fit have generated nearly $654,000 in purchases. From the onset of 2023, 14.28 percent of first-time visitors to La Garrocha’s e-commerce platform who used Naiz Fit proceeded to make purchases. Notably, customers engaging with Naiz Fit exhibited a 127 percent higher likelihood of completing a purchase compared to those who did not deploy the sizing tool. Given that a “significant” portion of its sales occur online, these metrics can wield a substantial impact on the brand’s bottom line.
“At La Garrocha, we track our purchase numbers closely, so managing the depth of our size set working with seven sizes per garment is very complex,” said Miguel Ángel García Rodríguez, CEO and co-founder at La Garrocha, in a statement. “We rely on experience and place significant trust in Naiz Fit. We continuously monitor the Naiz Fit dashboard to see which size recommendations have been requested per item. Based on this analysis, we optimize inventory purchases to ensure customers have the sizes and styles they want while also increasing our turnover and minimizing unsold inventory.”
Buy now, pay later
Amazon
Amazon is expanding its buy now, pay later (BNPL) offering beyond its website and app by making it available through the Amazon Pay tool on “tens of thousands” of other retailers’ sites.
Customers can use Amazon Pay’s equal monthly payments option for online checkout purchases of $50 or more and split payments over six or 12 months with zero percent interest. This BNPL option is only available to customers using Amazon’s Visa credit cards.
The new feature doesn’t require any change to e-commerce sites currently using the Amazon Pay checkout button.
The expansion of its BNPL technology comes a month after the e-commerce giant announced plans to roll out its Amazon One “pay with your palm” biometric service to all Whole Foods grocery stores.
Splitit
Splitit, a BNPL solution provider that allows customers to pay in installments using their credit cards, has announced a $50 million investment from specialty private equity firm Motive Partners. The company plans to use the funding to accelerate growth and support the execution of its strategic plan.
This Motive Partners investment will allow Splitit to strengthen its capital position, attract larger clients, develop its strategic partnership and further develop its technology.
The financial terms of the $50 million deal comprise two $25 million tranches. The first portion will be immediately invested once shareholders approve of Splitit’s voluntary delisting from the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and change the company’s headquarters from Israel to the Cayman Islands.
The secondary $25 million will be invested once Splitit achieves 2023 financial performance milestones, which the company said it’s on track to exceed.
Existing shareholders will have the opportunity to retain ownership in the BNPL solutions provider as the company goes private, or decrease ownership through trading on the ASX before the delisting.
Livestreaming
TikTok Shop has selected livestream commerce platform CommentSold to power a live selling integration in the U.S.
Through this integration, merchants using CommentSold are able to host live shopping events on TikTok from the CommentSold platform with complete live-show production, commerce and communication management integrated with TikTok Shop.
The live shopping market is projected to reach $57 billion in the U.S. by 2025 and will only continue to grow, according to Coresight Research. In order to adapt to changing consumer shopping behavior and to stay relevant, it is important for retailers and brands to meet their customers where they are.
TikTok has fast become a destination for a growing community of over 1 billion users globally. Nearly half (48 percent) of TikTok users are interested in making a purchase on or from TikTok in the next three months, and half of its users have bought something after watching TikTok Live, according to the ByteDance-owned company.
This partnership is designed to give CommentSold merchants the chance to unlock new sales opportunities, connecting thousands of small businesses, brands and merchants with a new generation of shoppers on TikTok.
The tie-up has already delivered success for top CommentSold performers. Live shopping events and shoppable videos on TikTok are growing at an average of 25 percent week over week on a gross merchandise value (GMV) basis with 57 percent of all first time shoppers coming directly from TikTok.
CommentSold enables over 4,000 small to mid-sized retailers with live-selling tools, generating 163 million items sold with $3.7 billion in lifetime GMV.
Supply chain management
Careismatic Brands/Jesta I.S.
Careismatic Brands Inc. (CBI), a designer and manufacturer of medical apparel and footwear, is now live on the Jesta I.S. flagship cloud ERP Supply Chain Management Suite.
Jesta’s Supply Chain ERP Suite is designed to optimize global product journeys from sourcing and procurement, material resource planning, demand forecasting, product data and lifecycle management, warehouse management and B2B/DTC order management and customer service for wholesalers and brand manufacturers specializing in apparel, footwear and accessories.
Founded in 1995 with Cherokee Medical Uniforms as its flagship brand, the Careismatic Brands portfolio also includes Infinity by Cherokee Uniforms, Dickies Medical, Healing Hands, Med Couture, Medelita, Allheart, and Heartsoul.
Jesta’s Supply Chain Management Suite has helped Careismatic Brands optimize key business processes, most importantly the flow of critical information, including inventory and order updates, from its network of global partners through to its financials and other head office teams for one version of the truth in real time.
The Suite has also facilitated the management of custom orders made by healthcare providers through corporate healthcare-facility accounts. The Supply Chain technology will enable CBI to scale more seamlessly and successfully, and on board additional brands as it continues to pursue its global supply chain and brand expansion strategies.
CBI is leveraging new product development tools to mass manage attributes for new and current products, including purchase, manufacturing and current/future availability details, as well as the capability to assign images and extended text to multiple products for web stores.
The company also uses new procurement tools including the Global Supply Chain Collaboration Hub to facilitate direct, real-time, bi-directional communication between manufacturers and wholesalers with their overseas and nearshore production factories. CBI is also leveraging tools to create and manage draw-down raw material purchase orders enabling quicker turnaround of procurement and distribution of raw materials to factories and supplier networks.
Finally, Careismatic has access to new sales channel management and customer service tools including rapid-order entry. This is designed to be a faster way to take telephone orders featuring comprehensive search capabilities and real-time information on current/future availability and volume-tier discounts and product closeout management to mass manage end-of-life promotions and closeout pricing.
“Supply chain agility is important in every industry, but it’s absolutely vital in healthcare,” said Girisha Chandraraj, CEO, Careismatic Brands, in a statement. “Jesta’s Supply Chain Management Suite has helped Careismatic Brands streamline and expedite our business operations, which has led to reduced delivery timelines for several of our banners.”
Retail point of sale
Lilly Pulitzer/Oracle
Resort and fashion retailer Lilly Pulitzer is transforming its in-store experience for shoppers and associates with Oracle Cloud. Lilly Pulitzer can be found online, in more than 60 retail stores, in major department stores, and more than 50 Signature stores nationwide.
To automate and scale how it serves shoppers in store, the brand recently implemented the mobile Oracle Retail Xstore Point of Service (POS) system and Oracle Retail Xstore Office Cloud Service. Running on tablets, cloud-based solutions provide Lilly Pulitzer’s associates with visibility into a customer’s prior purchase history and inventory levels so they can help shoppers discover the brand’s latest offerings from anywhere in the store.
“Connecting with our customers and local communities to create meaningful experiences every day is a priority for Lilly sales associates,” said Michelle Kelly, CEO, Lilly Pulitzer, in a statement. “With Oracle Retail Xstore POS, our associates now have the time and tools to effectively engage with and delight our customers during pivotal moments in their shopping experience.”
With help from Oracle Retail Consulting and Deloitte, Lilly Pulitzer selected and implemented the Oracle Retail Xstore POS system based on its performance, platform capabilities, scalability and regular delivery of new updates and innovations. With Oracle Xstore Office Cloud Service, Lilly Pulitzer was also able to integrate promotions into the POS system, including its “Gift with Purchase” offers and loyalty program.
“The new Oracle mobile POS allows our associates to execute a seamless transaction from anywhere in the store, capture data to grow the loyalty program, and review purchase history to make real-time recommendations,” said Rachael Crews, vice president of digital commerce, customer engagement, Lilly Pulitzer. “Having this intelligence at their fingertips can be a game changer in moving our customers from browsers to buyers.”
Order management
Grupo Coppel/Blue Yonder
Mexican department store Grupo Coppel has selected Blue Yonder‘s Order Management (OMS) microservice-based, API-first and cloud native solutions, to provide a more consolidated and scalable foundation that can drive incremental sales and better customer experiences.
From March 2020 to March 2021, Coppel recorded a 300 percent increase in digital sales, which was the main reason the company sought to digitally transform its OMS capabilities. Coppel says its goals are to align orders seamlessly, provide accurate inventory availability, make reliable promises to its customers, and optimize the orchestration necessary to meet the growing needs of the omnichannel consumer. The project will be implemented by Blue Yonder Global Professional Services, alongside Coppel’s development team and other internal providers.
The Group is made up of three business units: banking division BanCoppel, financial services division Afore Coppel and its stores. It has 1,750 points of sale, and offers wide variety of categories including furniture, appliances, electronics, apparel and shoes. Grupo Coppel is also one of the largest retailers in Mexico and the third largest in terms of online sales with over 1.1 million visits per year.
Coppel aims to use the order management services to meet the expectations of its clients and offer accurate promises while reducing service costs. The three main apps include Inventory Availability, Commits and Order Services.
Inventory Availability offers a real-time view of inventory and availability at the location and enterprise level with a single source of truth for inventory availability enabling customers to locate and reserve products for purchase.
Commits enables customers to get more transparency into their delivery options and accurate timeframes, including “order-by” and “get-by” timelines.
Finally, order services offers a single workflow engine and enterprise view across the order lifecycle from order creation to delivery, with visibility at each step, including proactive alerting and monitoring across order states, including processing and delivery.
Together, these services aim to increase current conversion rates, reduce online cart abandonment, cut down customer service inquiries, and improve shopper satisfaction.
“We believe a microservices-based approach to order management challenges will provide us faster time to value and allows us to quickly create a better experience for our digital channel customers, while at the same time supporting the future of our omnichannel ecosystem and the role of stores,” said Santiago Ontañón, director of information systems business and digital transformation, Coppel. “We are very excited to start this project that will integrate multiple systems and functional areas within the Group.”
