Size matters online for ecommerce customers

By David Cohen, Superbalist CEO. The sofa has become the store. Shoppers sit in comfort as they pay their bills, order beauty products, shoes and accessories for the weekend event, manage the digital complexities of household and daily living admin. When it comes to online clothes shopping, it can get quite interesting. Without being able to try on an item in-person it can be difficult to know whether the piece fits just right. And so, shoppers in the past have often been left to wait till their order arrives only to have the disappointment of needing to return the item for a different size — if there is still even available stock.

Until recently this has also deterred some people from buying clothes online. Which is why, just as digital transformed the store into a virtual experience, the industry has realised the need to change how people interact with their purchases online. For us at Superbalist we’ve done so through the launch of Fit Finder, the first South African tool to put sizing at shopper fingertips in the digital realm.

What does it do? Well, as the name suggests, if say, you want a pair of jeans and it’s your first time buying from the brand and it cuts to a different size than you’re used to, you now can use Fit Finder to help you select the perfect pair.

Superbalist, part of the Takealot Group, is helping shoppers to navigate clothes shopping across multiple brands, styles, and sizes by giving them the digital version of a physical changing room to check if the clothes will fit before buying. The Fit Finder uses machine learning algorithms to assess production-size, chart data measured against size choices made in the past to identify patterns in purchases and returns data; delivering accurate recommendations that are most likely to fit shoppers.

With the advanced technology at shopper’s fingertips, consumers just choose the item of clothing they like, select Find your Fit, answer a few questions, and then get an immediate AI-driven recommendation on the right size for their item. As for the big question: Has a digital tool designed to make clothes fit like the proverbial glove, done what shoppers want?

According to our data, the return rate of those using the Fit Finder solution has dropped by four times the usual amount. A much higher percentage of women engage with Fit Finder than men, and this aligns with how returns have traditionally been higher in the womenswear department. The number of people engaging with Fit Finder and how often they shop has increased significantly since the solution was launched in 2022. This is an example of the kind of innovative solution, we as a brand are investing in as part of our commitment to listening to our customers and making their experience better and better.

The tool, powered by insights and data, has allowed for shoppers to gain richer control over how they engage with their online shopping, while also reducing the need to returns because of fit issues.

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