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Online fashion shopping can be a frustrating experience for many customers. According to Coresight Research, about one-fourth of online apparel purchases are returned, mostly due to problems with size and fit. This not only hurts the customers’ satisfaction but also the retailers’ profitability. The National Retail Federation reported that retailers processed $743 billion in returns last year, nearly 15% of total retail sales. The return rate is even higher for online purchases, 18% of sales versus 10% for in-store purchases.
Amazon, the nation’s second-largest retailer, is well aware of this challenge. That’s why it has launched an AI-powered assistant called Amazon fit finder, which helps customers find the best-fitting size for their online fashion purchases. Amazon fit finder is handy for a multi-brand retailer like Amazon, where a medium in one brand might be a small or a large in another.
How Amazon Fit Finder Works
Amazon Fit Finder uses a learning-based algorithm that compares the sizing differences between brands, incorporates data from customers’ product reviews and past fit preferences, and recommends the best-fitting size for the customer. Amazon explains:
“The algorithm anonymously clusters together customers with similar size and fit preferences, and products with a similar fit. From there, the algorithm learns from millions of product details, such as style, size chart, customer reviews, and billions of anonymized customer purchases. It also takes into account sizes bought and kept by similar customers for the same product, or similar-fitting products.”
Amazon Fit Finder also processes all customer reviews using large language models (LLMs) to gather details about size accuracy, fit, and fabric stretch. It then suggests whether a customer should size up or down on a particular item. The review highlights are displayed in an easy-to-read summary, freeing customers from manually parsing individual reviews.
Additionally, Amazon Fit Finder has improved the sizing charts to standardize them across different brands. Using LLMs, it extracted size chart data from its many different vendors, processing the various size inputs to present a simple-to-understand size chart that is standard across the platform.
How Amazon fit finder benefits customers and Vendors
Amazon Fit Finder is not only a convenient tool for customers but also a valuable resource for vendors. Amazon is leveraging all this machine learning in a Fit Insights Tool to help its vendors better understand customer fit issues and correct inconsistencies at the source.
“By leveraging this data, brands can better understand customer fit issues, improve how they communicate sizing to customers, and even incorporate the feedback into future designs and manufacturing,” the company stated, and added, “This helps brands reduce fit-related returns and more accurately list their items for customers.”
Amazon Fit Finder is also aligned with Amazon’s customer-obsession mission, which is to start with what the customer needs and work backward. As Jeff Bezos famously said, “We’re not competitor obsessed, we’re customer obsessed.”
By addressing the number one reason for fashion returns – improper fit and unpredictable sizing – Amazon Fit Finder is reducing the cost of returns for itself and its vendors, and boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty for online fashion shopping.
How can I use Amazon Fit Finder?
Amazon Fit Finder is a feature that helps you find the best-fitting size for your online fashion purchases. To use it, you need to follow these steps:
- Visit the Amazon website and browse the fashion items you are interested in.
- On the product page, look for the “Fit Finder” button next to the size selection. Click on it to open the fit finder window.
- Answer a few questions about your height, weight, body shape, and fit preferences. You can also enter your measurements if you know them.
- Based on your answers, the fit finder will recommend the best-fitting size for you. It will also show you how other customers with similar size and fit preferences rated the product.
- You can also see the review highlights, which summarize the feedback from other customers on size accuracy, fit, and fabric stretch. This can help you decide whether to size up or down if you are in between sizes.
- If you are not satisfied with the recommended size, you can adjust it manually or try a different style. The fit finder will remember your preferences and apply them to other products you browse.
- Once you are happy with your size selection, you can add the product to your cart and proceed to checkout.
You can learn more about how Amazon fit finder works and why it matters from this article.
