In a dedicated campaign setting, customers are able to create a 3D avatar by entering their height, weight, and gender. For a selected range of jeans (22 items), which is one of the most challenging categories in terms of finding the right size due to the lack of sizing standards, customers can see how different sizes from various brands would fit them, with a heatmap indicating where the item sits tight or loose on the avatar they created. 

Zalando has already successfully run two pilots with selected items of clothing from Puma and Zalando’s private label Anna Field, where more than 30,000 customers tried out this innovative technology. These pilots run for several weeks at a time.  

“Our goal with these pilot campaigns is to learn and understand how customers engage with this new technology so we can develop a seamless scalable solution for the future. We can already see that customer engagement with these campaigns increases and, in fact, around half of the customers try more than one size on the avatar,” explains Stacia Carr, Vice President of Size and Fit at Zalando. “We want to support the industry as it continues to adopt and leverage 3D digital design software and workflows to produce fashion. These processes generate digital assets necessary to scale a virtual try-on experience.”

Zalando is the only European fashion e-commerce platform to have an in-house team dedicated to size and fit. The team uses a combination of fitting models, machine learning, computer vision, and other technologies to predict if items will run big or small. It has also created personalised size recommendations based on customers’ purchase and return history along with reference items that customers can add to their size profile. For those items where Zalando provides size advice, size-related returns have decreased by 10% versus similar items where size advice is not provided.

Zalando’s Size and Fit team is also working in parallel on a body measurement feature, which will allow customers to receive personalised advice based on their actual measurements. This will be rolled out in the upcoming months.  

About Zalando

Zalando is a leading European online platform for fashion and lifestyle. Founded in Berlin in 2008, we bring head-to-toe fashion to over 51 million active customers in 25 markets, offering clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty. The assortment of international brands ranges from world famous names to local labels. Our platform is a one-stop fashion destination for inspiration, innovation, and shopping. As Europe’s most fashionable tech company, we work hard to find digital solutions for every aspect of the fashion journey: for our customers, partners and every valuable player in the Zalando story. Our vision is to be the Starting Point for Fashion and a sustainable platform with a net-positive impact for people and the planet.