I wrote earlier about Papu's goal of reducing returns and, in doing so, shrinking our footprint. That post sparked so much discussion that we received a lot of useful feedback on why products get returned. We've tried to learn from that feedback, and we've now built two significant apps designed to help you find the product and size that suit you better.
Find the right size
First, we built an app that helps you find your size when you enter your measurements. The app asks for your body measurements and advises which size to choose. It takes into account what kind of garment it is and what material it's made of. The app also shows whether your measurements are closer to the next size down or the next size up. That way you can decide according to your own preference whether you like a closer or a looser fit, especially if you're between two sizes.
We don't store customers' measurements anywhere; the calculation is done separately every time measurements are entered into the app. We do record on each order whether the customer used this app before ordering. The purpose of this is to track whether or not the app helps reduce returns.
We also record for each product how many shoppers have entered measurements so small or so large that we don't have a size to fit them. This lets us track whether we should expand our size range, i.e. how much demand there is for different sizes.
You'll find this app below the size selection on the product page, via the link "Find your size with your measurements".
The virtual fitting room
We've just launched our newest app, which lets you try a garment on virtually. You upload a photo of yourself, and the app returns an image of you wearing the new garment. That way you can get a glimpse of how the product might actually look on you.
The images you create are saved to your own customer account, where you can delete them whenever you wish. The images also have an expiry period, meaning they are deleted automatically after a while. We can't see customers' images.
You can try this app free of charge by subscribing to our newsletter. It's also enough if you're already a subscriber. Once you've subscribed, you need to log in to the online store with the same email address you used to subscribe to the newsletter.
You get three free try-ons. More try-ons can be bought for a small fee (€2 for 10 or €5 for 50), and the amount you paid for them is refunded as a discount code you can use towards any product.
On products where it's available, you'll find the virtual try-on below the size selection, via the link "Try it on with your photo".
Our experiences so far
The statistics show that in one in five orders, the customer checked their size before ordering. That's a slightly higher percentage than our order return rate. If the app reduces returns by even a few percentage points, that's a huge saving on an annual basis and in the years to come.
It's still too early to say whether it has reduced returns, though, and with such a small sample we haven't calculated it yet.
The virtual try-on has only been live for a few days, so all we can say so far is that it has been used considerably less than we expected. Having to log in and subscribe to the newsletter is clearly limiting its use.
For data protection reasons, however, logging in is mandatory, because everyone has the right to request that their images be deleted, and without logging in, the images can't be linked to the right user. By the way, this virtual try-on app was built entirely in-house.
I'll return to this topic later, once we have more statistics on how these services have affected returns. In the meantime, I wish you all a lovely start to the autumn.
– Tuomo, Papu's CEO
