This week, competition in the not-so-niche personal shopping market is heating up. Plus, David’s Bridal is making it a whole lot easier to elope.
Despite retail innovations galore, top-selling, style-befitting fashions are not exactly at one’s fingertips. Those who built careers and businesses off of this industry shortcoming are now looking to further solve it.
Among them is Lupe Puerta, the former global director of personal shopping at Net-a-Porter. Relaunched with a fresh business model in January 2024, her company — a digital personal shopping platform dubbed The Floorr — caters to the growing pool of personal shoppers. Through The Floorr, they can communicate with their clients in multiple ways, access tools that simplify the digital styling process and earn commission on the luxury products their clients buy. Starting next week, they can also access an AI-powered tool called Semantic Search that streamlines the hunt for products fitting their clients’ requests and needs.
“The first release will focus on improving text-based search capabilities, but the system will have the potential to support visual search in the near future,” Puerta told Glossy.
As described by Puerta, the AI behind Semantic Search is trained on product images: It analyzes each image, capturing its visual and semantic essence to create a unique “footprint.” The Floorr’s algorithms then leverage these “embeddings” to boost search relevance. The system also auto-tags products with details, including their category and color, to enhance search accuracy.
Personal shopping platforms created by fashion industry veterans are trending. There’s also Vêtir, founded by Kate Davidson Hudson, whose resume includes Luisaviaroma, Editorialist and Harper’s Bazaar. It soft-launched in March as a “smart shopping app,” complete with personal stylist recommendations. And by September, it had opened a storefront in NYC’s Hudson Yards, allowing its partner stylists to host IRL styling appointments for their growing number of clients. In addition, announced in October, popular luxury fashion sourcer Gab Waller is getting set to roll out her AI-powered sourcing process to fellow sourcers for a fee. She’s currently developing and seeking funding to launch the dedicated platform, called Sourced By.
Leaning on a combination of emerging technologies and personal expertise, these founders are in an arms race to best simplify personal shoppers’ jobs. By winning them over, they can scale their own businesses — thereby eliminating shopping pain points for more end consumers. That is, if they’re willing to pay.
It’s a battle worth fighting. According to Puerta, personal shoppers drive 15% of the luxury market’s $1.6 trillion annual sales. In fact, she said, just 31 personal shoppers at “an e-commerce luxury fashion retailer” recently generated $76 million in net annual revenue.
The Floorr was born while Puerta was heading up Net-a-Porter’s personal shopping services, she said. “I was driven by a vision to solve the persistent challenges in luxury shopping and pioneer a more agile, innovative approach. … There is a huge operational gap, as [personal shoppers] rely on outdated and difficult tools.”
The Floorr now serves 200 personal shoppers, making a commission on each of their sales. Often referred to as fashion tech’s fairy godmother, Carmen Busquets was an early investor.
Moving into the new year, Puerta offered up some predictions for the personal shopping industry: For one, personal shoppers will become trusted industry advisors, based on their exclusive trusted connections with affluent clients. They’ll also become more integral to brand sales, leading to brands increasingly incentivizing them to recommend their products. And finally, brands and retailers will embrace new business models and platforms to leverage the power of personal shoppers.
Luckily, there won’t be a shortage.
And the bride wore … delivery
On Wednesday, David’s Bridal announced a partnership with DoorDash, the delivery service best known for food takeout. DoorDash’s first retailer in the wedding and special occasion category, David’s Bridal now offers on-demand delivery of its dresses, shoes and accessories from its 180 store locations.
According to Kelly Cook, president of brand, technology and finance for David’s Bridal, the move is part of the company’s “anywhere commerce” strategy focused on meeting shoppers wherever they are. Below, she elaborates on the motivators and highlights other developments in the “anywhere commerce” plan.
How did your customers’ behavior inform this launch?
“By speaking to our customers via surveys, social polls and reviews, we learned that most of our brides, bridesmaids and party-goers use last-mile delivery services as a regular part of their everyday life. And, we found, fashion is one of the fastest-growing segments for last-mile delivery services. … We launched a DoorDash test in select markets, and the feedback was incredible. We expected shoes, accessories, necklaces, veils and shapewear to [dominate sales], but dresses have been the most popular, by far. After dresses, a fabulously designed push-up bra is the next most popular item. … Our forecasted results are now about double, compared to what we originally planned.”
To what other sales channels has David’s Bridal recently expanded, and where do you see opportunity moving forward?
“Our resale program is another bright spot for opportunity. Launched in October, it is [already] the largest branded bridal resale program on the market for wedding, bridesmaid and special occasion dresses and accessories. Half of our pre-owned sales are in bridal, while one-third are driven by occasion wear, so we see the opportunity to expand our efforts beyond bridal and invest more there. … [Sales] results are trending higher than our plan, both in order value and conversion rates.
Additionally, we recently launched on TikTok Shop, based on [demand] from brides and bridesmaids. Our ‘Dance All Night’ shoes are the most popular item [we sell on the platform].”
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