Start-up to offer "you try, we wait" service to brands and designers

A new start-up is giving brands and designers the opportunity to offer a "you try, we wait" service to its ecommerce customers, similar to those that are starting to come on-stream in the luxury space.

Yourfittingroom.com enables brands to offer a service along the lines of the EIP service recently announced by Net-A-Porter.com and MrPorter.com, which allows customers to place an order to try on at home while a courier waits to take back any unwanted items.

Launched by entrepreneur Liam Young the service has already signed up a number of brands including Traffic People, Moka, Karma Beach and Longstaff Longstaff. The brands' products feature on the Yourfittingroom.com website and customers can select either standard delivery (which is fulfilled by the brands) or the free try at home service, which is operated by Yourfittingroom.

Liam Young with colleague Victoria Irving at the recent Scoop trade show

“Trying clothes on is essential when shopping for fashion. So rather than focusing on reducing returns, we’ve made them part of our process so that customers can try clothes on at home just as they would in-store," Young said.

Only available within the M25 at this stage, customers can choose a one-hour time slot within which to receive their order. Orders are delivered on rails in reusable garment bags (which the business says will cut down on unnecessary packaging) and a courier will return to the address to collect any unwanted items 30 minutes later. The couriers carry iZettle mobile payment to take payments for items kept.

Young said he was targeting high potential emerging designers and smaller brands with the service, while also planning to partner with a number of international brands. Expansion ambitions include offering the service in other regions and embedding the Yourfittingroom option into brands' own websites.

At present only items featured on the Yourfittingroom site can take advantage of the try before you buy service. The stock is held by the brand and once the order is placed it is collection by Yourfittingroom and taken to the customer. While the service is free to the customer, brands pay a commission to Yourfittingroom for every item it sells, which Young says earns them double the revenue of selling via the traditional wholesale route.

"We’ve been thrilled by the response both from our customers and from our designers. Through continued support, we're planning to scale operations and begin offering our luxury service throughout the UK," he added.