Styling for masses, does it work?

Yuna+Co founder Winzendy Tedja was sitting at a Starbucks store in Singapore when a group of well-dressed women walked into the coffee shop. “I was wondering how long they took to get dressed in the morning and how much they spend on clothes,” said Tedja. It gave him the idea of creating a styling service for women.

Stylist used to be reserved for magazines, photo shoot, celebrities, and the wealthy. In recent years, however, fashion tech companies are investing in styling services by combining artificial intelligence and human stylist. Thread, a British styling services provider, recently secured $22 million series B funding and received back-up from H&M, while America’s Stitch Fix has gone public.

Unlike Thread and Stitch Fix, Yuna+Co has different process. Customers have two options: mini box (Rp299,000) and basic box (Rp599,000). The payment is made upfront before filling in style preference and profile. “We want people to be committed to the box. The moment you pay is the moment you put real intention because you want to get the best. It’s like ‘I need to measure and fill the data properly so the stylist will give me the best options.’”

The company went through several concept drafting before they settle with the current concept. They started testing the market in May, 2017. The app was finally launched in December, 2017. It then evolves as Tedja did more research. “The early concept allowed customers to fill in their style preference and we recommend items to them but it doesn’t convert to sales. In this market, recommendation means nothing because it’s intangible. If it’s film, you recommend to your friends and they can watch it online. Fashion is different. Fashion is not just about me wanted you to try. It is another step of commitment because you need to purchase.”

The research certainly paid off. Since its launch in June, 2018, the company has sold around 800 boxes. They hosted a small launching event at a co-working space. “40 people came to our event. We sold around 20 boxes. Turns out public holiday is not a good time for launching business,” said Tedja. The numbers grew to 57 boxes in July. The big jump happened when the company used influencer marketing. “We work with Andrea Gunawan (@catwomanizer) and we were flooded with DMs from customers. We received around 360 orders.” The following month, the number grew to more than 400 boxes. The company is anticipating 500 more boxes in November. 

“I didn’t expect that the demand would be so high, but it turns out that our people are also having difficulties finding products,” Tedja stated. “We have mother of 4 who barely has enough time for herself, single parents with full time job who have to look good during work, people who are tired of changing style and looking for stuff.” What’s interesting is the subscribers care more about the quality of fabric rather than brand name.

Tedja himself doesn’t like to shop and prefer having someone else curated his wardrobe, but when it comes to the Indonesian market, an out-of-the-box idea like Yuna+Co might sound unrealistic and impossible. However, if we assess the habit of Indonesian shoppers, a service like Yuna+Co hits the right spot. Indonesians love to be serviced. It’s a fact that other tech firm founders notice. “Indonesians don’t mind paying 10% more if they are serviced well,” said Daily Social CEO Rama Mamuaya. Tinkerlust co-founder Aliya Tjakraamidjaja echoed the same opinion, “Indonesian customers prefer DM-ing us on Instagram instead of going to the website to look for the products themselves.” 

In that sense, there lies a big opportunity in styling services, especially with new brands popping up every now and then. The fundamental idea of styling services is to minimise hassle of finding items and simplify searching process. Then there’s the value that customers get that needs to be taken into account. With Yuna+Co, subscribers of the basic box get 4 items while subscribers of Thread or Stitch Fix pay retail price for each item they choose to keep. “People are also paying for the value. With basic box (Rp599,000), you get 4 items worth Rp1,000,000. You also get a stylist and free delivery.”

The future of styling

Before online styling services gain popularity, several tech companies have launched a platform for users to curate products they love, but most of them have been axed. Net-a-Porter’s social shopping network The Net Set is one of them. In 2009, Ben Pierrat launched Svpply, an online social shopping network where members could curate selection of products. The platform was acquired by eBay and taken down in 2012. In both cases, it’s clear that there is limitation on human curation.

There is also the problem of scalability and taste. With personal shopper or personal concierge services, styling is catered to one-on-one basis unless a group of customers orders the same products. Scaling such services would require a lot of human resources. It’s the same for stylist who works with one-on-one clientele.

“The future of fashion lies in the combination of machine and human. There’s too much waste from the fashion industry at this moment. Data will help curb the problem,” said Tedja. The method has been proven by Yuna+Co. “We don’t believe in dead stocks. Brands give us their dead stocks.” On the contrary, he is more afraid of not being able to fulfil matchbox order because of sold-out stocks. “The bigger we are, the more inventories we need.”