Alvanon, the world's leading apparel sizing and fit expert, has launched AlvaKids, an ingenious new mobile phone application and online widget that will help consumers buy the right size garment from over 500 of the UK's most popular young children's clothing brands.
AlvaKids uses a child's birthday, height and weight to recommend the 'right size' garment to buy, significantly enhancing the shopping experience, increasing customer loyalty and sales while reducing returns.
In the AlvaKids product trial at New York-based Cookie's Kids department store, 97% of parents surveyed said they would recommend others to use the app, 90% said they would be more confident to shop for childrenswear without their kids and 72% said they would share their children's profiles with family and friends to enable them to buy the right sized clothes as gifts for newborns through to pre-teens.
AlvaKids is available to consumers as a free download app from the Apple Store and as an online widget to major childrenswear high street and online retail groups. The Android version will be available in mid-December. The widget will allow retailers and brands to create brand specific sizing recommendations for consumers in-store and on their eCommerce websites.
Parents build a simple body shape profile for each child by entering a few key data points in the AlvaKids mobile app or through a retailer's eCommerce website. This contains information such as birthday, height, weight, body shape (slim, average or plus/husky) and leg proportions. This data is then used by AlvaKids proprietary algorithm to create a personalised sizing recommendation for any of the brands contained in the database. Users will also be able to suggest new brands to add to the system. A key feature of the app is that once the child's profile has been created, the persocal data in the profile will grow automatically with the child so accurate size recommendations can be accessed now and in the future.
Al Falack, director of e-Commerce for Cookie's Kids trialed the AlvaKids app in its New York department store: "We enjoyed a very positive experience with the AlvaKids trial – our customers loved it," explained Falack. "It gives parents the confidence to shop for clothing without their children and they spend more time browsing and less time questioning as a result. We also found it helped parents choose the right size the first time which reduces any inconvenience to our customers and the number of returns we have to process. This results in an increase in customer loyalty and sales."
Janice Wang, CEO of Alvanon played a hands on role in developing the app: "As a mother I understand how frustrating, confusing and tiring shopping for children's clothing can be. AlvaKids is designed to make buying the right size of garment from the desired brand, quick and easy. It's a simple, elegant solution based on a complex, specialist knowledge of children's body shapes and how these change over time and is supported by a detailed analysis of how all the UK's top childrenswear retailers and brands size their clothes."
Alvanon is actively involved in conducting and analysing children's body shape and sizing surveys worldwide. Founded in 2001, the Alvanon Group of companies is the global leader in providing full service, integrated fit solutions for the apparel industry.
