Скачать или смотреть Men are clicking on virtual stylists

(2 May 2014) LEADIN:
Badly dressed men now have no excuses!
A Berlin based company specialising in curated shopping for men by online stylists has attracted 100-thousand customers in two years.
It is now looking at a European-wide expansion.
Outfittery employs some 50 mostly female stylists that pick outfits for its male customers from some 100 brands.
STORYLINE:
Busy streets, endless choices, crowded shops with thumping loud music - shopping for clothes is not for everyone.
Men may tread with trepidation on to the high street.
And after an average of 26 minutes they are bored with shopping, according to a 2013 study of the shopping habits of British men by UK based cash back site Quidco.
This compares to over two hours for women.
Some men have solved this by going online for their shopping.
According to a 2013 study by investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, global e-commerce sales have increased by around 19 percent per year from 2011 to 2013. Men's online shopping now racks up about 963-billion US dollars.
According to a 2013 study by research company eMarketer, the apparel market is the fastest growing online segment in the US market.
But it appears that a lot of men still want a woman to help them with their fashion choices.
Outfittery is a Berlin based company that employs some 50 women, and a handful of male stylists to help men choose their outfits for work and leisure.
The company was founded in 2011 and now has over 100-thousand customers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
And with a recent 13-million euro (18 million USD) investment the company is looking at further European expansion.
Julia Bosh founded the company with a friend after returning from New York and seeing how many of their male friends used private shoppers to taken them department stores and malls.
She explains why an online-curated shopping service works for men.
"Usually men don't enjoy shopping so much, they rather spend their Saturdays with family and friends and watching football than going shopping. So, we take the pain out of shopping for them and just do the job for them."
Simon Smed has been using online-curated shopping services for three years.
He started using Outfittery when he needed an outfit for an important business conference.
When signing up for the service, customers are asked to show their preferences for what clothes they like to wear, what sizes they have and how much they are willing to pay for certain items.
He says he avidly avoids shopping by himself and he uses online stylist is a way of avoiding arguments with his girlfriend.
"My grandmother and my mother used to get me clothes. My girlfriend, she also likes to get me clothes but the shopping situation with her is sometimes a bit complex, if she likes it more than I do or if I like it more than she does. So, replacing her in that role with a stylist, that works quite well," he says.
Outfittery's 50 female, and handful of male, stylists are working from five rooms in their office in the trendy Kruezberg district of the German capital.
They stay in contact with their customers by phone, email or social media.
Most of them have a background in fashion, as journalists or designers, or in retail.
Maria Ahrens, originally from Switzerland, has been working for the company for over a year.
She says the key to success is to get to know the customers:
"You just try to get to know your customer very well. So you can pick the clothes that fit his personal style and of course his current needs."
The styling service is free, the customer pays for the clothes and returns what he does not like.

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