Zalora offers virual fitting

Shopping online has become hugely popular but it still presents a headache for many consumers who do not know what sizes to buy.

Should the blouse or shirt be a size 40 European or 14 US?

Fashion portal Zalora has set out to remove the problem by partnering with a virtual clothes-fitting firm called Virtusize that lets shoppers find the best-fit clothes.

Zalora's regional managing director Michele Ferrario said better-fit guidance is the No. 1 request from online shoppers and over half of all returned garments are due to poor fit or wrong size.

By removing this uncertainty, Zalora will be able to reduce returns while boosting the shopping experience and increasing sales, he added.

"With the Virtusize solution called Fit Visualiser, we are able to offer our customers an added layer of confidence when it comes to selecting a product."

Fit Virtualiser works by using a reference garment, which can be obtained if a customer has already shopped at other portals like fashion e-tailers asos.com, Monsoon and Espirit, which use Virtusize.

A shopper can then click on the Virtusize button on the Zalora website to find the reference garment and compare the difference in size and fit between the reference garment and the item he wants to buy.

Virtusize is available for leading brands on the site, including the Zalora house brand Ezra by Zalora, and is available for shoppers here and in Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

This article was published on May 15 in The Straits Times.

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