ShoeFitr: The company Amazon must buy immediately

Considering that Amazon is currently looking to hire people for the sole purpose of trying on shoes... Yes, they need this tech.

http://www.amazon.com/Careers-University-Recruiting/b/ref=gw...

Search for: 133938 (reference code)

> "Amazon.com is looking for a Women's Shoe Fit Model to try on our shoe selection and provide fit feedback to help our customers make the best purchasing decisions. The perfect Cinderella must have the perfect Size 8..."

If this works as advertised, it's a killer app for the on-line apparel industry.

I've had customers with consistent 60-70% return rates on footwear. It got so bad that customers would buy 3 sizes of the same shoe, planning to keep the best fitting pair and returning the other 2. They'd rather eat double shipping than go back and forth 2 or 3 times. The overhead from processing and restocking the returns consumed all their profit, but they had to keep the footwear to complete their product lines. This would have been great.

I was initially confused by the demo.

Potential use cases

1. I have a perfect fitting shoe, I'd like to buy another perfect fitting shoe of a different brand.

2. I haven't found the perfect fitting shoe. I'd like to find one.

I assumed this would be solving problem #2, but it solves problem #1.

I thought I would tell it "I'm currently in shoe X, and it's the right length but chafes on the right side" or something of that nature, and it would tell me a better shoe.

This pain point is one of the reasons I do not buy pants or shoes online.

This is amazing execution of the idea, and I hope they get bought out for the millions they deserve! Or, if they'd prefer to grow it organically, that too!

I would consider buying a new pair of shoes today through these guys if they supported more than running shoes.

That said, what stops someone getting the size recommendation through ShoeFitr and then comparison shopping for the actual shoes? I don't think this stops them being valuable to Amazon, but it does seem like a weakness if they're independent.

Yes! I've been wanting someone to make this product for a long time.[1] So glad y'all did it.

The execution looks amazing. I can't wait for this to be ubiquitous.

[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1673722

Why is this dropping off the frontpage so fast? It's way uncharacteristically down. Is there some kind of hidden penalty at play? It's not spam, and has 50 points in 53 minutes, losing to posts with way less than that...

"Buying shoes online sucks. Sizing between brands (and sometimes even within brands) is different."

Zappos (who Amazon owns) does show whether shoes fit true to size or whether to size up. Is this really that much better?

I saw these guys present at SuperConf.net and what a fantastic idea backed by "patent pending" 3d imaging. Amazing stuff and someone is going to grab them quick for an easy 30 to 50 million.

I'm good friends with the ShoeFitr dudes, they're good guys. They have some serious tech, high reliability web stuff, and they even put up with it being in .NET!

The problem is that the different dimensions to the products dont actually exist. Getting those measurements would come at a great cost. The question is would it be cheaper than shipping returns? Another question- China has industrialized- the next step is dealing in information. When will the suppliers realize they are losing out on a lot of money by not doing the photography and measurement at the factory?

Cool idea to go along side would be an iPad app, which allows you to compare your actual foot to inside of the shoe. From the bottom, from the side, etc. Would also work for gloves.

EDIT: Hell, you even show it on a regular LCD screen. Or allow the user to print it out to compare.

Cool! A German retail site offers something in the same direction:

http://www.mirapodo.de/groessen-kompass

I've been working on a similar concept for dress shoes.

http://sizeadvisors.com/

You can check out their pitch at the Launch conference last Thursday here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRRSdvlWd4E&feature=playe...

Amazon acquired Zappos and created endless. This would certainly fit that part of their business strategy.

Genius idea! I always take a stab at sizing online (I think men's foot sizes are more flexible than women's), but I still don't know if I'm a 10, a 10.5, or an 11!

This reminds me of boo.com. The bubble must be about to burst. Again.

Honestly, I would just like to get 3 sizes with each shipment, try them all on, and pick the best... but without having to advance them 3x the cost of a pair of shoes.

I don't find returning to be a big deal. You put the shoes back in the box they came in, print a label, and drop it off at the post office. Still easier than going to a store, and once you know your size for a given brand, you don't have to do this anymore.

I've also found that shoe sizes don't really vary all that much, in my experience. I wear size 11EE boots, 11EE running shoes, 11EE sneakers, and 11EE dress shoes. I think the problem that a lot of people have is that they order standard-width shoes even though they don't have standard-width feet. Then the fit comes down to how tight the laces are, etc.

But I digress. Zappos will probably not go out of business if they don't buy this company.

A year ago I wrote up some notes for an idea that has elements of this. Funny enough, I sent it to Google and Amazon. I don't know why I bothered. I just wanted to tell someone, I suppose. I did not have a blog then... well I barely have one now. Also, The plan was not exactly something I could do on my own.

The idea was called Travel Packs. You're going to travel? Send your itinerary to Google and it will decide what you need/want to go into your luggage. Google will do all of this by using your itinerary, profile, body dimensions, weather, etc... The Travel Pack will then magically appear at your destination. When your done with your trip, just leave it behind.

Great things about this:

1) You no longer have to pack or bring luggage with you when traveling. 2) Companies have a new way to target consumers. Imagine all of the companies who will compete to have their products placed in these packs. 3) Consumers get to try out new things without having to buy them. How about letting consumers purchase items from the Travel Pack at discounts.

To make this work, the clothes will have to fit. To do that we probably need 3D scans, although that may not be necessary for first iterations. Google has shown the initiative to map the world, why not drive around and start mapping the people. Just think of what you could do with these data! Of course many people would be uncomfortable with these scans and discussion probably needs to happen about who would own these data.

Anyway, I was once pretty stoked about this. Now I don't really care. But I think it's something that someone will do. Actually, I think there is already a company trying to make a go at pre-packaged luggage though I don't know how intelligent it is.