Crowdsourcing Size Information

This morning, my good friend pointed me to a very exciting development in online shopping.

One of my favorite brands; Express, has recently (seemingly about the beginning of this month) launched an interactive section to their website. Users can now comment on individual garments, leaving general thoughts, their age, how frequently they shop at Express, a rating, and most interesting of all: sizing information:

It’s nothing crazy yet; users can simply indicate whether the size runs very small, small, true to size, large, or very large. It’s not a very scientific system, but with enough users, it could be really exciting.

Some suggestions:

• Allow reviewers to input the size of garment they purchased. For sensitivity/privacy, this does not have to be displayed, but one should be able to filter to see people who bought the same size you plan to buy.
• Similarly, allow (but do not require) users to input basic measurements; height, weight, chest diameter, waist, inseam, etc. The fear that this will not be done accurately is, I think, largely unfounded since the people who take the time to do it will be the ones who do it right. Imagine seeing how people who are 6’3″ with a 33″ waist and 35″ inseam think about how the clothes fit. Very, very useful.
• If the above is done; allow a new user to enter their size information and be brought to a list of items (and associated sizes) that similarly built people found to fit well and rated highly.

Certainly an interesting infrastructure being built. It’s not just about helping people get the right sizes, it’s also about involving customers in the brand. People love to be involved and feel like they are contributing (notice, in the above picture, the “Top 25 Contributor” badge; great touch).

Glad to see Express taking advantage of today’s tools; hopefully it’s part of a continually improving campaign.

-Barry