Is your brand measuring how comfortable your fit is compared to top competitors? In this blog we’ll tell you how to measure your Brand’s Average Fit and Fit Consistency so that you can keep your customers happy and gain an advantage over your competitors.
What is Brand Average Fit and Fit Consistency?
The Brand Average Fit measures what customers expect from your brand’s fit. It is a “fit signature” for your brand. Using the SmartLast database, you can see if your brand fits looser or tighter than the competitor’s average. The SmartLast database has over 2,000 unique styles tested and knowledge of 8 years of fit testing to inform the algorithm of shoes that fit loose, normal, or tight by customers perception. Not every brand or shoe should fit identically, but every brand should have consistency across their product line.
Brand average fit enables Smartlast to measure the Fit Consistency of a brand. This is how consistent all products from a Brand are relative to their Brand Average Fit. The best footwear brands in the world have low Fit consistency scores showing less than ¼ of a size difference between an entire product line. Fit Consistency score improves the experience for your consumers. Fit Consistency Improvements provide Product Development and PLM teams with a metric to show improvement in the product line year over year.
Brand Loyalty
Brands must have a consistent fit across their entire product line so that current customers continue purchasing new products. Consistent fit in a shoe brand increases customer loyalty. For example, if a customer has a favorite Italian restaurant with the best chicken parmesan, they visit the restaurant frequently to get their favorite meal. If they make a visit and the meal is horrible, they will either never return to the restaurant or be very hesitant to make another visit. This scenario is true with loyal customers in the shoe industry as well. If a customer loves their shoe and is ready for a replacement and the new pair is not comfortable and not the fit they are expecting, the shoe brand will likely lose this customer.
As more consumers are online shopping and making purchases bypassing a visit to brick-and-mortar storefront. Increasing the fit consistency across the brand improves the likelihood of customers continually purchasing shoes from your brand instead of your competitors.
How does this help brands create new and improved products?
Brands are using this information to make quicker and more accurate decisions about lasts and materials for new or updated products. If all shoes within a product line fit similar except for one style, this last or material could be eliminated for future developments to keep all fits similar within the brand and keep customers happy. Establishing a brand fit guideline helps to ensure that all shoes are fitting similarly.
These two tools can show how small changes to the product over time reflect the overall average of the brand. This can help brands make small incremental changes to their products that do not change the current customer’s experience, but overtime gains a wider range of fits to attract new customers.
Footwear brands need to deliver comfortable and reliable fitting products to their customers. SmartLast’s new Brand Average Fit and Fit Consistency provides a fast and easy way to ensure your customers always receive the fit they know and love from your brand. To find out your Brand’s Average Fit and Fit Consistency, please contact info@heeluxe.com.
