New app enables shopping via social influence

Flip Fit aims to bring the “fitting room to your living room.”

The social media app enables consumers to request items of clothing they have seen images of influencers, friends, or other Flip Fit users wearing. Partnering with denim and t-shirt brands including AG, JBrand, Hudson, Retrobrand, Boyish, MadeWorn, Junkfood, Mavi, and Edwin, Flip Fit enables consumers to flip through photos of what other users are trying on. They can also share images of themselves trying on clothing items, and receive “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” votes from friends.

These social interactions within the platform help the company determine style preferences. Users will be rewarded with credit they can spend on new clothes for bringing their friends onto the platform ($10 for each new voting user) and for each vote they give ($1 for each yes or no vote).

To handle returns, Flip Fit includes a pre-printed return label with boxes of requested merchandise and customers can choose exactly when they want UPS to come to their door and pick it up.

“Fashion shopping has always been a social experience,” said Nooruldeen Agha, co-founder and co-CEO of Flip. "The decision for today’s shoppers to buy happens once they receive validation from friends and family, but e-commerce has made shopping very isolating. We are connecting the social behaviors of shopping, which were previously only possible offline, with a virtual experience. Flip is embracing the physiological aspect of decision-making with a technology that is unprecedented in this space. We are excited to build a social media community at the center of fashion shopping."

Flip Fit is capitalizing on the increasingly visual and social nature of fashion retail. Instagram has been significantly expanding its direct-to-consumer digital commerce capabilities during 2019. This has included rolling out direct online shopping features such as Instagram@shop, an assortment of shoppable products curated by a team of Instagram editors.

Pinterest has also been introducing new shopping features throughout 2019. These including personalized shopping hubs, the ability to browse entire product catalogs from select retailers’ pins, and personalized shopping recommendations.

And in June, Amazon launched a new feature called StyleSnap, which enables consumers to take a photograph or screenshot of an apparel item or entire look that they like, and Amazon will automatically recommend matching items.