Charming Shoppe’s Lane Bryant rolls out personalized search technology

Bensalem, Pa. -- Charming Shoppes’s plus-size Lane Bryant division announced the launch of Fashion Genius, a new technology that provides personalized product recommendation services. According to the retailer, the technology offers one-of-a-kind fit and style solution guides through a simple survey that combines a woman’s curves, fit issues and signature styles to individual merchandise items in just three minutes and with no measurements required.



Rolling out on LaneBryant.com as well as plus size sister brands, including Catherines.com, FashionBug.com, Cacique.com, Fashion Genius is designed to take the guesswork out of shopping online.



Bill Bass, president of Charming Shoppes Direct, described the technology as a game changer for women who shop online.



"Until now, searching for apparel online has been a frustrating hit or miss experience, lacking the personalization necessary for finding clothes that fit," said Bass. "We're especially excited that plus size women, a typically underserved and marginalized demographic, will get the first bite of the apple.”



Powered by an algorithm that took months to build, using 70 million points of data, Fashion Genius was the result of an extensive Charming Shoppes research and development project that included 10,000 in-person fittings of bras, pants and tops and 1.25 million survey answers.



Zafu is Charming Shoppes technology partner on Fashion Genius.



"The beauty of Fashion Genius is its ability to transform a complex search engine function into an easy to use, uniquely personal, rewarding clothing shopping experience," said Zafu CEO Rob Holloway.