Dive Brief:

• Stylitics Announced on August 26 that it closed $15 million in series B funding, led by PeakSpan Capital with participation from Trestle LP, bringing the total funds raised to $21 million, according to a company press release. The cash influx will allow the company to focus on growing sales and marketing operations and further development of "new types of shoppable, content-driven e-commerce and in-store experiences for brands, retailers, and publishers."

• The company pointed to this recent funding round as a result of its growth over the past year. According to its press release, the company saw a 350% increase in revenue and added notable retailers such as Ann Taylor, Calvin Klein, Chico's, Gap, Macy's and Under Armour.

• The company stated that its outfitting and look-based programs generate an increase of 1.8 times in conversion rates, a 23% increase in units per transaction and a 21% increase in average order value, bringing brands on its platform more than $300 million in increased revenue.

Dive Insight:

One of the critical barriers to online shopping is understanding how a piece of clothing will look on a shopper. That's precisely the problem that Stylitics aims to solve with both artificial intelligence and human stylists considering factors such as location, weather, out-of-stock and underperforming merchandise, per its press release. 

"More and more people are purchasing products they have never touched or experienced in the real world and retailers are challenged to create digital shopping experiences that provide excitement, context, and inspiration," said Rohan Deuskar, founder and CEO of Stylitics, in a statement. 

Stylitics' approach is to inspire customers through curated outfit ideas "across the customer journey." Given that virtual reality is slated to rake in as much as $1.8 billion in revenue for retailers and marketing firms in 2022, it's not surprising that more retailers are trying to find technology that makes the online shopping experience feel more personal, like Wayfair and Lowe's introduction of AR and VR technologies in recent years. 

But other retailers are taking a similar approach through try-before-you-buy services. Retailers like Bonobos, Stitch Fix and Amazon are allowing consumers to test out goods at home before deciding to make a purchase.