Dive Brief:

• StyleBox, a service which pairs online shoppers with professional stylists, announced its beta launch in both the iOS and Android operating systems on Tuesday. The platform is "built on top of Amazon and other e-commerce sites," per the company release. 

• StyleBox analyzes consumers' behavioral patterns to provide them with a custom feed of stylist-curated outfits, the company noted in its press release. The company matches users to stylists based on their fashion tastes and pays stylists for their outfit curations. 

• The platform provides tools like real-time search, an inventory system and product categorization to help stylists generate and oversee their collection of outfits, according to the company's statement.

Dive Insight:

Judging from StyleBox's announcement, the company is looking to carve out its place in the ever-growing e-commerce fashion sector. It faces competition from established e-commerce players like Amazon, Stitch Fix and Trunk Club. Amazon entered the market last summer with the addition of a styling service to Prime Wardrobe, while Trunk Club expanded its service last March with a feature called Your Picks, similar to Stitch Fix's Extras, both of which allow customers to add small items like undergarments to their orders. 

Besides building their service offerings and their tech infrastructure, some e-commerce styling competitors are also making notable alterations offline, too. M.M.LaFleur, for example, opened its first concept store last September.​

Stitch Fix is perhaps the most well-known competitor in the space. The styling and subscription service recently acquired the tech and IP of wardrobe tech company Finery, noting at the time that Stitch Fix's approach to personalized apparel curation "closely aligns with the mission of Finery's digital wardrobe platform." Stitch Fix also announced in December that it brought in net revenue of $445 million in its first quarter, and reached 3.4 million active users. ​

As StyleBox outlines in its press release, the company is attempting to differentiate itself from its competitors by facilitating communication between stylists and their customers, with the goal of fostering long-term relationships rather than relying on tech. The company took a direct shot at other players in the space, saying that its customers are "not just getting recommendations or a box of clothes in the mail​" and that the service does not use AI to "fully replace humans or put stylists behind the scene."

"With StyleBox, we aim to solve three problems every fashion shopper faces: selecting new items, matching existing clothes, and finding a unique personal style," Janet Proger, founder of StyleBox, said in a statement.