Sydney-based female tech founders have today launched a personal stylist shopping app, which uses artificial intelligence to web browse and suggest recommendations.

Fashion-tech entrepreneurs Kelly Slessor and Emma Sharley devised the app, after conducting a study of 1,000 women, aged 25-45 years, which identified 80 per cent of women don’t like shopping due to the time it takes and pain of having to return items.

Sharley said it’s clear that there is an opportunity to improve the current shopping experience, not only for shoppers, but also for retailers.

With 60 per cent of traffic to a retailer’s site coming from mobile, the percentage of women buying from their mobile is extremely poor, according to the duo, based on slow, difficult navigation and overwhelm caused by too many options.

“Type “white dress into Google, and you get 186M results,” said Slessor.

By launching the Shop You app, the ex-Westfield executives are hoping to minimise browsing time time for consumers.

The app uses data from search and purchasing behaviours, and continuously learns about a shopper over time. A chat function can be used to find a specific item, which uses natural language processing to understand search queries.

Shop You has partnered with over 30 brands including Witchery, Spell, Uniqlo, Ellery and Cotton On.

“Retailers are facing more challenges than they ever have, with dominant global and online players, high return rates, a lack of insightful customer data and a very well attuned customer,” said Sharley.

“When they are unable to make informed business decisions with real-time, accurate insights, there’s an overall reduction in conversion rates, customer loyalty and effectiveness of the marketing dollar.”

Personal recommendations can increase conversion rates by 150 per cent, according to the duo.

“The opportunity is all in the algorithms.” Slessor said.

“Predictive technology allows you to reach customers and convert them at a higher rate when they are ready to purchase.”

In researching the market opportunity, the founders said they have studied over 40,000 customer reviews to find out what customers want from a mobile shopping experience.

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