Straight to the point
If you operate a Shopify clothing store, integrating Sizebay is an easy way to give your shoppers a better experience while increasing conversions and decreasing returns. Learn how to integrate Sizebay into your Shopify store.
Selling clothes on Shopify is big business. Shopify stores receive more than 2.1 million daily active users, and of the stores they’re browsing, more than half a million are clothing stores.
And if you’re here reading this article, it’s because one of those stores is yours and you want to give users of your store a better online shopping experience.
In this article, we’ll briefly discuss the importance of having a size recommendation tool in your Shopify store and the process of integrating Sizebay.
Why integrate Sizebay into your Shopify store?
Help customers order the right size
When shopping for clothes online, the most frustrating experience is finding a piece you really like and not being sure of what size to order.
A shopper may think, “If I order this sweater, and it doesn’t fit me, I’m going to have to exchange it.”
Even if they don’t have to exchange it, the thought crossing a shopper’s mind is already a negative experience. It causes friction in what could otherwise have been a seamless purchase.
A lot of shoppers don’t want to run the risk of having to return clothing.
After all, shopping online is meant to be more convenient than shopping in person. Shoppers find something they like, they buy it, and it gets delivered to their homes. But if they order the wrong size – now they have to contact the store and request an exchange.
If that happens, the online experience has become more cumbersome than shopping in-person. In person, shoppers can physically try on clothing and be sure they’re walking out with the right size.
In the virtual world, providing accurate size recommendations is the equivalent of a physically fitting room. It makes shopping online easier and faster for shoppers.
Increasing conversions
When the shopper we described above considered the possibility that they might order the wrong size, they’re likely to have abandoned their cart.
Regardless of industry, most carts are abandoned, more precisely, 70.19% of carts are abandoned. In apparel sales, sizing uncertainty is responsible for some abandoned carts. Helping shoppers pick out the right size can go a long way in encouraging conversion.
The conversion rate of Shopify clothing stores typically increases by eight times after integrating Sizebay.
Reducing returns and exchanges
Now, let’s consider another scenario for our imaginary shopper. What if they didn’t give up on their purchase but instead ordered the wrong size?
Their shopping experience has become inconvenient, and your store pays in losses in reverse logistics and unsold clothing.
Worldwide, 38% of shoppers return clothing because they don’t fit properly.
On average, stores with Sizebay have 50% fewer returns.
Customer satisfaction
Aside from the obvious incentives of increasing conversions and reducing returns, size recommendations greatly improve the shopping experience for users.
Users expect seamless experiences while browsing online, and shopping for clothes is no different.
A user being able to find a garment they like, and quickly pick out the right size, is a smooth experience. In many ways, it’s even more convenient than physically trying clothes on in a store.
That kind of experience is the one that keeps customers coming back.
Integrating Sizebay into your Shopify store
Integrating Sizebay into your Shopify store is easy. The process consists of creating size charts for your catalog of products, validating those size charts, and then integrating the Sizebay app in your store.
Below we break down each of the steps in greater details:
Step #1: Creating size charts
For accurate size recommendations, our algorithm, ABACUS, needs user-inputted data (height, weight, age) and product size charts.
Developing size charts is easy, and will require you to gather some information on your end from your fit models.
(Note that when we say fit models here, they don’t necessarily need to be models. They can be colleagues who work in your store or anyone you have available to try on your pieces.)
If your store already has size charts that list body measurements, you’ll skip to step 2.
Fit model measurements and product categories
In this step, you’ll list some data about each fit model and the correct size they wear in different products and categories. The correct size being the size that best first their body without taking into consideration their personal preferences.
We ask you to perform these fit checks on your end since you have access to the products you’re selling. We’ll provide a spreadsheet for you to enter each model’s height, weight, gender, and age, along with their body measurements (chest, waist, and hip), and the sizes they wear.
When different products fit the same, they can be grouped together. For example, if someone wears size M in all shirts, t-shirts and jackets on your website, they can be grouped into a higher category.
A team of pattern makers at your service
We understand fashion, and with that we understand the importance of getting fit and fall right when it comes to sizing. Our pattern makers will guide you throughout the entire process of collecting body measurements.
After you’ve collected all the necessary information, our pattern makers will create your size charts in 5-7 business days. Whenever you launch new collections or products, our team is available to make adjustments or help in creating new size charts.
Why we use body measurements
Creating your size charts with body measurements allows size recommendations to take into account the unique body proportions of every individual shopper. Also, due to fit and fabric, garment measurements don’t always accurately reflect how clothing will fit.
Imagine a pair of leggings. Since they stretch so much, their garment measurements will be much smaller than the legs they’re intended for. On the other hand, garments that are oversized or are meant to fit very loose, have garment measurements that are much bigger than their corresponding body measurements.
If you’d like to learn more about body measurements, make sure to check out our size charts e-book.
Step #2: Validation
When your size charts are ready, we’ll validate them before integration. We’ll set up a demo store so you can test out the accuracy of size recommendations.
If the tool makes incorrect recommendations during the validation process, we ask for the data entered to make the relevant adjustments in your size charts.
Once all size charts have been approved, validation is complete.
Step #3 Integration
With your size charts approved, we record everything in a single file to understand which products to match with which size charts. This file is passed on to the implementation team to create product integration rules.
Then, all that’s left to do is integrate Sizebay into your Shopify store. Sizebay integrates into Shopify stores just like any other app, and our team will provide step-by-step instructions to guide you.
Integrating Sizebay into non-Shopify stores
If you don’t use Shopify, you’ll still need to create size charts for your catalog as mentioned above. The only thing that will change is the actual integration of the tool into your store.
For non-Shopify stores, you’ll need to grant our technical team access to your website or Google Tag Manager. Once our technical team has access, they’ll take care of inserting all the necessary code for the Sizebay plugin to run on your site.
Regardless of where you want to integrate Sizebay, our team will run all the necessary size charts and size recommendation tests to make sure everything is running perfectly. We’ll take care of nearly everything and you can rest assured knowing your clients will have access to quick, easy, and accurate size recommendations that take into account their personal preferences.
Stores that use Sizebay
When Miik, a Toronto-based women’s clothing brand, wanted to transition from selling their clothes in stores to selling directly online to customers, they knew they needed a fast way to help shoppers pick out the right size.
Shoppers with questions about sizing were reaching out to their customer service team. While their team was happy to assist with sizing questions, there was an inevitable delay for response time, in which time many shoppers would shop elsewhere.
Helping shoppers order the right size is important for the brand, and Sizebay’s approach to body measurements stood out to them. “We use a lot of stretchy fabrics, like bamboo and French Terry,” explains Miik Representative, “so Sizebay’s… is important as it gives power to the customer to determine the best size for their body shape.”
They’ve received a lot of positive feedback from customers, and appreciate that our team is always available to help when they’re going to launch new collections.
If you’d like to see existing Shopify stores that offer size recommendations via Sizebay, check out some of the stores below.
https://arctix.com/
https://www.judithandcharles.com/
Questions about integrating Sizebay?
If you have any questions about integrating Sizebay into a Shopify store or would like to learn more, you can contact us.
Step-by-step guide to integrate Sizebay into your Shopify store
- Log in, click on Apps on left hand menu
- App and sales channel settings in the dropdown menu
- Click on Develop apps in the top right corner
- Click on Create an app
- Type Sizebay in the field App name and a valid email in App developer, and then on Create app
- Click on API credentials
- Click on Configure Admin API scopes in the Access token section
- Scroll down to the Products section and check the box for read_products
- In the Script tabs section check the boxes for write_script_tags and read_script_tags
- Click on Save in the top right corner
- Click on API Credentials and then on Install app
- Click on Install in the pop-up that appears to confirm installation of the Sizebay app
- Copy your API access token and send it to us
- Send URL address
