Getting a customer to a product page is only half the challenge.
The real question is what happens next.
How can fashion brands give customers enough confidence to complete the purchase? How can technology reduce uncertainty around fit? And how can brands scale while preserving the identity and experience that made customers choose them in the first place?
These questions were at the center of the latest Fashinnovation DigiTalks, bringing together leaders from ECOALF, Busayo, SPREEAI and the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) for a conversation about the relationship between customer experience, technology and conversion.
The Cost of Getting Fit Wrong
Michael Ferraro, Executive Director of the FIT Design and Technology Lab, brought attention to one of digital fashion’s persistent challenges: sizing and fit.
Online shopping removes an important part of the traditional fashion experience — the ability to try something on before buying it.
When customers are uncertain about fit, that uncertainty can affect both the decision to purchase and what happens after checkout.
For brands, solving that problem isn’t simply about improving the website experience. It has implications for conversion, returns and long-term customer confidence.
Scaling Without Losing What Makes a Brand Different
For Busayo Olupona, Founder of Busayo, the customer experience conversation also intersects with another challenge: scale.
Busayo’s identity is deeply connected to craftsmanship and a production model that doesn’t operate like mass manufacturing.
That creates an important question for emerging and growing fashion businesses:
How do you scale what makes your brand special without scaling away what made it special in the first place?
Technology can create efficiencies, but growth still requires brands to make deliberate decisions about production, storytelling and the experience they want customers to associate with their products.
A Global Challenge, Not Just a U.S. One
Mercedes Ulloa, Communication & Marketing at ECOALF, expanded the conversation beyond the U.S. market.
Sizing, fit and customer confidence are challenges fashion brands face across markets.
For global brands, that makes the customer experience even more complex. Different markets may bring different customer behaviors and expectations, while the brand still needs to deliver a consistent experience.
The challenge isn’t simply getting more people to discover a product.
It’s helping customers feel confident enough to buy it.
From Guessing to Knowing: Where AI Can Help
That is where technology is beginning to change the equation.
Chelsea Suitos, Head of Partnerships & Business Development at SPREEAI, discussed how AI can help reduce some of the uncertainty customers experience during the shopping journey.
Better information around fit and product selection can help move the digital experience away from guesswork and toward greater confidence before checkout.
But technology alone isn’t enough.
A customer may interact with a fashion brand through its website, mobile experience, social channels and physical stores. If those experiences don’t communicate consistently, technology can add another layer of complexity rather than removing one.
The opportunity is therefore bigger than implementing another tool.
It’s about using technology to create a more connected customer journey.
Many shoppers wish they knew the answers to these three questions before they buy – what will this look like on me, what’s my size, and how do I style it?
SPREEAI’s solution answers all three, right on your site: virtual try-on (upload a photo or use a virtual twin to see how it actually looks on you), smart sizing (know your size before you order), and an outfit builder (see how pieces style together).
The result: higher conversion, fewer returns, and a shopping experience that feels genuinely personal.
Better Customer Experience Is a Business Strategy
One idea connected many of the perspectives throughout the conversation:
Conversion isn’t only a marketing problem.
Brands can spend more on acquisition and drive more traffic, but what happens when the customer arrives ultimately determines whether attention becomes revenue.
Improving that experience can mean addressing fit uncertainty, creating more connected channels, preserving brand identity as the business scales, and using technology where it genuinely makes the customer’s decision easier.
The brands that get this right aren’t simply optimizing a checkout page.
They’re building trust.
And trust can influence far more than one transaction — from the initial purchase to returns, loyalty and the likelihood that a customer comes back.
What’s Next
At Fashinnovation, these are exactly the conversations we want to continue creating.
Through DigiTalks, Global Talks, Founders Table and our broader ecosystem, we bring together fashion leaders, founders, executives and innovators to explore the business shifts shaping what comes next.
Because the future of digital fashion won’t simply be defined by who gets more customers to click.
It will be defined by who gives them a reason to buy — and come back.
