For Purva Gupta (founder of Lily) and many other women, buying clothing is not always a pleasant experience and can be a very stressful for them due to their own self-perceptions and societal perceptions of their bodies. Gupta knew that there must be a better way to shop for clothing so she went out and created it for herself and all women who feel anxiety while shopping for clothing.
Purva Gupta and Lily are Graduates of the Silicon Valley Founder Institute.
To kick her idea off, Gupta began by talking to women and learning about their shopping experiences. She initially spoke to over 1000 women. The one consistent thing that she found all these women had in common is that when they shopped they looked for clothing that hid certain parts of their bodies while accentuating others. This data gave Gupta and the Lily team their base question. How do women perceive their own bodies? Lily aims to address any woman's needs and desires when it comes to shopping for clothing. They do not make clothing. Rather, they help their users find the clothes that empower them and make them feel comfortable in their own bodies. The main priority of Lily is to make sure that it gets you and every other user!
You are probably wondering how this wonderful app works. Lily is ingenious. Lily is the first application in the industry to use advance machine learning algorithms to match emotions, preferences, and perceptions all in real-time. Lily works when you are shopping for clothing online and she works when you are in the mall looking at clothes in person. The more users use Lily the more she learns about their unique personal tastes, emotions, and perceptions. The more she learns the better her recommendations become, and users can always chat with Lily directly to tell her exactly what they want. Lily wants to find clothes that fit your style and make you feel your very best. She understands your personal taste and the way you perceive yourself. Shopping can be a frustrating experience of digging through rack after rack looking for the perfect item, but with the assistance of Lily shopping doesn't need to be a frustrating experience ever again.
The Lily team is made up of fashion industry vets, data scientists, and psychologists, who have extensive backgrounds in artificial intelligence behavioral science, marketing, image consulting, and retail, plus they have worked for industry leaders such as Facebook, Instagram, Macy's, and Saatchi and Saatchi. There is a lot of expertise on board the Lily team and there is large market potential for Lily's success.
As Gupta points out, "More than 80% of women in the US are unhappy with their appearance, and still current shopping experiences ignore what’s going on in a woman’s mind about her body which heavily influences the buying decision. It is sad but true, as studies show, Women on an average get 13 negative thoughts about their body every single day. More than 85% apparel is bought in physical stores, still users are frustrated, confused and using trial & error to discover clothes in stores."
Currently, Lily is in the beta phase. Interested people can still sign up to test Lily and use the app now before official release. All of the early reports, reviews, and press releases surrounding Lily have been very positive! Recently, Gupta did an interview with Internet giant Huffington Post. Right now, the sky is the limit for Gupta and the Lily team. The app already features the industry's top brands such as Target, Macy's, H&M, and Banana Republic.
