London –
Fashion lovers in search of that perfect item will know what a hassle most
online search engines can be – type in ‘leather jacket’ and thousands of
results come up which have to be filtered and shifted through one by one.
Chances are that the search will also return the same results each time,
even though styles and tastes differ. Enter Custom, the new personalized
search engine which
offers users a bespoke shopping experience.
Custom was developed to help remove the complexity, frustration and time
lost when shopping for clothes online and is tailored to its users tastes,
brand preferences as well as size. The website is a search engine that was
solely built for one purpose, namely: “Creating a personal, relevant and
beautiful experience for people who shop online for clothes,” according to
the co-founders behind Custom, Max Madile, a former Google Executive and
his business partners Andy Weir and Robin Wong.
Currently in beta-mode, users begin their Custom journey by selecting their
favourite brands, then their size and the search engine does the rest of
the work by suggesting items which may suit their style and taste. Results
are shown in a visual, scrollable format to make it easier for the user to
find the items they like. The search algorithm in Custom learns the
consumer’s style preference to offer a more personal shopping experience
with each search and creates a constantly evolving image of what they like
or dislike.
The more products a user likes or blocks, the more Custom learns and
tailors search results to the users personal style preferences, a leap
forward from current online search engine which offer generic search
results. Custom suggests items it believes may suit a users style from its
library of over half a million items from 4000 brands, ranging from luxury
labels like Chloe to high street favourites such as Topshop and Zara.
CEO Madile, who previously was the Team Leader for Creative Labs at Google
was frustrated by with lack of personalisation and the time consuming
search process offered online when it came to online shopping and felt it
could be customized. “My time at Google taught me the value of search as
the starting point of any online shopping journey, as well as how important
it is to simplify choices and help people to navigate the mass of
information out there,” said Madile.
“That’s why the Custom experience begins with you and the search bar. Our
vision is to create a shop just for you that always has your favourite
brands, where everything fits and the rails reflect who you are.”
Co-founder Wong adds, “If there is one industry that should be getting
personalisation right, it’s fashion but the sector has not yet
‘de-cluttered’ its online experience. Try searching for ‘winter coat’ on
your favourite fashion site. Chances are you will get back thousands of
options, crossing both genders, many over budget. Custom remedies this.”
“We’ve got the best, most experienced engineers on our team to ensure we
deliver an intuitive, accurate and satisfying shopping experience from a
beautifully designed site. We’re just at the start of this exciting journey
but we hope that as people use Custom they will realise how much better the
online clothes shopping experience can be and will never go back to the old
way of shopping.”
Although the site is currently in beta mode, Custom will see the addition
of a series of new features and options over the next few month, such as
trend suggestions which may reflect a user’s personal style as well as
personalized editorial content.