Mallzee gets new funds, adds ex-Selfridges, M&S exec to boost fashion focus

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 21, 2018

Mallzee, a UK-based shopping app and retail analytics firm, has raised almost £2 million in fresh capital and added a fashion retail expert to its top team as it boosts its focus on providing data insights for the fashion sector.

Peter Robinson has joined the company’s board, with his impressive CV having seen him working for some of the biggest names in UK fashion retail but also having a strong start-up mentality.

He was previously executive head of e-commerce at Marks & Spencer for eight years as well as multi-channel director at Selfridges Online. In both of those positions, he was crucial at the start of their online journeys. At Selfridges, for instance, he led the store’s e-tail launch that started it on its road to becoming major omnichannel name.

Mallzee is a personal shopping app that lets e-shoppers with a smartphone browse over 2 million products from over 100 fashion brands around the world. It has Tinder-style swipe functionality that allows users to like or dislike the items on show and each swipe contributes to the personalisation of the user experience. The idea is that the more swipes, the more accurate a user’s profile will become. Mallzee also suggests trending items, as well as new brands and looks that may be relevant to the user.

That all matter for fashion businesses because the company also has Product Future, an analytics tool to help retailers assess sales potential before any orders are actually placed. By tracking anonymous user activity and capturing feedback through the app’s interface, it can track which products are of interest to consumers.

When that data is used alongside companies’ own merchandising and buying team insights, the firm claims that success rates for new products can be boosted by up to 10%. The news funds will be ploughed into developing this part of the company’s offer.

CEO and founder Cally Russell said: “We quickly realised there was a major opportunity for us to utilise our engaged audience as a testing zone for our partners’ new products, helping buying and merchandising teams make informed stock decisions based on real data, to improve sell-through success.”