Shoefitr Inc. was founded in 2010 by college athletes Matt Wilkinson, Nick End, and Breck Fresen. It was a private multinational company that developed software to help customers search for the right footwear online.
As athletes, the founders of Shoefitr knew the struggles of an ill-fitting shoe and recognized how hard it was to find the right fit. This prompted them to create a 3D scanning technology that could scan shoes from the inside and outside to provide highly-accurate sizing information. The goal was to make online shoe shopping more reliable to decrease returns and misfits.
The technology required customers to enter their shoe size and current shoe model which Shoefitr then matched with other shoes in its database with a similar fit. The technology considered different important variables that affected the fit of the shoe including shape, weight, Sole thickness, and much more. This proved to be a more reliable and accurate way of finding the right shoes online.
Shoefitr had once been dubbed as the company most likely to be acquired by Amazon. This turned into reality when the five-year-old company was bought by Amazon in 2015. The decision was prompted by Amazon’s goals of boosting sales in the fashion category and trying to provide a better customer experience.
Shoefitr was known to be relocating to Amazon HQ in Seattle and the service was soon to be integrated with the Amazon website. However, there were questions about how Shoefitr would manage its existing customer base which included retailers like Nordstrom, Cole Haan, and more.
Many believed that Shoefitr was a smart acquisition for Amazon and could help in reducing returns and guaranteeing a higher customer satisfaction rate. According to Shoefitr, its technology influenced customer satisfaction and reduced the number of shoe returns by 20% for businesses who used it.
However, in recent times, there has been no sign of the Shoefitr technology on Amazon’s website and users are left to wonder where the tool has disappeared. After a query by an Amazon customer in 2016, Amazon customer service revealed that they were no longer using Shoefitr on Amazon but didn’t provide any further information regarding the decision. One comment from a user on Amazon’s question forum highlights that Amazon debuted a version of Shoefitr called What’s my Size on its website which was then taken down after 6 months, never to be seen again.
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