BetaKit covered BeauCoo, a platform to help connect women with other women that have similar body sizes, when the startup raised its seed round funding. This week the company announced that it has launched a web version of its social network that lets women post pictures of themselves in different outfits for other women their size to see how it would look on them. Previously only available on iOS, the move is due largely to feedback and requests from its existing users.
According to co-founders Victoria and Christian MacLean, BeauCoo users are growing 180 percent week over week, with average usage of its mobile app ranging from 3-10 minutes and 10 times that amount on the web-based version in early testing. Another interesting stat the duo mentioned was that when a user finds another user with same physical dimensions, engagement goes up 700 percent, which is one variable behind the platform’s success.
“Women aren’t normally able to see what products will look like on themselves. So this really gives people a way to visualize what these items will look like…and to actually give yourselves a more positive experience that something can look good on you,” said Victoria MacLean. “So we’re really pushing this body positive movement…and realizing that you can look beautiful at any size, style, age, ethnicity, height, weight and all that kind of stuff. It really resonates with regular women…from size 0 to 26.”
Letting women browse, like, and buy clothing they see on women that are close to them in size is what BeauCoo is betting will help it stand out from a myriad of other options available, including sites like Pose, Snapette, and more recently image recognition tech companies StileEye and HOVR.IT. Whether women want to share their sizing details online is another question, but so far its users seem to be willing to do so.
Though it’s still working with mobile rewards provider Kiip to reward its iPhone app users, Christian MacLean said they are trying to keep them low-volume and not too obtrusive, although they are seeing an almost 60 percent redemption rate. The startup’s focus remains on growing its user base rather than monetization, however it will look to open its API to select partners to create a curated ecommerce experience for the women on the platform as one potential avenue.
The company will also be launching an Android app in the coming weeks, so it will be interesting to see whether women are more likely to snap photos on the go, or browse through other users’ photos on the web version. With ecommerce here to stay, women will increasingly seek ways to estimate the fit of what they buy before they do so, so BeauCoo could be one way they do that. It’s more likely that online retailers will continue to integrate photos, sizing charts, and virtual fitting rooms though, so BeauCoo will need to find a way to become a relevant third-party destination for women who are buying online.
