Vijay Subramanian, Chief Analytics Officer at Rent the Runway, details the company's software architecture during an audience Q&A at Data Driven NYC.
Opinion
Subramanian: Sizing is only 30% of the online apparel fit problem
“Sizing, I think, is one part of the problem. I actually think it's only 30% of the problem. The bigger problem is, does this dress work for me? Does it actually fit me? Does it flatter me? And I think they're missing the mark by focusing too much on sizing.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Subramanian: Designer fashion brands do not deeply care about data
“A lot of the brands don't care as much about data that deeply. I mean, they have their own sort of philosophy of how they want to design stuff. They do it six months in advance.”
Disclosure
Rent the Runway built custom reverse logistics after finding no software options
“We actually tried to, by the way, buy this, you know, off the shelf. We tried, went out, we looked. No one is doing reverse logistics in this kind of scale, so we had to build everything from scratch.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Subramanian in 2014: Big data requires C-level data executives to succeed
“And honestly, to me, this whole hype will all be real and make sense if, in five, 10 years from now, There is, like, C-level execs, more like me, who are, who actually own the data function, own the science function, and if that actually happens, then this who…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Rent the Runway does not make money on a dress's first rental
“As a rental business, we don't make money on the first rental, right? So, I mean, the dresses have to go through many life cycles of rentals for us to make money.”
Insight
Shortening garment turnaround cycles directly reduces required inventory capital in rental models
“The shorter that is, the less inventory I have to buy to support demand, basically.”