Luxury fashion startup The Floorr gives personal stylists tools to grow their businesses

Launched earlier this year, The Floorr is revolutionizing the digital styling experience by empowering personal shoppers and stylists to manage and grow their businesses in an increasingly competitive environment. Available on the web and iOS devicesThe Floorr offers tools to drive sales, host custom styling sessions, create mood boards, and engage in text or voice chats with clients, all in one place.

The company recently launched a new styling tool called Styling Sessions, allowing stylists to create complete outfits using products from The Floorrs marketplace or by uploading images or taking photos of items in-store on their phone.

Additionally, The Floorr officially announced its $1.7 million pre-seed funding round on Thursday, backed by Net-a-Porter co-founder and investor Carmen Busquets (who is also an advisor to The Floorr) and Nigora Tokhtabayeva, jewelry designer and founder of Tabayer.

Since starting her career as a sales associate at Harrods in 2000 and then moving into a leadership role for Net-a-Porters' personal shopping service, founder Lupe Puerta has seen a growing trend among luxury brands embracing digital platforms to enhance the one-on-one styling experience.

Virtual consultations and online styling services are common these days. For example, companies like Next Level WardrobeNet wishamong others, offer digital fashion services. Not to mention the growing popularity of virtual try-on technologies, AI-powered style assistants and subscription boxes (Point correction, Desirable And DailyLook) makes finding custom looks a lot easier.

However, digital solutions for personal stylists, especially freelancers, remain relatively limited. I wanted to create what my community needed in the form of an app [helping] “Personal shoppers have the tools to be really agile and create quality content in one place and have that instant interaction with customers,” Puerta told TechCrunch. “Instead of creating PDFs, sending screenshots on WhatsApp or sending an email, [The Floorr] centralized everything in one place and gives them access to their business and analytics, allowing them to be more entrepreneurial.

Another tool available on the platform is a sales dashboard for stylists, which displays analytics such as total clicks, orders, items sold, and weekly/monthly earnings.

Stylists and their clients have access to a wide selection of luxury items, thanks to partnerships with high-end retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman, Browns, Chlo, Farfetch, Neiman Marcus, Net-a-Porter, Saks and SSense. The company continues to expand its list, recently adding more affordable retailers like Aldo and Zara.

Personal shoppers receive an 80% commission on sales, while The Floorr takes 20%. This is higher than what personal shoppers are expected to earn in traditional retail stores, which varies depending on who you ask (and what products are sold). The average commission rate for clothing is about 15%. However, for luxury fashion the rate is probably lower.

According to Puerta, from his own experience, “in a traditional retail environment, personal shoppers and customer-facing staff receive a base salary that varies depending on their seniority. They may also receive a commission, which will likely be between 0.5% and 2.5%, and again will depend on their seniority and the amount of sales they generate each month.”

The company has already integrated 200 personal shoppers.

On the consumer side, The Floorr helps customers with a taste for luxury fashion (and the financial resources to indulge in it) connect with a stylist to fulfill their shopping needs remotely, eliminating the need for in-person meetings. Customers must be personally invited by a stylist to use the customer-centric application.

Floorr's clientele includes business professionals and Hollywood celebrities. The average order value is $2,500, according to the company. The largest order this month was $130,000, Puerta noted.

An Android version of the app is slated for late 2024, and the company also plans to introduce video chat features in the near future.