Startup interview: Kristen Miller, CEO and Co-founder, Stylyze

RTIH meets Kristen Miller, CEO and Co-founder, Stylyze, which works with the likes of Neiman Marcus, Target and Home Depot to recreate the best elements of the in-store experience, such as visual merchandising, personal shopping and clienteling, digitally.

RTIH: Tell us about Stylyze

KM: Stylyze is the first Merchandising-as-a-Service platform designed specifically for the home, fashion, beauty and skin care verticals.

Our mission is to enable retailers to offer customers the white glove styling service they deserve, across all channels. We provide retailers with the data, content and toolset that they need to transform their customer experiences and be successful in an omnichannel environment.

RTIH: What was the inspiration behind setting the company up?

KM: Both I and my co-founder Lisa Perrone had businesses in the interior design space and we were both frustrated at the length of time it took to find and coordinate products for our clients. Product searches would often start online but end up in showrooms, lugging around boxes of product samples. 

We knew that there had to be a better way, and our hypothesis was that we could add value to the retail landscape by providing personal designer and stylist experiences at scale, through the cloud.

Before we even raised a penny or wrote a line of code, we spoke with 80 home décor and fashion retailers. We knew they were looking for solutions to enable them to scale the best aspects of the in-store experience through technology, such as inspiration, great customer service and styling.

In 2015, Sophie Huang joined as our CTO and Stylyze became one of few all female-led technology companies.

Today, we partner with leading home and fashion retailers to transform their customer experiences,  combining the latest in artificial intelligence and machine learning with seasoned designers and stylists to equip retailers with the data and content that they need to be successful in an omnichannel environment.

RTIH: What has been the industry reaction thus far?

KM: The response from the industry has been amazing. We work with a curated group of leading enterprise retailers who sell lots of products and have high volumes of traffic to their digital properties.

We focus on companies who are committed to innovation and we help them leapfrog their competitors and their own “pre-Stylyze” product roadmaps. Covid has made this approach even more relevant as the retail vertical must evolve and increase it’s digital footprint to survive.

Today, our Stylyzed customer experiences reach more than 150 million end customers through our retail partners. We are thrilled to have such a positive impact on so many customers while driving ROI for our partners.

“Retail isn’t dying. It is growing and evolving, and we are excited to be an integral part in that process”

RTIH: What has been your biggest challenge/setback?

KM: One of our biggest challenges was being ahead of the market. When we initially launched Stylyze, our vision for where retail should go was ahead of our target customers. 

They didn’t feel the urgency, and looked at recommending a well styled assortment of products as a “nice-to-have” and not a “must-have”.

That has obviously completely changed now, but we needed to convince them that the types of experiences we were enabling would drive ROI in a very different season. In a sense, we needed to educate the retail vertical and plant the seeds for what was possible.

RTIH: What are the biggest challenges facing the omnichannel retail sector right now?

KM: Pre-Covid, a solid omnichannel strategy was top of mind for the retail sector but it wasn’t necessary for survival. Now it is. Retailers are in the tough position of trying to transform and innovate while also shoring up their businesses from a cash-flow perspective. 

At the same time, their customer set is expecting faster fulfillment and more options such as curbside pickup, an elevated customer experience and customer service level through digital footprint.

And new safety measures in place if they do choose to shop in store. All of these changes are costly, particularly given many retailers in this vertical saw their sales plummet at the outset of Covid. 

RTIH: What's the best question about your company or the market asked of you recently by a.) an investor and b.) a customer?

KM: Interestingly enough, the questions asked by investors and customers are pretty similar right now.

They both want to know where the retail industry is going and how Stylyze will help it get there- i.e. “look into your crystal ball and tell me where retail is in six months, 12 months, five years. What role does Stylyze play in each of those time horizons?”

These are questions both about survival and transformation, which makes this both a stressful time and an exciting time for retail. While the loss of sales for many retailers has been very painful, Covid has provided an opportunity to envision the next generation of retail and play an active role in the transformation of an industry.

Retail isn’t dying. It is growing and evolving, and we are excited to be an integral part in that process. 

RTIH: What can we expect to see from Stylyze over the next 12 months?

KM: Expect to see Stylyze launch exciting new partnerships with leading retailers who are accelerating their omnichannel roadmaps.

Additionally, you will see new virtual styling experiences, specifically on mobile, powered by Stylyze. These experiences will be used by end customers, store associates, designers, stylists and influencers and provide more dynamic ways of engaging with products and servicing customers.