Livin` La Vida Lucy
By Andrea McKenna Findlay
Lucy.com is what it calls itself—righteous—in its approach to selling women’s athletic apparel online. The Portland, Ore.-based mostly pure-play, which recently expanded with a high-profile store at the New York City Crunch fitness center, made a mark this year by introducing its “shop by body type” category. The feature introduced in August allows shoppers to pick from eight different body types, including tall, boyish, pregnant, plus and curvy. Thus the company remains true to its mission “to outfit women of every size, shape and fitness,” while avoiding the costs of imaging technology that has the potential to alienate shoppers. Using photos instead of more complicated technical bells and whistles also keeps downloading time to a minimum. Keven Wilder, of Chicago-based Wilder & Associates, says the use of virtual modeling online still is confusing. “This is more intuitive than virtual modeling because Lucy.com makes it easier by covering the things that women are generally worried about,” in terms of fit and what looks good on which body type.
Other helpful features Lucy has added since its November 1999 launch include tabs that allow consumers to shop by sport and by brand. Heavy on content for athletic women, including positive feel-good style suggestion articles, the site also combines its Buy a Bra function with raising awareness and money for breast cancer research, donating a dollar to the cause for every bra sold in October, breast cancer awareness month. Not only is the retailer enhancing its online presence, Lucy.com also has been on the forefront of other e-commerce trends by opening a retail store at Crunch and mailing a catalog that mirrors the sport and body type solutions on the web site.
Lucy.com
