We Tried ‘The Yes’—And It’s the Best App for Personalized Shopping

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We Tried ‘The Yes’—And It’s the Best App for Personalized Shopping

Digital shopping has taken on a new form this year, with more and more consumers looking to online communities and platforms (TikTok! Amazon! Instagram!) for a curated shopping experience. Part of this change is The Yes, a quiz-based shopping app founded by former Stitch Fix COO Julie Bornstein and Google and Groupon alum Amit Aggarwal that uses an AI-powered algorithm to get to know your personal style and give you product recommendations from more than 150 brands and retailers based on simple yes or no answers. 

Part shopping platform, part discovery tool, The Yes offers something unique for contemporary shoppers right now: The ability to build a cart and put together a wish list that’s tailored to your taste, budget, and needs, yet ever evolving like your own personal style. Its single-tap feature is seamless and instinctive to use. Hit yes on that Bottega Veneta bag, yes on that Mango vest, yes on those rubber Ganni boots, no on those elevated flatforms—you get where we’re going with this.

Think of it as walking down the streets of New York City’s trendy SoHo neighborhood, where you can pop into luxury boutiques like Valentino, find cool-girl pieces from Ganni and Staud, then head over Mango and Aritizia to stock up on wardrobe essentials before heading back home…except it all happens in the app or on The Yes’s website. This brings us to the next (and possibly) best part: Everything that’s in your size or in stock stays in your feed, and whatever you tap no, one disappears into the ether. You get the best price on the internet—and if you find a better deal elsewhere, The Yes will offer a price adjustment. 

It may seem as though there’s a lot to unpack, but the premise is actually pretty straightforward: The more you tap, the smarter the app gets, and the more on point the suggestions become. What The Yes is trying to do, though, is not entirely new. Retailers have long pushed for tools and technology that favor personalization, yet few shopping apps seem to have nailed the formula quite the way The Yes has. Where many of these apps fail due to poor user experience, “basic” brand curation, and style suggestions that are totally amiss, The Yes actually gets it right. And by consistently putting forward new names and trends, the platform is able to provide a more relevant and distinct shopping experience overall.

The app only gets better with time, which is we why had four Glamour editors play around with it this summer to see firsthand what it’s like. See what they had to say about the platform, and what they tapped yes on, below. 

Deanna Pai, acting commerce editor

I broke my shopping habit long ago, partly due to space limitations (I live in New York) and my budget (I live in New York). As a result I’m a cautious shopper, thinking about items for days before I add to cart, indexing what I need to replace anyway due to wear and tear, and prioritizing quality over quantity. So The Yes, which saves all the “yes” items in a little tab where I could consider them without actually buying them, had obvious appeal.

My first impression, though? It’s too cool for me; I’m stuck in my ways. I took the quiz and affirmed that my style is not retro, I wouldn’t wear fringe, and I don’t like culottes. And once my feed populated with items, it was a little hit or miss, initially pulling up athleisure sets that I wasn’t super interested in—I still run in old sorority tees—and jumpsuits that seemed fussy. So I began clicking yes on the winners, hitting no on the duds, and guiding the algorithm by searching for my own favorite brands. (Think Tinder, but for your wardrobe.) Before long the Frame turtleneck appeared on my feed (add to cart!) as did a slinky black knit dress I’d longed for after seeing it in one of our own stories. And never did I expect to find the pair of Chloé boots, which I first saw on a Vogue editor back when I was an assistant and couldn’t dream of being so extra. Turns out, I’m now extra. (I also loved this sculptural pair of Cult Gaia sandals, but while my heart said yes, my wallet said STFU.)

Once I got my haul—which arrived pretty quickly—I tried everything on in quick succession and reveled in my newfound baddie vibes. My yearslong rut? Gone. Thank you to The Yes for unlocking this next level in my style game.

Jonathan Simkhai Kenny Recycled Knit Dress

Frame Le Mid Turtle Neck

Chloé Susanna Short Boots

Cult Gaia Zadie Sandles

Talia Abbas, associate commerce editor

I’ve been using The Yes for over a year now, and I’m fully obsessed. I can spend hours scrolling through the app, browsing the latest arrivals and discovering new brands. I’ve picked up so many great pieces here—from shoes and accessories (hi, statement collar) to pretty fall sweaters and my latest obsession, stirrup leggings.

There are so many great features built into the app, but two highlights for me are only seeing items in my size and being able to shop a mix of high-low brands with one-click checkout. I also love the conversational tone the platform leans into: Its newsletters are downright fun to read, and the “run, don’t walk, to your mailbox” text I get when my package finally arrives is something to live for. My recs are pretty spot-on at this point, but I also like that I can just search for items and brands on my own to avoid the echo chamber, which is a feature other platforms don’t always allow. 

Shipping can be slow, but that’s less on the app and more on the brand itself since The Yes is actually a kind of middleman that handles returns and product issues (the customer care team is top-notch, btw) as opposed to order fulfillment. 

La Ligne Coco Cardigan

Leset Rio Stirrup Pants

Sea New York Zippy Lace Collar

Simon Miller Vegan-Shearling Mini Puffin Handbag

Bella Cacciatore, beauty writer

I’ve never been into the idea of a personalized shopping site or subscription since, for me, scrolling endlessly is half the fun. Plus, I feel they never nail my personal style. But after taking a look at The Yes’s brands, I decided to give it a go. Similarly to TikTok, I had to train the algorithm a bit to truly nail my style—mostly by manually searching for brands I know I like—since the options presented in the quiz were a bit basic (sorry!) for my taste. But after about an hour or so of playing around, it started to get me pretty well.

I usually hate shopping on apps since I like to see everything up close before I make a decision, but I actually really enjoyed using the app. The photos were clear, and swiping through the items was oddly addicting, and I loved The Yes’s list feature to see everything in one place from different brands. I don’t shop at department stores, so I liked that I could shop different brands in one place—and they still had a cool curation.

I ended up with a pair of Anna Sui clogs that I’ve been wearing nonstop ever since I got them, a Staud sweater-vest, and an LNA top, which was a new discovery for me. Purchasing everything at once was super-easy, and things came relatively quickly. I do wish there was an easier way to track your deliveries in the app—my clogs still show that they haven’t shipped despite having arrived weeks ago—but other than that, I highly recommend it.

LNA Ferry Tank

Staud Knight Sweater-Vest

Anna Sui Jelena Clogs

Eve Denim Juliette Jeans

Andrea Navarro, commerce writer

As a first-timer to The Yes, I found the process of setting up my profile and preferences to be seamless—so much so that I actually found it really hard to say no to anything. Instead I kept coming across brands that I already loved or new ones that were a direct reflection of my style. I ended up choosing a jogger set (featuring a long-sleeve sweatshirt and matching sweatpants) from Staud, an Everlane weekender bag, an Anine Bing graphic sweatshirt, and Mango lug-sole boots.

Shipping was fast: I received almost everything three to four days after hitting the checkout button, and all items arrived in packaging from the original retailer with return labels for peak convenience. I would definitely use The Yes app again. In fact, I’ve already saved some pieces from COS, Alo Yoga, and Aritzia for my next haul.

Staud Crewneck Sweatshirt

Everlane The ReNew Transit Weekender

Mango Track Outsole Boots

Anine Bing Tiger Sweatshirt

This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Condé Nast