What: created by a former sales associate, Seer simplifies the now-critical process of selling to virtual VIP clients

Why is it important: luxury fashion clienteling has become an increasingly competitive advantage for the industry, particularly hard-hit department stores

Seer, a web-based software company for luxury sales teams that consolidates seller tools spread across places like WhatsApp, Mailchimp and Photoshop, is launching this week. Seer will graduate from a three-month stint and a USD 125 000 investment at Silicon Valley incubator Y Combinator, whose previous graduates include Airbnb and payment provider Stripe. Seer has also received additional funding from Foundation Capital’s Jonathan Ehrlich.

Luxury fashion clienteling has become an increasingly necessary skill and competitive advantage for the industry, particularly hard-hit department stores. New selling tools and technology are gaining investor interest. Bambuser, used by Farfetch and Moda Operandi, raised USD 45 million in September; Hero raised USD 10 million; and Livescale, used by Roberto Cavalli and L’Oréal, just announced a funding round.

In a global push toward video shopping, Seer has added the ability for associates to schedule virtual appointments and load a virtual “clothing rack” that tracks which items a client has liked. Seer is launching with a number of luxury brand clients, including department stores, individual brands, boutiques and multi-brand e-commerce platforms, including The Webster and Saks.

“It’s a very authentic product from someone that understands retail and sales — not someone from the tech world who has no clue what it is day-to-day,” says Cecile Levinger, retail director at The Webster. A lot of tools are too focused on the tech part, but stylists don't care about the tech — they care about their clients.”

In addition to the ability for associates to create branded, shoppable, magazine-style layouts that can be shared via email, PDF or a texted link, Seer syncs image libraries from a range of sources including Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud and Instagram and enables associates to manage communications through multiple channels such as WhatsApp or email. It also hosts shoppable video appointments and allows associates to see data on customer engagement. Seer makes money by charging a monthly subscription fee with an annual commitment and does not take commissions on sales.

Seer, the luxury clienteling software