Why Buying the Right Shoe Size Online Is Still Too Difficult

I wear size 10 Blundstone boots and size 11.5 ASICS running shoes.

Yesterday in Bangkok, I tried to buy a pair of ASICS GEL-NYC. The size I needed? 12.

Three different shoe sizes for the same pair of feet.

In a physical store, this is inconvenient. Online, it becomes an expensive problem.

Had I ordered the ASICS online, there is a good chance I would have chosen the wrong size. The result would likely have been a return: wasted time for me, additional handling and shipping costs for the webshop, and another package being transported for no good reason.

And this is exactly the problem we are working to solve with UniMeasureAI.

Shoe size is not a measurement

One of the fundamental problems with buying footwear online is that a shoe size is not a universal measurement.

A size 10 in one brand can fit very differently from a size 10 in another. Even within the same brand, sizing can vary between models.

For customers, that means uncertainty.

For webshops, that uncertainty can mean lower conversion, customers ordering multiple sizes and more size-related returns.

Traditional size charts help, but only if customers know the actual dimensions and shape of their feet — and most people don't.

Turning your foot into usable sizing data

UniMeasureAI is designed to make this much easier.

The customer takes two pictures of their foot, using a simple credit-card-sized reference card for scale.

From those images, UniMeasureAI can determine relevant foot measurements and match them against the shoe manufacturer's sizing information.

Instead of asking:

“Am I normally a size 10, 11 or 12?”

the customer can make the decision based on the dimensions of their actual feet.

The goal is simple: give customers greater confidence when buying shoes online and reduce the risk of receiving a pair that needs to be returned because of size.

Better sizing benefits both sides of the transaction

For the customer, better sizing means less uncertainty, fewer disappointing purchases and less time spent returning products.

For the webshop, it can mean higher purchasing confidence, fewer size-related returns and lower return-handling costs.

And environmentally, every avoided return means one less unnecessary shipment moving through the logistics network.

It is one of those situations where improving the customer experience and improving webshop economics point in exactly the same direction.

Going live September 1

We are currently in Bangkok working on the final development and testing of UniMeasureAI ahead of our September 1 launch.

Our aim is to make online sizing much more objective — whether you are buying clothing, footwear or other products where getting the right measurements matters.

Because your feet haven't suddenly changed size just because you changed shoe brand.

The sizing system did.

UniMeasureAI launches September 1, 2026.