With clients including Gap, Asos, Gilt Groupe, Harvey Nichols and Debenhams, Editd is probably the most successful data monitoring system in the world of retail – with Asos claiming that it was singly responsible for a 37 percent increase in their third-quarter revenues last year. So why haven’t you heard of it?

There are two reasons.

Firstly, like many startup success stories, Editd has gone from an idea – the product of a meeting between fashion designer Julia Fowler and developer Geoff Watts – to the retail professional’s favourite non-human consultant extraordinarily quickly.

Secondly, since the service it provides is only really attractive to those working in the highest echelons of the retail world, the actual number of people using it is quite small.

Still, Editd is dramatically affecting how some retailers choose what to stock, when they choose to stock it, and how much they eventually sell it for. How?

By combining an intuitive interface with some serious real-time analytics (including exactly what items customers are talking about, an overview of competitor movements, and average market prices), Editd makes monitoring the minutiae of the market quick, easy and painless.

The upshot is that professionals who previously had to spend hours poring over newspaper articles and reports, attending catwalks, assembling their competitors’ prices, and analysing social media patterns are able to access all of this information in one place.

Moreover, all of this info can be divided and subdivided, meaning that Editd can provide in-depth data very specifically or very broadly.

Of course, this is all great for those in the business of selling products. But what about those designing them?  If retailers increasingly choose what to stock based on what consumers want rather than what designers are creating, does this threaten innovation in the industry?

What do you think?