The retail industry globally is undergoing major disruption and in an effort to get ahead of the curve, Lendlease recently partnered with tech startup company, Shop You to trial an innovative personal shopping service. The service could be the solution to some of the major pain points for the industry and consumers. Lendlease have released promising results for the trial.
The service combines a shopping personalisation app, with a human personal stylist, and convenient CBD location for customers to collect, try on and return clothes – collecting and returning goods are major costs for retail and consumers.
Involving more than 40 professional women aged between 25 to 40 years, the trial of the service ran for five weeks in May-June 2019 at a Lendlease precinct. The trial focused on women’s apparel, which represents a significant share of national retail spend.
The trial sought to address three key pain points:
• Helping customers find the perfect outfit, in the right size and style – via the Shop You app
• Quickly getting the outfit to the customer – via the collection point
• Easily returning the outfit – via the collection point in the Lendlease precinct
Lorraine Sarayeldin, Head of Experimental Projects, Lendlease said: “Through the trial, we wanted to gauge the personal shopper service’s commercial potential and consumers’ desire for such a service, in the context of a highly disrupted retail environment.
“We saw an untapped market, where customers and the industry are yet to make the most of combining emerging technologies with physical stores. Most businesses are still struggling with personalisation and making it easy for customers to purchase and return products, whether it’s via an app, website, in store or another customer collection point.
“Lendlease was pleased to be able to partner with Shop You for the trial, as it allowed us to access the startup’s significant intellectual and technical capabilities.”
Major results:
• The personal shopper service achieved a low return rate on items
• The average basket size was approximately three times the industry average of $95
• The customer conversion rate was nine times higher than the industry average of 2.8%
• Based on in-depth interviews with trial participants, there is strong demand for the service, with most participants saying they would be disappointed if the service was discontinued
• Feedback from participants highlighted three key drivers for the service’s success: personalisation through the app and personal stylist, the ability to shop multiple brands via one platform, and the central location to try-on, collect and return products
• Customers said they valued being able to purchase items from multiple brands, using one payment and collection process
• Experience with a human personal stylist was important for building emotional connection to the service, an element that challenges pure online retail businesses.
Shop You Founder and CEO, Kelly Slessor said “The trial results showed that there is strong consumer demand for this end-to-end personal shopping service.
“For busy women, buying clothes online and offline is still too hard – we need the online to work seamlessly with the physical. The trial showed us that to solve the problem for consumers, we need to look at the entire shopping experience from beginning to end.
“The trial also allowed us to glean valuable information about consumer behavior – from the moment of searching for products to receiving and returning products.”
The trial was supported by Stanford University’s d.school Launchpad Accelerator Program, which focuses on validating and testing new ideas using the design thinking methodology.
