These days, bricks and mortar retail has to be a wow experience if we are to entice customers in; get them to stay; buy and come back again and again. Helen Masters of Pudding Lingerie explains how this can be achieved.
Lingerie retailers are experts at walking the walking when it comes to wow experiences. Even in today’s world of sophisticated AI driven tools, expert ‘hands on’ bra fitting is a powerful tool to create a truly wow experience for your customers.
But WOW for the customer doesn’t necessarily mean WOW for the business. In an era when shoppers can use your store for expert advice then conveniently go and buy their bras in the size you suggested from an online discounter, a bra fitting has to move the customer towards products they simply have to buy, there and then.
The average conversion rate from a customer walking into a lingerie store or department to buying is 19%.
Best In Class lingerie stores and departments achieve a whopping 50%.
What’s more, Best In Class stores deliver 2-3 times the average sale of their peers. This is the same for department stores as well as indies.
So, what are those Best In Class stores doing?
My years of experience running a Best In Class lingerie retailer and helping retailers across the worlds, both big and small, deliver Best In Class results, has shown me the formula that works, time and time again, wherever you are in the world. I call it the WOW FACTOR.
What is The WOW FACTOR?
The WOW FACTOR is a simple step by step model for bricks and mortar lingerie stores to follow from when a customer walks through the door to when they leave. It is not rocket science – it is common sense.
You may look it and think ‘Duh! Of course that’s what we do.’
My question is – ‘Do you? Really? 100% of the time? With every customer?’
The answer, I often find when working with stores, is that even the better performing stores know what they need to do but don’t always do it. In fact, on average when I first start working with a store, I can immediately identify opportunities to at least double sales – and often triple them.
And what’s crucial here is that delivering that kind of uplift in results does not require you to have a team of people that are super human, perfectly skilled bra fitters and sales people. It does not require you to be perfect 100% of the time. It requires you to get a bit better at each stage of the interaction with the customer, and everyone getting ‘a bit better’, every day can add up to a big bottom line result.
The Science Behind The WOW FACTOR Model
The WOW FACTOR model is a proactive, individually tailored Sales & Service process in 4 stages. It is grounded in the understanding that unlike in any other clothing category, lingerie is primarily ‘sold’ as opposed to ‘bought’:
- 80% of women are still in the wrong bra but don’t know it.
- That means 80% of people coming through your door for the first time have a clear need for your product (and not just one but several) but won’t ask for it as they don’t know they need it.
- Your job is to
- find a compelling way to show them they have a need
- find the right products to meet their need
- wow them by transforming how they look and feel in those products and
- build an ongoing relationship that establishes you as the expert they need – again and again.
The 4 stages of the model are based on the 4 key behaviours that top lingerie sales people do well in every customer interaction, which are to:
- Engage the customer in a compelling way
- Proactively identify & meet the customer’s needs or wants today, profitably
- Wow the customer & broaden their horizons
- Build an ongoing relationship and establish and meet future needs –
However, that itself is only half the picture. For any business to be able to do this well, it also needs to be supported by the 4 Ps:
Right product: a good range of safe sellers and attractive impulse buys in the right colours, sizes, prices and styles to meet different needs
Right process: an expert bra fitting service to follow and strong customer focussed ordering services and communications
Right people: proactive, confident, passionate, knowledgeable, warm and friendly, take ownership, customer led
Right priority: an ongoing focus on sales, team and standards management; ongoing activity to drive footfall and conversion; effective merchandising and stock management; ongoing and expert training & coaching; a consistent message to everyone to put wowing the customer first
Pudding’s WOW FACTOR programme starts with a store ‘deep dive’ to benchmark the business against best in class; good and average stores and to assess how well the business is currently delivering on the 4 Ps and the WOW FACTOR model. This is often a more comprehensive look at the business than anyone has done before – whether it is delving into the details of inventory and sales data or a ‘nothing missed’ shop floor observation and sales funnel count.
Every single time, store owners or managers tell me they think they are doing well and just need a few tips.
Every single time, I find opportunities to easily double sales – starting with actions you can take TODAY.
I often end up coaching on the job and normally see targets smashed half way through the day. Not because I am clever or special but simply because while the formula for success is common-sense, it isn’t always in common practice.
I have been a retailer and I know how hard it is to get a team to perform day in and day out, especially if you actually want a day off or need to do one of your 99 other jobs such as buying or paying invoices.
That’s where I can be your eyes and ears – look at the stuff you don’t get the time to look at and give you an actionable, achievable plan to start improving results TODAY.
Don’t just take my word for it – the proof is indeed in the Pudding – so check out what our clients have said (see image 3) and if you think you maybe could benefit from our help, call us for a free initial consultation. What have you got to lose?
Get ready to WOW and be WOWED!
Helen Masters is the owner of Pudding Lingerie Consultancy (www.puddinglingerie.com). Pudding offers training and consultancy services to help lingerie business all over the world to excel. To find out more or book a free initial consultation, contact Helen on consulting@puddinglingerie.com or 0778992197.
