What do your customers do in the fitting room? You should know that
In this text, you will find tips on how to use lighting in the fitting room to build positive customer experiences and increase sales. Along the way, you will verify your knowledge of the technology and methods of setting up shop lamps.
Before we begin, let’s establish the facts. What happens in the fitting room affects the total retail sales you care about the most. Here are the three pieces of evidence:
- More than 60% of purchasing decisions are made in the fitting room. In the case of women, the figure goes up to 70%
- Clients using the fitting rooms buy three times more than the rest.
- Customers who have used the fitting room return the goods 50% less frequently.
On the path leading through the store, from the entrance to the checkout, the ‘fitting room’ stop is therefore the key point where you can gain more or lose everything. Skilful management of a customer’s experience in your fitting room alone can significantly improve metrics such as conversion, average value of a single sale, and the number of products purchased. This allows not only more profit, but also smart planning of store development.
Customer experience in the fitting room: whether you want it or not
No matter what your approach to new marketing methods is, you can’t ignore CX, which has been used recently in all cases. Why? Because the experiences of your shop customers are not a matter of implementation. They happen here and now, whether you like it or not. Only by observing them closely can you try to positively influence them and, in return, get what you deserve: increased sales, more spontaneous purchases and the jealousy of your rivals.
So let’s analyze what customers do in your fitting room and how you can influence their emotions, which are the largest driving force of sales.
They are moving into the virtual world
You must know that for several years now, the cabin in your store has been a portal between the real and virtual world for almost half of your customers thanks to smartphones, of course. According to some studies, up to a third of all people who disappear in the fitting room take a selfie and nearly half take a photo of the product and send it to their friends (data from the “Retail360” portal).
Do you feel this potential? That’s thousands of micro-influencers a week who can recommend your store and your products at zero fee. The condition? Good, effective lighting that makes products look good and invites you to take a photo of yourself with it. You can add an attractive element of interior design, ie a “social media friendly” accent (eg the words “You look great in everything” together with a logo on the mirror) – then photos from your fitting room will go straight to the Internet more often.
They form a relationshio or they feel abandoned
Behind the curtain of the fitting room there may be a need to solve problems such as uncertainty about color or design (eternally alive “does it fit?”). Apart from the behaviour of people who never ask for help from the store staff, there are two scenarios:
- Your salesperson will take care of the customer professionally and quickly. That is, of course, if the staff can help everyone and each salesperson is properly trained.
- Your customer will not find support from your salesperson and will feel helpless. In this helplessness, he can still consult his friend on the phone, but the negative emotion will dominate.
You can limit the occurrence of the situation from the second point in two ways. By hiring more salespeople and investing in decent training for them, or… by eliminating all doubts if it is worth choosing a particular product.
A good frontal light with a high CRI index can do wonders in this area: not only will it improve your self-perception in the mirror, it will also show the colors as closely as possible to their appearance in sunlight. Imagine a small sign saying “The light in this fitting room imitates natural light. You can be sure of the color of the products.” The effect? You will not only affect the level of sales but also save on employee training.
They get tired
Yes, repeatedly taking off and putting on clothes is gymnastics that hardly anyone wants to do, especially after a long slalom between shelves. A tired customer is an irritated customer, and they are more eager to give up on shopping and go home.
Help them by providing adequate ventilation. Air conditioning is important even during the winter. Although store personnel are usually lightly dressed, customers come to your store wearing jackets, scarves and hats. Add to that trying on three pairs of tight jeans in a tiny room and you have an exhausted, sweaty and discouraged customer.
Pay attention! Metal halide lamps simply heat things up. Consider replacing this type of lighting with LEDs. Better yet, do it as soon as possible!
They look “the truth” in the eye
There is something surprising in the retail industry. Everyone knows that the sharp overhead light in the fitting room makes the client look and feel terrible, but (almost) nobody does anything about it.
In stores, there is still a dominant lighting setting that, instead of emphasizing strengths and masking imperfections, shows customers in black and white: you are getting old, you have cellulite and you will never look good with bare arms. Usually, it also suggests that the only solution is to right away put the clothes on a hanger, return home, cover yourself with a blanket and plunge into thoughts about the passing beauty.
Meanwhile, stores that have taken care of the professional setting of lighting fixtures not only enjoy selling tried-on products, but also have loyal returning customers who have only good associations with a visit to the brand’s store.
