Gap Inc.
September 9, 2020
Our brands are always looking for new ways to engage with our customers and meet them where they are in personalized and seamless ways across multiple touchpoints. To help assist our customers with styling questions and recommendations, from the dressing room to your living room, Athleta and INTERMIX are offering one-on-one virtual styling sessions as an elevated, contactless shopping experience. As we look to the future of retail, our brands are focused on innovating the shopping experience in-store and online, while prioritizing the health and safety of our teams and customers during this time.
Athleta
For Athleta, virtual styling launched earlier this year in the Athleta app to test the customer’s appetite for a digital feature and learn how she will engage with it. The feature allows her to book video chat appointments with a store associate for a similar 1:1 interaction that customers would have in store, purchase directly in the session, and have it shipped -- all in the comfort and safety of their own homes. The team is learning she is using the feature to understand products’ technical qualities and use cases, as she is not able to touch and feel in the moment.
Built internally by a small and scrappy team, the feature has now expanded beyond the app to enable customers to book appointments via email, site and social. While it is still in pilot phase, we are seeing incredible customer response. They love the knowledge and personal touch from our store associates, with virtual styling orders averaging 3x more than the average online and in-store order! As we approach the holidays, the team is working to scale the experience for holiday shopping and gifting and educating customers on new product.
Intermix
Personal styling is INTERMIX’s specialty as the brand is known for skillfully mixing high-end designer brands with emerging contemporary brands. INTERMIX has always offered personal styling services in-stores, but to stay engaged with their customers’ needs no matter where they are, INTERMIX launched virtual styling last year via HERO, a third-party virtual commerce app, that connects in-store stylists with online shoppers by text, chat or video.
With the increase of people shopping from home, the team has been working hard to finetune the customer experience and translate the in-person relationships stylists have with their clients to online. With no physical limitations, the team has found customers chatting in from 18 different countries! The one-on-one relationships built online with the stylist truly matter for the customers, as those sessions are 15x more likely to convert to an online purchase. To further amplify INTERMIX’s authority on styling, check out their new “Ask a Stylist” social series that addresses everything from styling needs, to questions on size and fit, and how to translate the up- and- coming trends into everyday looks.
To book a virtual styling appointment with Athleta, click here and to book one with Intermix, click on the thought bubble on the bottom right hand corner of the site here.
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