Accent Group has witnessed the power of virtual shopping during the pandemic, with 31,200 customers using the new features in just 90 days.
Adjusting and adapting to the limits of the pandemic, Accent has employed the use of virtual shopping tools including text and video chat to allow customers to engage with their local store.
The tools allow customers to connect with in-store experts to ask questions, get recommendations and see how a product looks in real life.
These types of capabilities have boomed during the pandemic, with retailers including Michael Hill and Cue also offering services such as these.
Unlike call centres or chat bots, virtual shopping uses the expertise of real live humans to make the online shopping experience better and more personalised.
In 90 days of having these tools available, Accent has seen that customers who use the features are 5-10x more likely to make a purchase and their average order size is 25% larger.
Accent Group GM of digital Kasie Heathcote said that the tools also help the business' staff manage online sales.
"The [virtual shopping] application enables our retail teams the tools to manage live chat enquiries on our websites, which in turn gives the customer an authentic experience and supports the sales process for our online customers," she said.
Accent Group is partnered with Hero for its virtual shopping tools.