Honey Birdette has witnessed the power of individual in-store appointments in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lingerie retailer, which has experienced significant sales increases throughout lockdown, has seen the appointments grow to contribute 15-20% of its direct sales revenue.
CEO Kim Kidd told Ragtrader that the appointments have been so successful as they address what the customer is looking for during this time.
"Our appointments basically started off almost as a necessity where we were asking ourselves, 'how can we open quickly? how can we make sure that we're social distancing and that we're meeting the capacity requirements of the store?'
"So we thought about the customer journey right now and any anxieties that they might be having.
"We thought about the fact that they're at home all the time so they're not really buying things or going on holiday.
"So there's a different need to fill.
"And underwear and lingerie and feeling good at home during this time that is something that is so important," she said.
The appointments also help to create a heightened sense of safety, as the customer has the one on one time with a sales assistant – a 'honey' as they're known in the business – without anyone else in the store.
"The word safe has taken on a new kind of meaning in terms of our appointments," Kidd said.
"It was always safe to come in because we've taken these precautions but what we were finding was that people were responding so well to the appointment experience.
"You get this face to face time with a honey and you get a very personal journey.
"Safe took on this new meaning of, 'you can come in, you can explore, you can be yourself, you can take as much time as you like.'
"And you also have those people who just want to be in and out and this guarantees that we put their set to one side, so it gives you that privilege of being able to ensure the stock by having an appointment.
"This isn't just about health and safety anymore, this is actually meeting our customers' requirements in terms of having that full experience," she said.
Thanks to the success of the appointment strategy, the business is currently looking at opening an appointment-only store in Sydney CBD.
Honey Birdette will look to introduce a tier system of appointment types, with the hope to eventually roll out VIP experiences, Kidd said.
"We know appointments are the future – at least for now while people can't openly come in.
"So we're going to start an appointment only store in Sydney CBD and we're fully looking into it at the moment.
"We're looking at rolling out a VIP appointment experience as well which we will do through digital and [the customers] will be able to add on some assets.
"If you'd rather do a virtual appointment or if you want to continue to come into store, we are going to take that to all sorts of tiers," she said.
Honey Birdette's in-store appointments are free and can be booked online, over the phone with a honey or in-store.