SmartFit demystifies fitting room utilisation

Indyme, a leading provider of real-time shopper engagement and loss prevention systems, has announced the introduction of SmartFit, a new fitting room management system.

SmartFit enables apparel retailers to track fitting room use, monitor time spent in fitting rooms, record conversion rates, and even track incidents of theft. In high service retail environments, SmartFit can also be configured to allow shoppers to request assistance from within the fitting room or request that locked fitting rooms are promptly opened by store personnel.

Industry research has shown that fitting rooms are one of the most important points for sales conversions in the customer’s path to purchase and can impact sales and satisfaction in a variety of ways. For example, the conversion rate for apparel shoppers who use fitting rooms is 70%, compared to 10% for those who don’t. Fitting rooms are routinely mentioned in customer satisfaction surveys as the most influential in determining overall satisfaction and have a significant impact on the reputation or perception of a brand. Yet this is an area of a store, up until now, that retailers have had little understanding or influence over.

Indyme’s own research into consumers attitudes to fitting rooms revealed long lines, locked fitting rooms, cleanliness, customer assistance and badly organised cubicles were cited as having the most impact on customer satisfaction. In fact, consumers typically abandon purchases at least twice in every five visits – due to a lack of customer assistance. Of these consumers, 60.8% would be likely to make a purchase if help was available. With over half (52.6%) of all consumers likely to use a shopper assistance button in a fitting room to request a different colour or size.  With this level of impact on purchase decisions, it is perhaps surprise that fitting rooms are often the least equipped and therefore the least understood part of the store.

This has all changed with the introduction of the SmartFit fitting room management system. Apparel retailers can now link fitting room activity with traffic data to understand and improve utilisation, which in turn increases conversion and sales. Armed with theft data, retailers can also make intelligent policy decisions including whether to lock or unlock fitting rooms and even alert security or in-store personnel on unusual dwell activity.  In addition, SmartFit now allows customers to request a different size or colour from within the fitting room which drives positive satisfaction scores and increased unit purchases and average ticket.

Regarding the new SmartFit, Joe Budano, CEO of Indyme, said: “Our apparel customers presented us with a challenge of enabling fitting rooms to provide critical and actionable information to improve operations. SmartFit was born out of real life issues facing our apparel customers. This amazing new product really showcases how Indyme is providing innovations that meet critical customer needs.”

To watch a video animation revealing how the new SmartFit fitting room management system can benefit retailers, please visit http://bit.ly/1LyNfkV.