URBN Meets Customers Wherever They Prefer
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Customer Profile
Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) is a leading lifestyle products and services company which operates a portfolio of six global consumer brands including Anthropologie and BHLDN.
The Challenge
With different audiences come different challenges, but for Anthrologie and BHLDN, there was one commonality: the need for the stores to connect with customers in a unique and personalized way, and to find a single booking solution that would work for multiple brands while supporting in-store appointments, virtual appointments, and email consultations.
To support those relationships, Anthropologie was using a manual method to book appointments, while BHLDN had a solution that wasn’t meeting their needs. With this as a backdrop, COVID-19 hit and the retailers needed to provide continuity to customer relationships, even if it had to be remote. Further complicating the matter was knowing who was available to support each appointment, especially in-store.
Solution
Enter JRNI. Initially, Anthropologie came to JRNI looking for a flexible and easy-to-use tool to manage one-to-one appointments, both online and in-store. Following the success of Anthropologie’s program, BHLDN followed with the goal of supporting bridal appointments – fittings, stylings, and more.
JRNI Appointments enabled both brands to efficiently schedule appointments, gather information through questions in the booking process, and report outcomes as each appointment was conducted. Overall, the system lent itself to providing a seamless and highly personalized experience to each shopper.
As COVID set in, URBN began looking at leveraging remote appointments to continue delivering the personal services to which customers were accustomed, while respecting social distancing requirements. Because some experiences, like the bridal experience, are more one-to-many experiences with friends and family, the ability to combine the scheduling solution with Zoom-based meetings provided a great alternative.
“As the business owner of our styling programs, it has been incredibly helpful to have the flexibility within the JRNI platform to make adjustments to the appointments and services we offer – to be able to go in and change booking questions, add new services, customize triggered emails, etc. – those types of features and functionality are so easy that we no longer have to involve our technology or web development partners to get them implemented. I can literally go in there and change them based on the needs of our business with little to no down time, which has been instrumental, especially during COVID.”
Maddie Bender, Brand Styling Manager, Anthropologie + BHLDN
The retailer now manages appointments out of select Anthropologie stores (over 200 total), all 23 BHLDN stores, and has both a BHLDN Virtual Team and an Anthropologie Virtual Team. They also run email consultations at both brands.
For the customer, the experience has been really seamless. URBN has been able to experiment within the platform with different types of triggers and communications to enhance the customer experience. And Ms. Bender reports that with the breadth of functionality available within the platform, she’s been able to fine-tune the total experience.
Results
COVID-19 has introduced a series of challenges that retailers never had to think about in the past. It imposed limits on capacity, both customer and staff, on cleaning policies and on entry into the storefront. So with limited availability, JRNI Appointments enabled URBN to manage capacity, and manage time between appointments for cleaning. They also put the control in the shopper’s hands, so there’s no frustration of waiting in line. And there’s the virtual element which provides the high-quality service consumers expect, all from the safety of home!
“JRNI was the reason, really the service, that allowed us to act so quickly and nimbly, to get this off the ground. My biggest test for JRNI was that there were no questions asked, just ideas to figure out how we can make this work during this crazy time. So that was really amazing.”
Maddie Bender, Brand Styling Manager, Anthropologie + BHLDN
Since April, the brands have engaged with over 25,000 customers using JRNI through virtual, email, and in-store appointments. With all of the constraints, the retailer knows they’d not have been able to meet with a fraction of those customers, but with JRNI, the combination of appointments, remote appointments, and email has made it possible to deliver flawless and continuous service across brands. In fact, they are seeing that customers who book appointments, on average, purchase 40% of the time in stores, and 65% of the time virtually, higher than any other channel of business.
“When we were able to open our doors using in-store appointments, it’s really great to see that everything can be managed in one space, even though the appointment channel is different.”