Every retailer chasing higher conversion rates has one idea in mind: to make shopping more intentional.
Appointment shopping is one way to do this. Shoppers book time, arrive with a purpose, and get personalized help from knowledgeable staff, which has been known to lift purchase confidence and sales.
In fact, Vogue reported Saks Global saw a 10% higher conversion rate during tests of more personalized shopping experiences. Appointment shopping applies that same logic using scheduled time and curated product selections as a growth strategy.
But as with many experiential retail tactics, there are several ways to approach appointment shopping. Here’s what you need to know about successfully implementing it.
Appointment shopping, also known as retail appointment scheduling, is when customers book an available time slot to shop your store in person. Typically, appointments are made online through a booking system, but some retailers offer call-ahead appointment scheduling as well.
Retailers may choose to let customers shop solo or create a specific itinerary for each appointment based on customer needs.
Aside from controlling how many customers are in your store, appointment shopping allows retailers to deliver focused, high-touch experiences that build lasting customer relationships.
This shopping method is highly impactful for retailers that rely heavily on in-store customer interactions, such as those offering bra fittings, jewelry consultations, or personalized styling. Not only can retailers offer slow shopping through appointments, but customers are also receptive to the experience. Overall, this helps retailers create focused, high-touch experiences that can foster customer loyalty.
Appointment shopping may seem like a counterintuitive idea. After all, it only makes sense that retailers would want as much foot traffic as possible.
However, some customers prefer a more controlled, tailored in-store experience—especially during busy periods or when they want dedicated help. Here are some of the biggest draws of offering the experience of appointment shopping.
In an era of AI and automation, personalized experiences are becoming more desirable for people. It doesn’t matter whether it’s while they’re shopping, dining, or getting support; human connection is now the ultimate luxury.
With appointment shopping, retail associates can leverage customer data and recommend relevant products based on their history with your brand. This type of meaningful, one-to-one interaction, also known as retail clienteling, has been shown to increase monthly spend by 63% compared to standard communication.
Appointment shopping gives customers the attention they want, and staff the means to use consultative selling strategies that lead to higher sales.
Offering a set number of time slots available for customers to reserve generates a sense of urgency.
This encourages high-intent shoppers, or shoppers who are most likely to make a purchase, to book an appointment before they’re gone.
To build more demand, omnichannel retailers can also leverage other channels, like in a banner on your website or social media posts, to encourage customers with high purchase intent to shop in store via appointment.
Appointment shopping also leads to higher conversion rates and average order values (AOV). A customer booking an appointment is telling you they are ready to buy—they just need some assistance. By nature, these appointments are personalized and focused, comforting shoppers and subtly urging them to commit to a purchase.
Even better, appointments close for more money. A report from the retail software company Tulip shows a 20% higher AOV compared to standard sales floor interactions. That’s because retail associates can upsell better by preparing items in advance. Customers are also more receptive to suggestive selling and curated collections, which leads to buying more of what you recommend.
One of the significant perks of appointment shopping is its flexibility. You can create an appointment shopping experience that fits both your capabilities and your customers’ needs.
Now, look at a few merchants using appointment shopping in their own way to serve their customers.
LIVELY is a lingerie brand that prides itself on being a true game changer in the industry and refers to its unique bras and underwear style as “leisurée.” Michelle Cordeiro Grant, the founder of LIVELY, started the brand to empower women to feel comfortable, supportive, and sexy.
Appointment shopping isn’t anything new for LIVELY. Customers can book a bra fitting, known as a “fit sesh,” online for one of LIVELY’s two brick-and-mortar stores. These appointments have generated great success—roughly 30% of LIVELY’s In-Store revenue.
Customers can book a 30-minute appointment that works best for their schedule. This is also a great way to inform customers—who may not be aware of the “fit sesh” option initially—about this service and encourage them to make an appointment if they live near a store location.
What’s more, after LIVELY used Shopify POS to sync its brick-and-mortar sales data with its ecommerce sales data, it found that the average order value is 60% to 80% higher for customers who book an appointment online.
Epic Mountain Gear knows its people. Getting gear ready for the slopes is a hassle, especially if it’s your first time or you have a family in tow. The brand’s booking appointment page lets shoppers book for an expert boot fitting, junior trade program, or seasonal rental pick-up.
New appointments are released daily, and you can book your spot up to two weeks in advance. To find a store, shoppers use a built-in search tool where they can enter a city name or postal code. In return, they can book at the most convenient locations.
While Epic Mountain Gear welcomes walk-ins for boot fittings and rental pickups, appointments take priority. If you walk in without a booking, you’ll be added to a queue and assisted only after scheduled customers have been served.
Martin Greenfield Clothiers has been an iconic suit brand for decades. The company makes custom pieces, which are ready for the first fitting in four to five weeks, due to the amount of care that goes into each bespoke suit.
The brand offers consultation services on its website. The goal is to meet with a specialist to discuss the customer’s needs, style preferences, and fabric choices. Shoppers can easily book online or call a listed phone number to speak to the shop directly.
Ready to build your appointment shopping system? Here’s a step-by-step guide to making it work for your business.
Before you start offering appointment scheduling to customers, it’s important to nail down how this experience will look.
Solo or employee-assisted? Free-roaming or structured?
Figure out how you want customers to experience your store during an appointment. Brainstorm with your team to determine what is feasible and what will deliver a full-brand experience to your customers.
Use this checklist to help you get started:
The logistics
The experience
The follow-up
Next, choose an appointment booking software. With so many retail technology options, it can be overwhelming to choose the right one.
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
The Shopify App Store offers several appointment booking apps, including:
The goal of appointment shopping is to create a space for customers to shop while simultaneously building a connection—not to exclude customers.
Spread the word about this offering on channels like social media, email, your website, and paid ads, if you’re running them. Use demographic targeting to reach the customers most likely to value a personalized experience, such as your most loyal shoppers or those in specific locations.
You can also email past customers to let them know you’re now accepting appointment shopping. Be sure to include a link to your website so customers eager to book their slot can do so easily.
The more you tell your customers, the more likely your appointment slots are to fill up.
This step goes hand in hand with Step 3, but wherever you spread the word, make sure it’s easy for customers to make an appointment.
This could be a landing page on your online store, so it’s easy to link to and post about on social media and in email. Offer time slots for customers to browse to avoid back-and-forth about availability.
If you’re offering a hands-on appointment experience, be sure to ask questions like, “What products or services are you interested in?” and “What is your reason for shopping with us?”
These questions will help you understand each customer’s intent. Don’t lock them up in a spreadsheet in your office. The person working the floor has to have the info at their fingertips before the customer walks through the door.
You can either give the associate access to your booking software or set up an automation that sends a summary of their questionnaire to a Slack channel, Teams chat, or email once the booking is confirmed.
You know your appointment structure and have selected your software, but before you can start accepting appointments, ensure your team understands how they work and what is expected.
Here’s a quick checklist of things to be sure staff know:
Have procedures in place if customers refuse to follow your store’s policies, so employees know how to handle those situations.
Don’t forget about post-purchase communication. Following each appointment, send customers a survey (or have them complete it in store at the time of purchase) to gauge how the appointment went and where you can improve.
This is a great way to make sure you’re delivering the best possible experience for customers and building long-lasting relationships with each one. You can track the following metrics to gauge your program overall:
There are several ways to approach post-purchase communication, which gives retailers the chance to connect with customers on their preferred channel. Below are a few ways to solicit customer feedback both online and offline:
Not sure where to start? Test a few channels and see what sticks. You may find that using more than one channel to solicit feedback is the most beneficial strategy for your business.
Retailers offer appointment shopping to create a premium shopping experience for customers. It attracts more intentional shopping and has been proven to drive higher conversion rates and AOV. Appointment shopping is also a great way to offer clienteling and use customer data to make every shopper feel like a VIP.
Appointments bring in shoppers who are already in the mood to buy. Staff can prep a collection of products before the customer even arrives, which makes it much easier to upsell and increase AOV. These shoppers generally have higher conversion rates because they feel more confident in their purchases after getting expert help.
Stores use apps like Sesami or Cowlander that sync with their Shopify POS or other point-of-sale systems. Customers can book a slot on the website or via a social media link, and staff can gather information through questionnaires, send reminders, and message post-purchase for feedback.
Appointment shopping is a hit with shoppers who appreciate white-glove service options. They aren’t fans of a crowded sales floor and prefer to have a more intimate conversation with a sales associate about what they want. Chances are they have an itinerary and want to get in and out efficiently.
Retail appointments are usually 30 minutes long, but it depends. You don’t want to rush customers out the door if they are enjoying themselves, but you definitely don’t want to back up other appointments. The goal is to give the customer enough time to feel pampered without messing up your team’s daily tasks.
