Debenhams success with online booking software
By Retail Technology | Friday March 17 2017
Debenhams has increased the number of customers booking personal shopping appointments by 25% with new online booking software
It has partnered with online booking software company BookingBug for the service which allows customers to book personal shopper appointments in 88 of its stores across the country.
Prior to rolling out the online service, Debenhams was concerned its 20-year-old personal shopper service was struggling to attract new customers.
Donna Hudson, senior marketing co-ordinator at Debenhams, said: "While the customers who regularly used our personal shopping service knew it was a great experience, the booking system didn’t reflect that. We needed a premium system to give customers a premium service."
Debenhams did have an online booking process before rolling out BookingBug's software, but the service was managed through legacy infrastructure and was not designed for mobile.
The old software was not able to reveal data on customers booking an appointment, not to mention zero real-time visibility or an easy amendment process.
Hudson added: "Because it was so difficult to track appointment volumes and attribute revenue to individual bookings, we didn’t have the data we needed to make a credible business case for investing in and expanding the service, although we instinctively knew it was enormously valuable."
The new online software is now a real-time service, and customers can subscribe to SMS and email reminders, which increase appointment attendance rates. Head office can also use the data to ensure enough staff are on hand to manage personal shopping appointments during peak periods.
