Executive Briefing
Will appointment-based shopping take off as retail reopens?
Safety first. But a better customer experience, too?
By Dan Frommer on Thursday, May 21, 2020 at 11:00 pm
This newsletter is late because I’ve been shopping.
Specifically, as I sat down to start writing this today, I had just finished a virtual appointment, conducted this afternoon via FaceTime, with a manager at an A.P.C. store in Los Angeles.
Over the span of 37 minutes, I toured the Parisian brand’s current collection, got a bit of style advice, and talked textiles. And after confirming sizes on A.P.C.’s website, I ordered a shirt and pair of pants that I’d been shown — both on sale! — for the summer.
It’s been more than two months since I’ve stepped foot in a retail store, and I miss it: The relaxing aimlessness, the thrill of discovery, and the experience of carefully curated places, including their design and even the background music. Retailers miss us, too. Total US retail traffic during the second week of May was still down more than 90% year over year.
But as stores start to re-open, as Covid-19 lockdown restrictions ease, I’m also not particularly eager to rush back, and I don’t think I’m alone. The idea of touching items and sharing questionable airspace with other random people still feels riskier than it’s worth. (No offense, but I fear your droplets!) And as stores limit capacity to maintain social distancing, the last thing I’d want to do is wait in a long line for the experience.
One thing that keeps coming up as part of a solution is the idea of appointment shopping.
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Hi, I’m Dan Frommer and this is The New Consumer, a publication about how and why people spend their time and money.
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