Suitsupply, the global men’s tailoring brand built on radically personal customer experiences, launches a new retail journey as stores reopen. The upside of being global, and the staggered timelines of the outbreaks around the world, is the ability to learn from stores that have opened across China and parts of EU. Suitsupply has been able to test, improve and adapt measures implemented in other countries to create easy journeys for customers as they integrate into a new normal shopping experience while ensuring the safest environment possible for their US stores.
While pandemics are a hefty force that imposes radical changes in consumer behavior, they also ignite strategic thinking and opportunity to implement innovation. Shopping, for most people, falls under two categories: an enjoyable exploration leading to discovery, or an errand that fulfills a need. Suitsupply aims to facilitate both in a safe, satisfying, and convenient way, in this new world.
Customizations, like on-site alterations and Custom, Made suiting, are the brand’s defining services at Suitsupply’s 140+ stores around the globe. Stay-at-home orders and store closures posed a temporary challenge, but ongoing social distancing measure has spurred the brand to respond with industry-defining innovation.
As part of a multi-point plan, Suitsupply introduced Safe Shopping Screens—free-standing partitions allowing for safe, up-close interaction without modifying the customer’s behavior during pinning sessions. Some safety measures, such as face masks/reduced store capacity, are expected to ease away in the long term, but early analysis reveals customers are learning new behaviors that are expected to continue post-pandemic.
To reduce the concentration of in-store guests, Suitsupply implemented a guided virtual experience helping customers pre-select items for store visits through co-browsing sessions with live style experts on Suitsupply.com, making the shopping journey more convenient and seamless. Customers are not gambling on size availability, but rather guaranteeing their selections will be waiting. The brand goes a step further with an optional appointment booking tool to reserve prepared fitting rooms and private shopping suites.
Whether browsing and chilling on the newly renovated rooftop in SOHO or dropping into a virtually prepared fitting room, the company’s goal is to keep a finger on the pulse and stay agile as consumer behavior shifts.
