Vera Bradley personalizes customer experience with appointments

A specialty women’s accessories brand is enabling customers to select an in-person or virtual shopping session.

Vera Bradley is deploying Reflexis Appointments to provide a tailored experience for its shoppers. The retailer will utilize the solution to streamline and improve the customer shopping experience by allowing customers to book time slots on its website to shop in-store or virtually from home, schedule curbside pickup, and join on-site queues for walk-in service.

Booked appointments are automatically accounted for in Vera Bradley’s labor forecasts and schedules, to ensure the right staff with the right skills are available to meet customer demand. The retailer will also be able to integrate appointment data with a CRM platform or other third-party system to help enhance its customer-facing processes.

According to Vera Bradley, feedback from customers has shown that they intend to utilize this tailored approach to shopping well into the future. The retailer is also leveraging omnichannel appointment scheduling in its broader strategy to safely reopen stores in the wake of COVID-19.

“Reflexis Appointments lets customers initiate and choose their shopping experience, and our stores have benefited from this customized approach,” said Kelly Brown, VP of stores, Vera Bradley. “This helpful technology ensures we have the right employees in place to meet our customers’ needs, and feedback has shown shoppers plan to continue using this personalized approach in the future.”

“Reflexis Appointments is an essential component of reopening stores safely, empowering customers to select their ideal shopping experience,” said Suresh Menon, senior VP and GM for software solutions of Reflexis parent company Zebra Technologies. “Retailers are able to open stores quickly while adhering to mandated state and local safety regulations in addition to achieving more accurate labor forecasting.”