Retail Expert Marge Laney Launches Mission to Improve Fitting Rooms, Increase Sales
Fit Happens; Analog Buying in a Digital World to Change Retail Conversations and Set Standards for Retail Stores Worldwide.
HOUSTON, Feb. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Fitting room expert and Alert Tech CEO Marge Laney is on a one-woman mission to improve fitting rooms in retail apparel stores. From dim lighting to bad mirrors, poor design and a lack of service, Laney is launching her new book, Fit Happens; Analog Buying in a Digital World to prompt changes in the conversations retailers are having about their in-store experience. "The fitting room is every apparel retail store's most valuable square footage," said Laney. "It's where your customers make their decision to buy. But it's often overlooked as a revenue generator and profitable opportunity for customer engagement."
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Laney considers fitting rooms 'key' to increasing retail sales, providing an often overlooked opportunity for building brand loyalty. In Fit Happens, she cites recent studies that underscore the importance of redefining the value of fitting rooms.
- Only 10% of customers who browse the sales floor are likely to buy
- 67% of customers who use fitting rooms are likely to buy
- 'Serviced' customers who use the fitting room buy three times what browsers buy
Fit Happens makes practical recommendations for retailers to improve sales and the overall customer experience, from fitting room design to lighting to the latest technologies. "I want retailers to understand the shopping experience from the customer's point of view, and how to create strategies and experiences that will keep shoppers coming back," said Laney. She also has suggestions for customers to help retailers improve the shopping experience.
Retail experts are lauding Laney's book. "If there is anyone in retailing who knows more than Marge Laney about what it takes to turn the fitting room experience into a sales driver, I've yet to meet them," said George Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of RetailWire. "There's something here for everyone from single-store boutique operators to executives in charge of the customer experience at the largest of chains. Read it. You can thank Marge later."
"Fit Happens is a quick read that tackles many myths about how dressing rooms should be managed," said Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor®. "Any retail apparel store executive team trying to figure out how to increase sales in their brick and mortar locations will be unable to unless they've understood the power of the fitting room."
Laney works with some of the world's largest names in retail, including Calvin Klein, The Limited, and American Eagle Outfitters. She's signing her book at Barnes & Noble at Pacific Place in downtown Seattle, Washington on March 12, 2015, from 2-4pm. For more information, please visit www.alerttech.net, or visit http://amzn.to/1xqcm1n to order the book.
About the Author: Marge Laney is recognized globally as the retail industry's leading authority on apparel fitting rooms. Laney is President and CEO of Alert Technologies, providing fitting room service technology for major retailers to increase sales where decisions happen—inside the fitting room. As a consultant to the biggest retailers in the world since 1990, she understands fitting rooms from the inside out. A self-described transplanted 'Jersey girl,' Laney makes her home in Houston, Texas. Fit Happens: Analog Buying in a Digital World is her first book.
CONTACT:
Margo Myers
Margo Myers Communications
206-604-4535
Email
SOURCE Marge Laney
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