Tales From The Sales Floor: Exploring Bonobos
Welcome to Tales From the Sales Floor (TFTSF)! Every month, we discover and review successful companies that inspire, create and evolve the customer shopping experience.
Bonobos has always fascinated us. An apparent inverse the traditional model of physical-first retail, Bonobos is an ecommerce retailer that utilizes physical “Guideshops” in order to provide customers with the option of understanding the different fits of their suits, shirting, casualwear and signature chinos. That being said, Bonobos maintains its status as exclusively ecommerce because customers can’t buy the merchandise in store. Here’s a list of the factors that we find important:
1. Storytelling
The store name Bonobos originated from a species of apes, whom are the most evolved apes on the planet. You may think, what does an ape and a retail store have in common? Bonobos the brand wanted to build a menswear brand for the most evolved men on planet earth. On social media, they maintain a very casual, down-to-earth and environmentally friendly persona, which is fitting for the nature of the brand.
2. Store Drivers
Searching Bobonos with mobile is a seamless experience. The SEO localization was able to pick up the nearest stores, along with a link to enter their GuideShops site and an embedded map with the nearest locations, all within two scrolls on my mobile. Their website has a clear, functional, and simple UI. Within minutes, I was able to set up an appointment at the Flatiron location for later in the day. The only drawback was that Bonobos didn’t offer me suggestions or alternatives based on my selections.
3. Luring Passersby
Located in the heart of Manhattan, the Flatiron location is hard to miss. Bonobos kept the facade of the store aligned with the branding of the website, and the product-forward presentation of the window display gave me a good idea of what the brand has to offer. Great CTA in the window display, which coaxed me into the store.
4. Associate Communication & Customer Journey
Perhaps one of the most personalized shopping experience I have ever had. The associate or “guide,” was friendly, knowledgeable and pleasantly helpful. The only downfall was lack of inventory on a few items due to the difficulty in coordinating availability with a warehouse (no items are actually up for sale in the store itself!
5.Ease of transaction
You can place your order right from the store, and they also offer a discount off your first order! Not only do I have the (almost) instant satisfaction of receiving the product one day after purchasing it, but I also got to try it on, and most importantly, I didn’t have to schlep it home.
6. Post-shopping
Not only did I leave with a cart full of items, ready to be reviewed and potentially purchased at my earliest convenience, but I also received a personalized email from the associate, specifying items I expressed interest in, yet decided not to put in my cart. Very helpful, and very sincere.
Overall Satisfaction
And that concludes this month’s TFTSF! Overall, Bonobos impressed. They have some kinks to work out, but that’s expected, given the novelty of their model. I would strongly urge other brands to study what they have going, as it has plenty of lessons to offer when it comes to equipping associates with the right tools to outperform.