Making good on its promise of an improved customer experience has been the mantra for Chico’s FAS in 2015.
During Wednesday’s first-quarter earnings conference call, Chico’s FAS CEO David F. Dyer discussed some customer experience milestones for the company.
“In addition to controlling our inventory and expenses, our 2015 priorities are focused on the customer experience,” Dyer said, according to Seeking Alpha. “We have achieved several milestones this year. First, our latest version of the customer book iPad application is fully operational in all of our Chico’s stores. We’re rolling it out to our other brands as part of our ongoing POS implementation over the next six months. Our store teams use the app to access customer shopping patterns and preferences, enabling them to extend our amazing personal service in a number of ways. Now associates can view recent customer purchases to aid in suggestive selling. Associates can research and order online merchandise from the selling floor. And soon, they can communicate special events and set styling appointments directly with customers via email.”
What’s more, Chico’s has plans for a new POS systems implementation, which started at the beginning of the quarter and is on track to be rolled out to all of its stores this year.
“Among the many enhancements, the systems will enable mobile checkout capabilities, providing even more efficient and seamless customer service,” Dyer added. “We successfully launched our digital mailer experience, allowing our customers to shop and purchase directly from the pages of digital version of our printed catalog. In addition, our digital commerce exclusives are driving an increasingly important portion of our assortments. Dcom exclusive provides sizes and product extensions not available in stores such as petites, long and short pant lengths, and swimwear. The Dcom exclusives are leading to an increase in multichannel shoppers, which again, are our most valuable customers. I’m pleased to report that the initiatives we announced last quarter: Disciplined inventory management, cost reductions, and enhancement of the customer experience drove positive results across the board.”
First-quarter sales increased 1.7%.
“Though at times painful, we know that ripping off the promotional Band-Aid leads to improved profitability as our first quarter results show,” Dyer added. “We also know that our most valuable customers respond to newness and they’re willing to pay full price for it. Continuing to leverage our significant customer database and our technology will allow us to increase the level of personalization and drive a more effective promotional strategy over time. We may give up some sales in the short term, but we will generate improved profits and a healthier business in the long term.”
Chico’s FAS comprises the following brands: Chico’s, White House | Black Market, Soma Intimates, and Boston Proper. It’s a specialty retailer of private branded, sophisticated, casual-to-dressy clothing, intimates, complementary accessories, and other non-clothing gift items. The company operates 600 Chico’s boutiques and 100 outlets, 402 White House | Black Market boutiques and 45 outlets, and 206 Soma Intimates boutiques and 16 outlets, throughout the U.S., the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Each brand publishes its own catalog and maintains its own ecommerce website: www.chicos.com, www.whbm.com, www.soma.com and www.bostonproper.com.