The Perfect Fit: How Fitting Rooms Can Affect Sales in Retail

The Perfect Fit: How Fitting Rooms Can Affect Sales in Retail

Why is it that you go to a fitting room when you are in a retail space? The answer is most likely that you found a piece of clothing you like and intend on making a purchase! Therefore, it is important to bear in mind that this small but mighty area of a retail store is actually the room where purchase decisions are made. Hence, it is the final barrier retailers need to overcome in order to increase sales.

Whilst two years ago, 5 Star Plus Retail Design already published an article regarding “The Importance of Fitting Room Design“ in a retail store, it appears that many retailers still tend to overlook the importance of fitting room design. Therefore, we have approached this topic once again with fresh ideas for retailers to take inspiration from.

How Fitting Rooms Affect Sales in Retail

Let‘s start with some numbers and hard facts. First and foremost, the fitting room area is one of the most significant advantages brick and mortar retailers have over online retailers. Whereas online, one in five shoppers return their purchased items, in brick and mortar retail less than one in ten customers return their items. Returns usually result in huge costs, therefore, any retailer should seek to prevent potential returns and an effective fitting room design can do just this.

Shoppers who use fitting rooms are actually seven times more likely to make a purchase. In addition to this, if the customer has had a good experience with a sales assistant in the fitting rooms, this can also lead to three times as many purchased items. Therefore, all in all, 70% of purchase decisions are made in the fitting room.

How Fitting Room Design Can Influence the Buying Decision

In our previous article, we emphasized the importance of size, color and lighting in fitting room design. With all of this in mind, we dug a little deeper this time, taking a closer look at how fitting rooms also represent the most intimate areas of a store. The fitting room is the area where shoppers take off their clothes, hoping to try on a new piece of clothing which makes them look, as well as feel good. However, it is not just the clothing that achieves this and this is where fitting room design comes into the picture.

To illustrate this using one simple example: think about that uncomfortable feeling you get when you feel too over or under-dressed for a certain occasion. Similarly, if a fitting room design fails to provide the shopper with a character and flare that matches the clothes, the same uncomfortable feeling can occur. It can lead the customer to feel as if something does not look right. This can result in the customer deciding to not make a purchase, hence causing a loss in sales instead of increasing them.

“INXX Store, Parkview Green Beijing”
Image Source: 5 Star Plus Retail Design

How to Create the Perfect Fit with Retail Design

Let us look at some great examples across the Retail Industry in China.
“INXX represents a forward-thinking, boundary-shattering exploration of how the genres of streetwear, sportswear and high-end fashion can be reconstructed, reinterpreted and recombined.“ Through this cool and futuristic fitting room design, the Chinese street-fashion brand not only encourages shoppers to try on their clothes but had also created an atmosphere which is towards their target market.

With design concepts such as these, it is no surprise that the brand has enjoyed continued success over the years. INXX was founded in Guangzhou in 2013 and less than 5 years later, they have opened 54 stores in 17 cities in China, proving themselves to be a brand we can all learn from.

“INXX Store, Parkview Green Beijing”
Image Source: 5 Star Plus Retail Design

“Lululemon Store: Parkview Green Beijing”
Image Source: 5 Star Plus Retail Design

Lululemon is a Canadian brand that sells fashionable and high-quality yoga clothing. One of the brand’s core values is mindfulness. The brand describes its mission as the following: “Our manifesto is one way we share our culture with the community. It’s an evolving collection of bold thoughts that allow for some real conversations to take place.” Lululemon cleverly utilizes the fitting room area as a platform to express some of these bold thoughts through its design. Positive affirmations, which are frequently used in yoga, are integrated in the fitting room design, illustrating how fitting room areas can also represent fundamental brand values. Therefore, when adopting slogans and other words within the design of your fitting rooms, retailers should be sure to choose the “perfect fit.”

As previously mentioned, fitting rooms are a significant advantage for brick and mortar stores. However, some brands who mainly sell online have also begun recognizing this, finding effective ways to utilize this feature. JOOOS has combined these two elements together, by providing the Top 100 Fashion Brands in Tmall’s sales list with the retail space to showcase their products. This example highlights the importance of fitting rooms.

“JOOOS Fitting Room in Hangzhou”

Image Source: e-architect.co.uk

The design of the fitting room area is interesting because it is located in the center of the retail space. Additionally, the exclusivity of the products is highlighted by the small staircase, as you have to physically walk up to get to the fitting room. Thus, one certainly does feel special when trying on a coat in this fitting room area.