Property firm Lendlease has revealed the results of a personal shopping initiative run over the course of five weeks during May and June, noting the service led to a low return-rate of items, as well as a higher basket size. 

The service, which ran in partnership with tech startup Shop You, combined a shopping personalisation app, a human personal stylist, and a CBD Lendlease location which allowed customers to collect, try on, and return clothes. 

According to Lendlease, the trial involved more than 40 professional women aged between 25 and 40 years, and saw an average basket size three times the industry average. 

The trial also yielded a customer conversion rate nine times higher than the industry average, and found that customers appreciated the centrality of the system – enjoying the ability to shop multiple brands via one platform, as well as the central location to try on, collect and return products. 

“We wanted to gauge the personal shopper service’s commercial potential and consumers’ desire for such a service, in the context of a highly disruptive retail environment,” Lendlease head of experimental projects Lorraine Sarayeldin said. 

“We saw an untapped market, where customers and the industry are yet to make the most of combining emerging technologies with physical stores.

“Most businesses are still struggling with personalisation and making it easy for customers to purchase and return products, whether it’s via an app, website, in-store or another customer collection point.”

Based on post-trial interviews with participants, Lendlease said there was strong demand for the service, and most participants said they would be disappointed if the service was discontinued.

According to Shop You founder and chief executive Kelly Slessor, the trial taught them valuable information about customer behaviour.

“There is a strong consumer demand for this end-to-end personal shopping service,” Slessor said. 

“For busy women, buying clothes online and offline is still too hard – we need the online to work seamlessly with the physical. The trial showed us that to solve the problem for consumers, we need to look at the entire shopping experience from beginning to end.”

Access exclusive analysis, locked news and reports with Inside Retail Weekly. Subscribe today and get our premium print publication delivered to your door every week.