Like most ‘out the box’ business ideas, when I shared first thoughts on transforming Odyssey’s lingerie shopping experience to an appointment service, it was met with quizzical silence and ”But why?”s. But knowing women would rather persevere with discomfort and double-boob than face a fitting, I wanted to turn this essential task into a treat.
Having launched a private members club in 2016 as a test run for amplifying a by-appointment service, I hosted a year of top-secret one-to-one events. Members were treated to seasonal previews and pre-order opportunities, meet-the-designer master classes and were given access to colours and collections not usually available in the boutique. Membership to O, as it’s called, took lingerie shopping to an exciting new level.
Satisfied the first year of O was a success, the foundation of a by-appointment bra-fitting service was laid. Pre-booked one- hour slots gave every woman a guarantee she would be fitted by me at a time that suited her.
Not that I’m away often, but it pained me to see a woman couldn’t get the fitting she so wanted & needed when making a special trip to the boutique – or indeed the city – only to find I was away at trade shows, visiting designers or on a rare retreat to revitalise my energy stocks.
Like booking a manicure, a hair appointment or an MOT on your motor: pre-booked lingerie fitting appointments were offering clarity and a sense of calm; even adding anticipation to the experience and turning the ‘chore’ of having a bra fitting into a truly exciting engagement.
No more wasted journeys only to find the fitting rooms were busy and a queue had formed; no dashing back to the car parked on a double yellow; no inadvertently delaying a gent who’d dashed in to pick up a gift voucher, or a busy mum with a sliver of toddler-free-time to get fitted.
Instead appointments and attending special events were slotted by clients neatly between meetings, fresh off the morning commute coffee in hand, arranged around child-care, and always ensured there was plenty of champagne when couples or groups of girlfriends wanted to mark a special occasion.
Splitting myself between two or more clients simultaneously, though fun when they know each other, is challenging when a woman signals she recognises the name & voice of the person in the next fitting room as an acquaintance from the school gates. It’s also curtailed couples fun as he is politely asked to exit the fitting room to make way for another woman wishing to be fitted.
Lingerie shopping is intimate, fun and exhilarating – no matter whether you’re in it for fun or functionality. Enjoying it solo, with your other half or among a group of girlfriends, doing it by appointment gives you time to relax and me time to understand what will really work for you.
As an extra thanks for clients adapting to shopping for lingerie by-appointment, I put everyone who plays by my new rules of retail on the priority list for future collection ‘first-dibs’ and invitations to exclusive events ahead of public announcements.
All possible because we spent an uninterrupted hour chatting over champagne while you enjoyed a truly pleasurable bra-fitting, and I learned just enough of what you love to make buying your basics, and more fancy frillies, less of a task and more of a treat.
To book a fitting and find the bra your body will love you for – one that’s such a pleasure to wear you’ll never want to take it off – make your appointment by clicking here.
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