LONDON, Jun 8, 2007/ FW/ --- A study released yesterday by Envision Retail suggested that ‘fashion retailers are losing out on billions of dollars a year because sales staff are only engaging with 7% of customers who enter the store.’

According to the same study, “if the sales staff approached four more customers in every 100 and were more aware of the all-important buying signals, sales would increase by 7%. Additionally, encouraging customers to use welcoming and well-serviced fitting rooms would see an additional uplift of 5%.”

Jason Kemp, Managing Director of Envision Retail explained the significance of this finding, saying that ‘retailers are very good at selecting products and merchandising them in a way that inspire customers to make a purchase.’

Because of the great visual merchandising aspect of retailers, over half of the shoppers who enter the store with no clear idea of what to buy account for over 40% of sales.

Kemp suggested that if retailers want to make a big leap in sales, apart from expanding the number of outlets, retailers need to get their staff selling and partake in the potential additional US$96 billion sales annually that is lost simply because the sales staff did not interact with four more customers out of 100 who entered the store.

And this could be easily remedied by improved training so that the sales staff approach more customers disposed to buying rather than browsing. Better service and more welcoming fitting rooms are keys to enhanced performance.

The same study also identified five distinct customer groups - Pleasure Seekers, Product Groupies, Focussed Fulfillers, General Browsers and Time Killers - differentiated by the speed in which shoppers move around a store and their interaction with the product.

In Europe, the largest group is the Pleasure Seekers, customers shopping for a treat; they are the most impulsive and try on 1.5 as many products than elsewhere in the world.

In the USA, where shopping is a planned activity, most customers start their trip as a Product Groupie - knowing exactly what type of item they want, but once they have found it, they turn into General Browsers, leisurely visiting the rest of the store, providing retailers with a real opportunity to make a sale.

The USA is the only market where a significant percentage of customers change group during their shopping experience.

In Asia, shopping is a social leisure activity with 18% more General Browsers than the global average with customers more likely to use a shopping trip to meet up with friends.

In the UAE, 52% of sales come from the Product Groupies and Timer Killers are also the most significant in this region. The Focused Fulfillers, those who know exactly what they want, are the smallest group, represent between 1 and 2 per cent in every region.

Focussed Fulfillers are the least likely to be converted by an approach by a member of staff - in fact, the opposite, the survey showed conversion rates were -14% for this group.

On the sales floor, 10% of customers are converted into buyers, whereas in the fitting room it is closer to 70%. Envision has calculated that if a staff member provides quality service at the fitting room and assist customers with finding alternative sizes or items, sales could increase by 1%.

For more information about this study, please log on: www.envisionretail.com