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Marks & Spencer digitises bra fitting service

Lauretta Roberts
25 February 2020

Marks & Spencer, which is responsible for one in every three bras sold in the UK, has launched a new digital tool to improve its bra fitting service.

The new tool takes the current complimentary bra fitting service paper-free and has been designed in-house by the M&S digital team, replacing a previously outsourced service.

Marks & Spencer says the new service will help it build on its UK market-share in bras, which currently stands at an all-time high of 37.5%. Women who are fitted for bras buy on average two to three bras, whereas without a fitting they buy just one.

Women are recommended to attend a bra fitting once every 12 months and the new service includes appointment reminders, handy follow-up emails with recommendations for new products in a customer's preferred styles.

The tool is also linked to M&S’s Sparks loyalty card – meaning customers can simply scan their card with the bra fitter to access all their details, rather than having to find their booking email when they go for an appointment.

M&S's team has also created a version of the booking tool for the digital devices used by store colleagues (the Honeywell, which M&S has invested in 16,000 of) meaning colleagues can quickly and easily book appointments for customers shopping in store.

The post-appointment emails have been designed to help women who want to repeat purchase a few months after a fitting, having found a style or shape they love. M&S’s insight shows that women are very loyal to bra shapes and styles, be that plunge, balcony or full-cup.

Equally the emails are also ideal for targeting those who want to purchase online after a bra fit, for example after pay day or if they want their items delivered at a convenient time. The move is part of M&S's wider commitment to driving one third of Clothing & Lingerie sales online where customers can access the full M&S range across all colours and styles.

Further benefits to the retailer include access to better data to be able to suggest personalised products to customers, a better understanding of bra sizes and styles, as well as as well as being able to better track lingerie shopping trends and buying habits.

It will also enable the retailer to ensure it has a sufficient number of bra fitters from its team of 5,000 trained fitters.

Laura Charles, Director of Lingerie for M&S said: “M&S is changing and we have a relentless focus on what our customers want – easy to wear style and wardrobe essentials delivered at great value and backed up by an easy shopping experience.

"With 1 in 3 women wearing an M&S bra it’s our ultimate wardrobe essential and we’re excited that this tool will help us improve the shopping experience for our customers. Offering us better access to data it can ultimately help us grow our market leading bra share.”

Amanda Glover, Digital Change Manager who joined the team two years ago to help M&S create more digitally connected stores and created the tool with her team, said: “Tech is creating so many opportunities for all areas of retail which is really exciting. For M&S it is helping us develop solutions for our customers that make shopping with us easier and more convenient.

"We’re really proud to be developing retail tech that is industry leading – such as this bra fit tool. We know that nearly 90% of customers buy a bra after a bra fit, but sometimes they don’t want to do it there and then so this is an ideal solution.”

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