Creating the connected store of the future
One of the first solutions Melbourne, Australia-based Brauz brought to market enabled customers to reserve products and book an appointment to try on or view that product in-store. Retailers saw a huge uplift in both foot traffic and revenue via this solution.
Prior to COVID-19 lockdowns, Shane Lenton, CIO of Australian fashion brand Cue Clothing, had started working on a video commerce solution and connected with Lee to see how they could work together utilising the sophisticated Brauz booking engine.
Shane knew from his experience working across various retail verticals including fashion, furniture, and homewares that there was a huge potential for online appointments that would elevate the shopping experience. He envisaged a “white-glove experience that was friction-free from appointment through to purchase.”
“A business that prides itself on fashion-forward designs and innovation, we are always looking to elevate the customer experience,” Shane says.
When the pandemic hit, Shane wanted to accelerate the delivery of the video commerce solution and met with Lee from Brauz to discuss appointment-based shopping.
“I rang Lee and suggested the idea of a collaboration to bring video commerce to market,” he says.
Zoom changed everything for Brauz and Cue
Brauz expanded its platform to allow people to shop at stores, from the comfort of their homes, via Zoom, at a time convenient to them, alleviating geographical challenges.
The company built its Live Connect video commerce capability enabling video-based appointments or the ability to connect live by video to staff in-store.
With Live Connect, customers can click a button on the store’s website that alerts a stylist. The stylist uses their wearable tech to start serving the customer, just as though they were standing in the store together.
The customer is even able to safely pay for items in their cart, inside the Zoom session, all without leaving the shopping experience. As a part of Zoom’s ISV Partner Program, Brauz leveraged the Zoom Developer Platform to build this functionality and embed the Zoom Meeting services into their platform to offer a reliable video experience to their customers.
“Our team was able to work with Zoom, find the API easily, and embed it into our experience,” Lee says.
“With Zoom, Brauz is able to simply integrate with products, customer history, product recommendations, and data points that can provide the best customer experience,” Lee says. “That’s something you can’t get from just looking at a website.”
“As an online shopper, you could be browsing the website, see a product that you like, and connect with a staff member to have an immersive experience that wouldn’t traditionally be available online, alleviating concerns around style, fit, and colour, ” Shane explains.