How Style Niche Boutique used boxlock to stay open during covid-19
Style Niche Boutique storefront with BoxLock customer pickup box in Rosemount, Minnesota.
Natalie Sudberry is the founder of Style Niche Boutique, a women's clothing boutique in Rosemount, Minnesota. When the COVID-19 outbreak began, Style Niche Boutique faced a problem: how to deal with the transfer of physical products while ensuring safe, contactless exchanges during a pandemic?
Natalie needed to find a solution to ensure her clients would continue to receive the fashion they desired and ultimately save her business. Thankfully, Natalie discovered BoxLock online, which offered to fulfill all of her shop’s needs by allowing her customers to come pick up their products without interacting with another person or even entering the store at whatever time is convenient for them to do so. BoxLock is placed on a lock box outside Natalie’s shop. Natalie is able to place items in the box and generate a unique entry QR code, which she can send to her customer. Her customers can then come to the shop whenever they please and use the QR code to open the box and retrieve their item. No one else can get in the box and when it is retrieved, Natalie will receive an app notification alerting her of the pickup. We wanted to understand more about her business, how it has been impacted by COVID-19, and find out how the experience using BoxLock had been, so we sent a few questions.
BoxLock: Hi Natalie! Tell us about you and your business.
Natalie: They say "when one door closes, another will open," that was the case for me. I have worked retail for years and got laid off as a rep at the same time a boutique in town was closing. My passion has always been to help others; that's what Style Niche is all about, helping women look and feel great! We pride ourselves with great customer service. This May is our 3rd anniversary!
BoxLock: What made you think about utilizing a lock for contactless pickups and returns?
Natalie: When we had to close for the stay-at-home order, I immediately started to research online avenues. With a lot of local business for us, [customers] wanted pickup options, and I was trying to come up with a solution that neither I nor the customer had to be on each other's clocks.
After finding BoxLock online, I reached out to ask a bunch of questions to see if this option would work for us. The BoxLock team was "on it" for figuring out a way that was easy for me to manage with my business and exceeded my expectations.
Natalie Sudberry, owner of Style Niche Boutique in Rosemount, Minnesota.
BoxLock: What sort of feedback have you gotten from customers who have used your BoxLock?
Natalie: I happened to be in the store while the first customer was opening the Box to retrieve her package. I went out and talked to her, and she said: "This is slick, very easy and what a great idea!"
I have had a couple of customers concerned about how the pickup process with our store works because they were worried about going into a store. Still, when I have told them it's placed outside the store, and they can come when it's convenient for them, they are happy and more at ease and since have made a couple of purchases.
BoxLock: Are you planning on continuing to use BoxLock for pickups and returns after the pandemic?
Natalie: Absolutely! Before this, there were cases of customers that worked late and weren't able to pick up because we were closed, but now they can pick up 24/7! I know some stores that have narrow time slots/days to do pickups and when you could do a pickup that is convenient for both parties, why wouldn't you?
A customer uses BoxLock and their unique QR code to retrieve their order.
BoxLock enables the exchange of goods between you and other individuals, whether your friends or business clients. By providing them with a unique, one-time barcode which can be done seamlessly via text from the app, the individual can open your BoxLock to take or drop off a package. This solution is what enabled Natalie to ensure her clients could retrieve their items whenever they wanted, all while remaining contactless and following social distancing guidelines.
Find out more about Style Niche Boutique here: www.stylenicheboutique.com
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