Abercrombie & Fitch Co. + UserTesting

The A&F Wedding Shop

A&F Co. had created a program for their app and website called “Best Dressed Guest” that helped the company break into the dresses market, specifically for weddings. They recognized they could use the success of that engagement to launch a broader initiative: The A&F Wedding Shop. 

They proposed early ideas and shared Figma prototypes of the digital experiences with test participants. Rather than a structure based on dress types and colors, users expressed a preference for shopping experiences based on occasions: bridal shoes, rehearsal dinners, weddings, brunches, and send-off parties. A&F Co. designers and engineers adjusted the information architecture, tagging products by event so customers could filter and shop by occasion, before they launched the A&F Wedding Shop on the app and the website. 

According to Laurel Stanley, Sr. Director, Digital Product Design, “We tailored the elements on the A&F Wedding Shop to reflect what we learned from testing: our customers are shopping for multiple events that surround weddings, from bridal showers to rehearsal dinners, from celebrations on the big day to post-party send-offs. This impacted how we balanced the experience being both a showcase for inspiration while upholding the need for easy transactions. We also learned the importance of brand building, especially for those customers who may be new to Abercrombie or new to our elevated dress offerings.” 

The results are worth celebrating. Since launching, A&F Co. has increased their dress sales online and in-store, making a strong impact on the organization's overall performance. 

In-store Hollister testing

A&F Co.’s Hollister brand markets and sells clothing primarily to teenagers. The organization’s Digital and Product Experience team identified a key point of frustration in its customers’ buying process: most teen shoppers lack purchasing power. That means their online shopping bags remain idle (and sometimes purchases never reach completion) because the buyers aren’t in the same physical place as the payer. 

So A&F Co. launched Share2Pay™ on the Hollister mobile app. Share2Pay allows Hollister customers to easily share their digital shopping bag with a purchaser, who is typically a parent or grandparent. This was a retail industry first and a great success for A&F Co. Hollister found that customers who shared their bag through Share2Pay placed orders at nearly two times the rate of other customers. 

Share2Pay was so successful, the company’s leadership wondered if they should develop an in-store component of the program, and they asked the Design and Product teams to investigate the likelihood of the project’s success. Those teams used the UserTesting platform in-store to observe shopper behaviors and determine the best path forward. 

A&F Co.’s researchers and designers observed customers using their phones in store to locate product details, including sizes, pricing, availability and the option to find items later. Test participants indicated they didn’t need or want unique payment options in-store the same way they enjoyed using them through the app. These insights helped convince the organization not to build the proposed brick and mortar equivalent of the Share2Pay program, saving A&F Co. valuable time and resources. 

The Abercrombie & Fitch app

The app is a major focus for A&F Co. It drives loyalty and supports the brand. 80% of users log into the app, rather than browse as guests. The spend of an average app user is three times higher than customers visiting online or in-store. And, on average, users return to the app four times a month. 

By testing the app frequently with UserTesting, A&F Co. design leads have come to understand how they should refine the app’s home page. Users expect more personalization in the app. They want to more easily access the top categories that interest them. The refinements are hitting the mark with users, who now see different categories on the homepage based on their preferences. A&F Co. is building inspirational experiences for customers and that’s one of the first things they see when they open the app. 

Studies with customers in international markets

A&F Co. seeks to extend their success in North America to key international markets. They have recently worked with UserTesting’s consultants to run end-to-end studies with test participants in Germany, France, and the UK. 

One key takeaway from these studies: A&F Co. needs to align size and fit across geographies. Users were unable to understand size differences across American and European measurements. After testing with existing and prospective customers, researchers determined that the company should specify localized expectations for size and fit. Soon, size guides for European shoppers will lead with European options and customers can specify their preferences in the sizing guide.