A customer asks a boutique to put a dress aside until Saturday. The assistant writes a name on a tag. On Thursday somebody else wants it, a different member of staff sells it, and on Saturday two people are disappointed at once.
Nothing here is anybody's fault. There is no policy, so there is no right answer.
Step 1: decide the policy before you need it
How long a hold lasts, whether a deposit is required, who can authorise one and what happens when it expires. Write it down once.
Step 2: publish it
On the product page and in the shop. Customers do not know holds are possible, and the ones who do assume it is a favour rather than a service.
Step 3: keep the period short
A day or two is usually enough. Long holds take stock off sale during the exact window when it would have sold.
Step 4: take a deposit
Even a small one. It transforms the return rate and it separates a genuine intention from a passing thought. Say plainly whether it is refundable.
Step 5: record it properly
Item, size, customer, contact, expiry and who agreed it. A name on a tag is how holds go wrong, and a shared record is how they work.
Step 6: confirm it to the customer
A message stating what is held, until when and what happens afterwards. It sets the expectation and it prompts them to come in.
Step 7: remind them before it expires
The morning of the last day. It converts holds that would otherwise quietly lapse and it frees the stock politely when it does not.
Step 8: handle online holds too
Somebody in another town asking whether an item can be kept while they think. A published answer converts a visitor who would otherwise close the tab, which is the same problem as how chatbots answer is this in stock instantly.
Step 9: connect holds to the fitting room
A customer trying three things and wanting one kept while she thinks is the most likely conversion in the shop. Make it easy and record it the same way.
Step 10: use holds for cross location stock
Where an item is in another branch, a hold plus a transfer converts a sale that would otherwise be lost entirely.
Step 11: be consistent
Every member of staff answering the same way is the whole point. Inconsistency is what customers notice and what causes complaints.
Step 12: turn the expiry into a sale
When a hold lapses, the customer is still interested. A message about what else is in, or a restock note, keeps the relationship alive, as in stock and restock questions boutique shoppers send.
Step 13: styling requests arrive the same way
Somebody asking for a hold often wants advice, which is the opening in styling and personal shopping requests for boutiques.
Step 14: answer when the shop is shut
Hold requests arrive on Sunday evening for a Monday visit, which is the whole argument in how to answer stock and restock questions without an inbox.
Getting started
Publish the hold period, deposit and expiry terms, then take and record hold requests at any hour with automatic reminders. SpideyChat for retail and ecommerce answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about reminders on the features page.