DSW VIP[EST] Holiday Party

Survival of the VIP(EST) Holiday Party!

Extra perk for the EXTRA NICE LIST

Love shoes? Love shopping? Love Christmas? DSW held a special shopping event for DSW VIP Gold & Elite members last year that made Christmas shopping for gifts a little bit easier on the mind if not on the wallet. *Grin*

So, at 9AM on a weekend day, I convinced my sweet husband to join me to check out this event and see what it was all about. (It didn’t take much convincing, really. He is the most loving, giving, patient man. Anything to put a smile on my face…and give me a story for my blog.)

Here’s just a little information on the invitation, event set-up, and customer service from our first-hand experience at the DSW VIP[EST] Holiday Party.

Invitation

DSW sent out invitations by email to their VIP members. Initial invitations were sent out a couple weeks prior to the event. The emails were vibrant with colors and images and were well suited to catch the scanning eye.

They made sure to highlight the perks of attending the event so members wouldn’t want to miss it.

And what would the event be without extra points! The real reason we all keep getting shoes there, right?! More points equals more shoes!

The invitation was a creative lead in to the event.

Event Set-up

Upon arriving at the store, there wasn’t much to indicate there was an event going on inside. It looked like any other day at DSW (which in itself is fun!). It was my husband that starting noticing little signs around the store indicating there was an event going on. (Unfortunately, I didn’t capture a picture of one of them.) The main indication there was an event for VIP members was at the back of the store. There they had a refreshment stand, a survival table, and gift wrapping station.

Refreshments

The coffee station was all decked out with garland and lights. DSW also had cookies galore to give that extra energy push many of us need as we are Christmas shopping.

And who wouldn’t smile at a sign that says “In Case of Emergency, Buy Shoes!”

They even set-up a table full of “survival gear” for those attending the event.

Survival Table

Even the happiest of Christmas shoppers can get the Grinch look. So, they provided some essentials to help shoppers survive their day of gift shopping. They offered a Survival Guide and Kit for during and after the event for recovery.

Survival Guide

DSW created a Survival Guide to help choose the best gift for those on the Christmas list.

Inside was a fantastic Decision Flowchart to help direct one to the best gift for those on their list.

However, if the flowchart didn’t do it, and all else failed, gift cards are always a safe idea!

Survival Kit

Ah, DSW knows their shoppers well. Survival goodies to pamper the shopper during and after the event. The Survival Kit was fun to put together and included items such as perfume, a mini flask key chain, a bath bomb, mints, and headache treatment (LOL).

What holiday shopping event would be complete without a gift wrapping station.

Gift Wrapping Station

An essential part of Christmas shopping is letting someone else wrap the gifts, especially when it is free!

It was easy to take your purchases to the back and ask them to wrap your items. They did verify member status, but that makes sense, since the event was for their frequent, repeat customers. The verification was a simple question and was polite and friendly.

Customer Service

DSW has fantastic customer service. They extended this into their holiday party. The sales staff were friendly and helpful. They were more than happy to pose for pictures, too!

Let’s just say the holiday spirit was alive and thriving, even though it was early on a Saturday morning! They told us that this was the first year they had done an event like this and spent some time walking us through the different offerings.

Thoughts

DSW is one of my favorite stores. They have a nice selection of products and customer service has always been top-notch. The DSW VIP[EST] Holiday Party was a creative way to get their VIP members in to shop for Christmas. Having coffee and cookies was a perk for anyone who isn‘t a morning person and was an ingenious way to wake shoppers up or give them energy to keep going. The Survival Guide was a unique idea to help someone who was uncertain of what to purchase for gifts, and the Survival Kit was fun to assemble with all the little goodies they had available. Last but not least, the gift wrapping station was a huge plus! The only aspect that would have made the event better would have been to have bigger signs at the front of the store or a sales person at the entrance to welcome the VIP shoppers and give a quick overview as they entered store. We’ll see if they repeat the event this year. I hope they do. It made for an entertaining Saturday morning.