Hello, mattythef-ga!
The following articles should provide some insight into why customers
shop at specialty clothing retailers, strategies that help independent
retailers succeed, and trends for the future.
SMALL BOUTIQUES
===============
From "Special Report - Retail," by Judi Russel. Biz.
http://bizneworleans.com/70+M53f0bcf51f9.html
Some excerpts:
"Shopping malls with big chain stores and lots of parking have lured
thousands of customers away from small, independent retailers over the
past 30 years. But a select number of stand-alone stores have bucked
the mall trend. Scattered around the New Orleans area,
** these shops market to people who seek the unique and who don?t mind
paying top price to get it, **
"Discriminating" describes the Paula Landry clientele. Landry owns
Victoria?s Uptown, a shoe salon where $450 gets you the kind of killer
shoes Sarah Jessica Parker might wear. Landry, who also owns
Victoria?s Shoes in the French Quarter, opened her store on Maple
Street in 1990 to target Uptown women, Tulane students and other
buyers who want only the best for their feet. She says she isn?t
worried about competition from malls."
** "The secrets to making money as an independent outside of a mall
are to choose a specialty and refuse to dilute your brand, Landry
says. "The quality will speak for itself."
"One of the hottest non-mall shopping areas in town is Magazine
Street. Once home to junk and thrift shops, Magazine is lined with
expensive boutiques selling beautiful clothes and jewelry.
"They?re running out of retail [space] on Magazine," says Frann Ryan,
a commercial sales and leasing executive with Stirling Properties Inc.
One of her clients is in the permitting stage to build a three-story,
$3 million building at Magazine and Erato Street. Ground floor rents
for shops will run $20 a square foot. The original building at that
site rented for $15.50 a square foot."
"Shopping centers have their benefits, Ryan says: They are open until
9 p.m., they have free parking and they provide a safe place for young
people to "hang out" and window shop.
** "But many Magazine Street shops draw affluent buyers who prefer to
destination shop rather than while away the time walking through a
mall."
(Read entire article.....)
==
Unique fashions lure innovative shoppers:
From "Fashion Innovators- They come from such out-of-the-way places as
Bird-In-Hand, Pa. and metropolises like Los Angeles." Lifestyle
Monitor.
http://www.cottoninc.com/LifestyleMonitor/LSMAutumn99/?Pg=2
"Although 38 percent of female Fashion Innovators still shop at
department stores for most of their apparel, 29 percent say specialty
stores are their favorite shopping spots. That?s up from slightly more
than 25 percent last year. Only 20 percent of the total sample said
they shop specialty stores first"
"Margie Zimmer, a 24-year-old sports marketing representative from
Raleigh, N.C., says she likes to shop in boutiques or women?s- only
apparel stores because of "their fashion sense." "I don?t like to
always put on the same things as my friends," she says. "For that
special dress or knit top, I?ll spend a lot of money if I like it."
Ah, sweet music to the industry?s collective ear."
==
Specialty stores have superior service:
From "SPECIALTY STORES MEET THE SPECIAL NEEDS OF THEIR SHOPPERS."
CottonIncorporated. http://www.cottoninc.com/lsmarticles/?articleID=324
"But who are the shoppers attracted primarily to specialty stores and why?"
"According to the Cotton Incorporated Lifestyle Monitor,TM 24% of
women shop at specialty stores on a regular basis and 16% of women buy
most of their clothing from specialty stores - the Limiteds, Gaps,
boutiques, and small niche stores in their neighborhoods."
"The average age of the woman who buys most of her clothing from
specialty stores is 27.9; she has an average household income of
$42,240. Almost all Barometers for specialty store aficionados are
significantly higher than those for women in general."
"In short, specialty shoppers are young, hip, and take shopping very
seriously. They put shopping for stylish clothing high on their
priority list. For that reason, they are drawn to the higher level of
personal attention, excellent training of the sales staff, and the
unique quality of the merchandising that specialty stores offer."
"The specialty store shopper is drawn by the service and selection,"
says Paige Axelrod, a sales manager at French Connection. 'There?s a
lot of attention given to outfitting a customer head-to-toe, and the
selection is more novel than at other types of stores. The customer
wants things that are different, with hands-on service." Orva, a
mini-department store with excellent marketing and customer service on
Manhattan?s Upper East Side, is a good case study of a user-friendly
specialty store with excellent customer service. Stocked with better
name and designer merchandise, the single 8,000-square foot store has
a built a fiercely loyal clientele."
Read further...
==
Simpler shopping:
From "EASY DOES IT - the current retail motto? keep it simple. and
specialty stores are leading the way." Cotton Incorporated.
http://www.cottoninc.com/lsmarticles/?articleID=184
"In today?s flush economy, the commodity of the moment is not money,
but time. Consumers have more money to spend on apparel- in fact, they
actually want to shop for clothing - but less time to spend browsing
in stores. And the retail format that?s increasingly gaining loyal
customers is the specialty store, a concept that excels at providing
personalized service and focused selection."
"All of this spells greater success for specialty stores, whose
popularity is on the rise, while department stores are losing their
edge as an apparel shopping destination."
"These findings do not surprise Barbara Ashley, president of Retail
Ventures, Inc., a Manhattan-based retail consulting firm. "The real
fashion excitement today absolutely rests in the specialty stores,"
she notes. "There?s just so much monotony and sameness in the
department stores to begin with, and then you layer on top of that
their serious problem with service, which seems to be getting worse -
especially in apparel."
"Department stores can?t seem to give the service, and that?s a vital
component," affirms designer Eileen Fisher. "With women being so busy
today, they need you to make it easy for them. It?s just hard to go
through a large store and sort though all the different options on
product - different manufacturers, shapes, colors, combinations, and
trying to figure out what fits you and what doesn?t."
"When people find a place where they feel the clothes fit them and
work for them," she adds, "the customer becomes loyal, because you?ve
simplified things for them."
Read further...
==
Exemplary customer service:
From "Clothing Store Owner Looking for Magic Sales Formula," by Matt
Purdy. Chapel Hill News.
http://www.watsoncrombie.com/publications/oneills_clothing.html
"Offering a selection of men?s dress clothes, ONiell?s Clothing looks
at first glance more like the set for a British sitcom than a real
store that would stand much chance of making a buck, let alone
surviving for almost 20 years. There are a few button-down dress
shirts, some slacks, some ties, and selection of sport coats. Six
pairs of shoes are on display, two tan, two brown and two black; three
with laces, three loafer-style. ONeill runs the shop on his own, with
part-time help from his son John Michael ONeill."
"Asked how he can compete with the larger stores with their wider
selections, ONeill says simply, "Personal service. I know my
customers." Indeed, the 57 year old ONeill, with his casual, friendly
attitude, brings to mind an old-time barber, the sort of person
customers come to know, trust and look forward to visiting when the
need arises. "There are basically no limits on what I would do for a
customer," ONiell said. He says he met one customer on his way to the
airport to provied them with emergency business attire and he once
opened up shop in the middle of the night for another to provide
another customer with a white dress shirt."
TRENDS
======
Smaller retailers are finding ways to appeal to shoppers:
From "Retail's Little Guys Come Back," by Amy Tsao. Business Week
Online. Nov. 2004. http://www.yantra.com/news/Little_Guys_come_back.pdf
"In 2000, some 8% of survey respondents said they made their clothing
purchases at specialty stores. That number jumped to 21% in 2004.
Apparel retailers like Los Angeles-based American Apparel offer
"uber-hip energy," and small boutiques where the designer hand-sews
clothes or makes jewelry in the store are personal interactions that
entice a lot of customers, says Zandl. Specialty shops are focusing on
"the environment, experience, and the art of merchandising," say
Corlett. These are components that have "vanished in big retail
stores," she says. According to her firm's latest annual survey of
shoppers, 45% of respondents (many of them baby boomers) said they
would pay more for household products if they could shop in a nicer
environment. "That's a pretty strong minority," say Corlett.
Wal-Mart's influence over shoppers "has peaked," says Zandl. Maybe
consumers need to go to big-box retailers to buy toilet paper, cat
food, and such everyday items. But shopping is about more than the
necessities. And "more consumers today are looking for products and
experiences that are more unique, more stylish, and more sensory than
what Wal-Mart delivers."
"In a new report, "Challenges of the Future: The Rebirth of Small
Independent Retail in America," the National Retail Federation
highlights several case studies of small retailers that aren't just
surviving but growing. "I was sure we would find retail categories or
locations where the independent retailer couldn't be successful," says
Jim Baum, an author of the report and a shop owner in Morris, Ill.
"That simply is not true." In Baum's town, he says, the best retailers
are small ones that focus on "different niches that Wal-Mart can't
touch." A fabric store stresses crafts and quilting, while a
stained-glass retailer and kitschy gift stores are also flourishing."
Read entire report.......
==
Malls are warming to the idea of smaller boutiques:
From "As Malls Think Small, Boutiques Get A Chance," By AMY CHOZICK.
Start Up Journal. June 2005
http://www.startupjournal.com/ideas/retailing/20050627-chozick.html
"On a recent trip to the local mall, Suzy Lee ran her usual errands,
shopping for her two children at Gymboree and buying makeup and a few
basics at Neiman Marcus. But before leaving, she made a slight detour
to Talulah G, a boutique with a name most shoppers wouldn't recognize.
The independently-owned shop, which opened at the Las Vegas Fashion
Mall in 2002, sells designer clothes by Valentino, Theory, Balenciaga
and Chloé, as well as by hot young designers such as Pegah Anvarian
and Ella Moss by Pamella Protzel."
"A department store might carry the same lines, but Talulah G will
have a quirkier take on it. It's not so mainstream," says Ms. Lee,
38-years-old, who bought herself a white Michael Kors summer suit and
a pair of Citizens of Humanity jeans. She says she stops in at the
store a few times a month, whenever she has other things to do at the
mall."
"America's megamalls, built in the 1970s to showcase big department
stores and national specialty chains, have begun to embrace the little
guys, a new crop of quirky independent fashion boutiques."
"Boutiques are also multiplying as more shoppers shun the homogenized
assortments stocked in chains and department stores and seek out an
eclectic range of designers and styles instead. The phenomenon, which
started in big cities such as New York and Los Angeles, is now
expanding across the country."
Read more...
===
Niche Targeting - the Anthropologie example:
From "Anthropologie's Cultured Approach to Style," by Randy
Southerland. Retail Traffic. Jul 1, 2000
http://retailtrafficmag.com/mag/retail_anthropologies_cultured_approach/index.html
"Retailers are constantly striving to distinguish themselves from the
competition. One way to do this is by targeting a specific audience.
With addresses in swank locations such as Beverly Hills, Santa Monica,
Santa Barbara and Atlanta's Buckhead, Anthropologie caters to the
upscale customer who doesn't want to wear the same clothes or decorate
their home with the same things as everyone else.
..
"It was designed to appeal to a 30 to 40-something affluent suburban
or urban couple or individual who wants to differentiate themselves
from the masses," says Wade McDevitt, exclusive tenant representative
for the chain. "They've read Metropolitan Home and Wallpaper. They
want to own something in their home that no one else would have and
that would be a conversation piece. They're aware of style and buy
what's perceived as
** "Exclusivity and uniqueness are the watchwords for the company.
Buyers travel throughout Europe, India and the Far East to find
inspiration for limited quantity designs and rare one-of-a-kind
items."
Read further...
==
A bit dated but the concepts still apply:
Read "UP & COMING RETAILERS: Specialty apparel retail survivors," by
William Atkinson. Retail Traffic.
http://retailtrafficmag.com/mag/retail_coming_retailers_specialty/
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