Branding the man: why men are the next frontier in fashion retail

It’s part of our DNA to shop — or at least that’s what we’ve always been told. There was nothing more lustful than American consumerism, the wanton disregard for tomorrow when the urge (and ease) allowed them to have what they want today.

But that seems to have changed.

A recent New York Times/CBS News poll reveals that almost half of the Americans surveyed said they were spending less time buying “nonessentials” and more than half were spending less money in stores and online.

Not exactly music to the ears of economists. But it certainly begs the question: why have we been so hopelessly dependent on a consumer economy for so long?

Not since the Great Depression have we seen Americans returning to “the simple life” — or life where shopping and mass consumption is not such a singular focus.

Perhaps that’s why art supply stores, libraries, and even museums are showing better than usual foot traffic. According to the New York Times, attendance at many museums and cultural events dropped from 2002 to 2008, but in 2009 showed a measurable increase (although they don’t tell us by what percent.)

Meanwhile, movie attendance increased 5-percent — not enough to make up for the dramatic losses over the past ten years but it has to mean something, especially if you’re a studio that isn’t producing movies like Avatar.

Hobbies, sports, and simple home improvements have become the new way of spending leisure time, and it’s made an impact on the idea of family togetherness. Rather than going and maxxing out daddy’s credit card, families are re-discovering the simple life.  In a January 3 Times article, “In Recession, Americans Doing More, Buying Less,” Barbara Koricanek, a retired nurse said she realized “we don’t need half of what we got,” and began getting rid of excess clothes in her closet and even baking her own bread. Another family bought a used canoe on Craigslist and took to weekends paddling the waters of the Florida coast.

The Queen of DIY perfection, Martha Stewart, has rebranded her daily television show as “Hands On Television.” In the past few months, she has increased the number of segments on home crafts, recycling everyday materials into a variety of useful objects. It’s hard to believe that in this day and age, anyone would watch an entire segment about the many uses of Mason jars.

While Americans may not be shopping for yet another pair of jeans or designer shoes, they are looking for ways to interact in a meaningful way, and the neighborhood craft center or organized activity clubs may just be the next consumer market.

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(SAN FRANCISCO) – In anticipation of Black Friday many stores like Old Navy and Walmart chose to make a head start on Black Friday and were open on Thanksgiving day. But while analysts were cautiously optimistic it was hard to see what impact Black Friday would actually make on this City, and that played itself out in others around the country, according to many news reports.

In San Franciso’s Union Square area, it seemed every retailer had made the same investment in a sandwich board promoting their Holiday offers. The Lucky Brand Jeans store on Grant Avenue went so far as to place a sign at the front door exclaiming, “Almost Free Clothes!”

Note to Retailer: Desperate Marketing messages are… desperate.

Meanwhile, the fervor on Union Square was at a fever pitch, with belting carolers and mounted police languidly showing off their horses to tourists on tony Maiden Lane. But one thing was missing from this picture: shopping bags.

Just as with last year, Black Friday was a day to soak up a bit of holiday spirit and enjoy retailers’ holiday decor. For some, it seemed to be a chance to kick the tires on merchandise that will inevitably go on sale in the coming days. The Louis Vuitton store was mobbed with luxury gawkers, but only those visitors with Euros in their pockets seemed to be making the purchases. Adjacent to that store is the spanking new Bulgari boutique, all chrome and LED lights. They actually propped their door open in the hopes that perhaps someone would blow through the door and pick up a few gems.

But the talk of the day was online deals, and it looks like it might be a banner year for retailing online. According to Network World, The most visited retail property on Black Friday was Amazon.com, which logged a 28% increase in the number of unique visitors compared to last year. The top five most visited retailers were Walmart (22% growth), Apple (up 39%), Target (up 2%) and Best Buy (up 24%).

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that this year’s Black Friday saw $595 million in online sales — an 11 percent increase compared to Black Friday 2008.

Not far away, within steps of the tightly clenched wallets of passersby  was the Yves Saint Laurent boutique, which limps towards its final day. Sales Associates poured some of the last bottles of champagne for the few loyal clients who bothered to stop by. They  made their final purchases at the store at 40% off. The store will quietly close this Wednesday. No word on who will take the prime location on Maiden Lane.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/11/29/urnidgns852573C4006938800025767E002702D2.DTL#ixzz0YMna6jGX

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In a recent “Complaint Box” in the New York Times, journalist David Sax writes a witty and sarcastic account of trying to get the attention of a sales associate.

“That’s why I came in here today,” he writes. “To trade money for goods and services. The way it works is: I ask questions about various products — in this case the clothes beautifully displayed around us — and you, in your role as service person, answer them, perhaps even leaving the spot behind the desk to physically touch the clothes and aid in my investigation and ultimate purchase of them.”

Sax does a great job of making the obvious, painfully funny — and true. He is like so many men, eager to learn how to look better and more than willing to pay for it. “I need guidance. Think of me as soft clay, ready to be molded in your image.”

When will retailers understand that perhaps every day, they lose a sale because of an incompetent or unwilling salesperson? Invest in your sales staff as if they were the very walls and floors of your store, the merchandise itself. Without top notch service, a store can simply not survive, even in the worst of times.

Read Patrick Sax’s entire piece

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