Bridging the brand loyalty – brand promise gap. 

    Designer and fast fashion – what a beautiful marriage. 

As fast as fashion is, it’s been very slow to adapt to the new consumer reality.  Customers are shopping everywhere, cross channels, cross brands and cross price-points.  This is not indiscriminate shopping; this is planned and calculated fun.   Mixing designer with fast fashion has gone from a “dirty little secret” to bragging rights. 

It’s become cool to spend less but still look fantastic.  It’s also become easier. 

Rather than spending your whole paycheck at a luxury house – on one outfit – you can spend half as much on a treat, have the luxury experience you crave and supplement your wardrobe with fun, easy, trend-right clothing combing them to express your personal style and taste. 

Fast Fashion has replaced going to discount stores.  No longer do you have to sift through racks and rack of clothing, spending hours to find that one special piece.

Now it is easy to find something that is trend right, across all price points.

The new reality has democratized shopping

The New Store Managers

    Must become business developers, store planners; new titles at retail and the outcomes from language. Managing the all-important customer relationship.

Store manager is the wrong title in today’s retail environment.  When people think of store managers they imagine someone managing schedules, reviewing time cards, setting displays and managing receipts. 

What is necessary to succeed in today’s uber-competitive environment is someone who “directs” what happens within the four walls, including what happens at the door.  Driving business into the store is the most important aspect of any store managers’ responsibility.  Gone are the days when business sauntered in and days, months, years were made from that business.  To be successful now business must be cultivated.  Clienteleing is one piece of the puzzle.  Discovering and becoming important to new customers is essential.  Marketers do this on the Macro level – store managers must do this on the Micro level. 

Community involvement is no longer a NICE TO HAVE – it’s essential for success. In the past, participation in charities was the thrust of many store managers outreach, and remains extremely important.  However, store managers need to understand the lifestyle of their customer and become involved in those endeavors.  There must be a mutual understanding and respect between customer and store – by understanding what’s important to the customer, you understand their motivations and lifestyle more fully, and can meet their needs from a brand and retail perspective. 

This is a business development position versus a sales/operations position. 

Transferable Skill Sets

How to find the perfect combination of skill sets when bringing in a new executive

New, Fresh, Different. That is the mantra we hear all the time.  Clients need someone to come in with fresh eyes to provide unique, yet specific, solutions to the problems facing brands and organizations today. 

For the past two years organizations have been reacting to the market versus innovating change.  Now it’s becoming clear.  It’s begins with the people – it always has.  If you don’t have the right person in the right role you are never going to win. 

How do we attract new customers without alienating current ones?  How do we remain true to our brand when we launch a new product category?  How can we be viewed as an authority when we’re newcomers?  How do we get our customers to not only buy from us but remain loyal? These questions are not easily answered.  Only by having the right leader in place can a company truly make change occur. 

The simple solution is hiring what you are familiar with – but that is not always the correct resolution.  If you truly want or need innovation, oftentimes change only comes from brining in someone with transferrable skill sets – someone without preconceived notions and experiences that stump growth, but rather the permissiveness to move with the times. Tolerance for this behavior rests squarely on the employer. In order to create success stories, new leaders need to be able to recognize the need for altercations in their modus operandi.

“Helicoptering” Executives into New Homes

    How to find allies; the importance of understanding company culture; becoming the second smartest person in the room

The first thirty to sixty days is often the measuring stick upon which executives placements are judged.  Companies are hungry for new thoughts, new plans and actionable ideas to change the status quo or build upon successes.  While that is essential, what is rarely discussed are the subjective issues – how to assimilate successfully into your new company culture and effect change. 

Change is fraught with emotion.  Empathy, putting oneself in the shoes of the team is essential.  Understanding before leading, listening before speaking, thinking before acting, will give security to those around you and bolster the team. 

Being the second smartest person in the room allows a free flowing exchange, bringing a team along as a unit, fostering collaborative efforts.  When you allow contributions, each person’s strengths and weaknesses are identified more quickly. 

Leading through ideas versus title wins allies faster.  Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of team members make mangers more effective, thus creating a winning scenario to the benefit of all. 

A thought to remember when you are helicoptered in:  A more experienced Pilot makes you feel safer. 

What CEOs can learn from Designers

    The C-Suites just doesn’t get it.

    CEOs need designers to teach them about the industry and culture.

Designers were the first to embrace fast fashion.  They recognized the much broader audience that could be reached and realized that customers would appreciate spending less, occasionally, but still enjoy the brand experience.

Target’s collaboration with Isaac Mizrahi was groundbreaking.  H&M followed suit with designer collaborations with Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCarthy.  Gap recently launched a Stella McCarthy kid’s line, which led to the launch of her own eponymous kid’s line.  Karl Lagerfeld has just announced that his own line, Lagerfeld Gallery, will be more “democratically priced” and positioned going forward. 

Designers recognize the direction and desires of customers needs before their CEOs do.  While brand CEOs can learn from designers, it doesn’t stop there.  Department store CEOs may want to listen as well.  In an ever fast-changing world, it is ever more critical that department stores be agile, creative, and open to some risk taking. 

A winning formula is a true merchandising pyramid with democratic prices, enabling a myriad of customers to look and to buy.  This also allows customers at the high-end to feel special in their luxury purchase, but smart with their democratic ones. 

Beauty’s Big Problem

    Beauty is broken, from prestige to masstige, it all must change to rebuild the customer relationship.

Today’s savvy beauty consumer is not loyal to one store or one brand so the retail experience is critical. 

Today you can get pretty much anything online so there has to be a viable reason to go to the store in the first place.  The retail experience provides two things the internet cannot – human interaction and feedback and pure play – the chance to touch, feel and smell the products. 

Fast moving stores like Sephora and Ulta capitalize on this – slower models (department stores) are trying to catch up.  In the US Macys, for instance, is rolling out a capsule concept called Impulse – modeled after self-service stores like Sephora.  The retailers who figure out how to communicate with their customers on a personal level will be the leaders.  All others will be followers. 

 

In the mass channel beauty has been dominated by THE WALL – the merchandising system that has been in place forever.  Now some companies are trying to cross merchandise products by end-user.  P&G now has a HE division and a SHE division to address their customer’s total needs – providing total solutions to their customers allowing them to shop for their total needs at once.  That is game changing. 

Kate Benson

Founding managing partner

Martens & Heads!

www.MaxineMartens.com