Mid-Tier Retailers Try New Brands On for Size

Chains Look to Stand Out In Crowded Marketplace

Washington Post, August 28, 2008 — This back-to-school season will go down as the Battle of the Brands. Kohl's launched six new lines of clothing this summer with a star-studded advertising campaign featuring celebrities from Lenny Kravitz to Hayden Panettiere. JCPenney introduced another half-dozen labels, the department store's biggest crop of new brands, with looks including urban rock and all-American. And Dillard's is chasing soccer moms with a line designed by Sheryl Crow that hit stores this month.

The Newest Brands? Open for Business

Retailers Have Switched Gears, Marketing Their Stores and Labels and Strengthening Bonds With Shoppers

CMO Strategy by AdAge, August 25, 2008 — Many marketers are rapidly becoming more concerned with how retailers think. They want to know their concerns, objectives, equities and images and how they go about creating bonds with shoppers. That's because today's retailers are evolving far beyond their historical role as simple points of distribution for selling national brands.

Retailing icon Mickey Drexler doubles down

J.Crew's CEO says that this is the worst retail environment he's seen in 40 years in the business. His strategy? Take J.Crew upscale and launch a new brand called Madewell.

FORTUNE, August 21, 2008 — Is now the time for a retailer to go upscale? The guru behind clothier J. Crew thinks that's the right strategy. J. Crew is relatively small - its entire retail square footage would fit into the space of just 13 Sam's Clubs - but CEO Mickey Drexler, the man who made Gap (GPS, Fortune 500) into a pop-culture phenomenon and reinvented retailing icon J.Crew, is closely watched in his industry.

Retailers 'Sell' to Young Virtually†

Kohl's, Sears Build Brands As Children Clothe Their Avatars Online

Wall Street Journal, August 19, 2008 — Retailer Kohl's Corp. this month launched a new line of apparel, but the plaid skirts and printed T-shirts won't be sold in its 957 stores. Instead, it's selling them on Stardoll.com, a virtual community for teens and tweens where kids can fork over "Stardollars" — purchased online at a nominal sum — to buy apparel for their online characters.

Study: Offline Retailers Should Be 'Net Strategists

MarketingVox, July 23, 2008 — The web's role is becoming integral for brick-and-mortar retailers, even for in-store purchases, according to (pdf) a recent Nielsen Online survey, which found that of those that recently made consumer electronics purchases in a store, 80 percent visited the store's website first, reports MarketingCharts.

Adidas Bets Big on Beijing†

Wall Street Journal, July 3, 2008 — When it comes to China, sportswear giant Adidas AG thinks bigger is better.

At midnight Friday, the company will open its biggest store in the world here. The long, glass-clad rectangular building reflects Adidas's ambition to use China as a battleground to overtake rival Nike Inc.

Marketers Turn Vacant Storefronts In Mall Into Ad Venues

MediaPost Publications, April 29, 2008 — Don't look now, but high vacancy rates are forcing the local mall to turn lemons into lemonade. Property managers are converting vacant store windows into high-tech digital ad displays, creating a new ad medium that's considerably less depressing than soap-covered windows or "This space could be yours!" banners.

Online Retailers Try New Approaches†

Study Shows Increasing Acceptance of Social Nets and Video

Advertising Age, April 8, 2008 — For online retailers, search and e-mail marketing continue to be the most popular tactics, though they are becoming increasingly interested in social networks and video, a new study indicates. That shift in tactics could be a risky endeavor, however, caution executives involved with the study.

According to a Shop.org survey of 125 online retailers conducted by Forrester Research, 90% of them participate in paid search and 92% rely on e-mail marketing. By comparison, just 26% use social networks or micro-sites, while only 21% employ online videos. The coming year could see a shift to new advertising tactics.

Retailers Harness Digital Media for In-Store Experiences, Product Sampling†

Also Re-evaluating How to Deliver the Sunday Circular Through Mobile, Web

Advertising Age, March 19, 2008 — When it comes to retail spaces, marketers have perhaps the best opportunity to tie digital-marketing experiences to physical-marketing experiences. And marketers are experimenting with morphing circulars into mobile formats, implementing social media into in-store experiences and using technology to promote product sampling. In some cases, these technologies can be considered media in their own right.

Big Names in Retail Fashion Are Trading Teams

New York Times, March 8, 2008 — It’s free-agency season in American fashion.

Isaac Mizrahi, the everyman’s fashion oracle, is about to leave behind his wildly popular cheap-chic clothing collections at Target to be the creative director for Liz Claiborne, the stalwart shopping-mall label.

Dana Buchman, a longtime favorite of customers at upscale stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, is decamping this fall to the budget-conscious Kohl’s.

And Tommy Hilfiger, a constant in department stores like Dillard’s and Bon-Ton for two decades, now says he will sell his clothes only at Macy’s.

Over the next year, an unusually large group of famous clothing designers, motivated by lucrative deals, plan to shift their retail allegiances, in many cases abandoning stores... continue reading