White Paper. Clothing Playbook. Making a success of your clothing season

Transcription

1 White Paper Clothing Playbook Making a success of your clothing season

2 Table of Contents Table of Contents... 2 Run a Clothing Playbook... 3 Creating sales momentum in the season... 5 Stars and Dogs... 5 Create Retail Theatre... 6 Don t take action too late... 7 Case Study: Success, despite the terrible weather RetailTribe Ltd. All Rights Reserved 2

3 Run a Clothing Playbook Depending on where you are, your Spring/Summer season may be about to launch. Let s try and make this the best ever apparel season ever. Let s try and sell- through the product lines at the highest possible margin. Let s also try and exploit the fast sellers and see if we can t get them replenished and greater sales made through the season. To meet our goal of making this the best season ever we need focus, facts and fast response. Over the next three months I am going to make suggestions for facts that should be gathered, fast analysis that should be done and potential responses you can make as the season unfolds. Today I am going to start with the preparation for the season. First I want you, if you haven t already, by Supplier / Style / Color to list the number of pieces that you have (now or arriving). Make a line entry for each and along with the number of pieces arriving please add the proposed selling price and margin you will start with. Make this a list in a spreadsheet if you can, so that you can add future facts (data) to each line. I would then like you to add an additional piece of information to each line. I want you to add your forecasted sales for the first 4 weeks and then create space for a weekly sales figure to be added for the first four weeks. I want you to make that 4- week target, and leave space for a weekly review, so that we can bring focus to this category through the season. Many of you give up a lot of space and commit a lot of investment (or you are Open to Buy) to your apparel but you wait too long as the season unfolds to take corrective action or to exploit a hot product. The best retailers are tracking their sales on a weekly (even daily) basis and, most importantly, responding when they are off plan. Now you have your 4- week target I want you to think about: a. How will you merchandise the shop to give yourself the best chance of making your 4- week sales target? o How has your traditional placement in the store worked for you in previous years? o Are there already lines you are unsure about, which might require additional exposure and space in the shop? 2012 RetailTribe Ltd. All Rights Reserved 3

4 o Are there color / style stories which you think will create theatre and strong sales and even drag through other product sales? b. What will you and your staff be wearing to support the new products? o Has the supplier any clothing allowance that will allow you to kit out your staff and allow them to act as real life mannequins? c. How are you going to inform your customers that the new seasons clothing has arrived and is available? o Will you host a pre- launch drinks evening where special customers can review the new apparel before it is laid out in the store? o Will you be sending out a high- quality to customers? Remember apparel is very physical product that requires (when selling at season opening) a rich digital presentation. o Will you have provided your staff with a script that ensures they direct every customer to the new apparel presentation (in the first 4 weeks)? Please make sure they have been educated on key selling features of new lines. o Will you have Point of Sale signage that can be displayed in locker rooms, club houses etc.? d. What sales initiatives are you going to take to create momentum? o How have you incentivized your staff? And how are you going to make sure they know where they (and you) are vs. sales targets on a week- by- week basis? o Do you want to start the season with offers? There is no question that much of the mass- market retail model has impacted the expectations of our shoppers. I always suggest that you do create season opening offers, but these should be linked to purchases (e.g. a discount of a belt with every pair of trousers purchased; or an amount off a cap for every two shirts purchased). o And if you are going to have season opening offers, how are you going to make sure the greatest number of people possible know about them? Set specific targets and make sure that as a minimum you address the questions above. Finally you need a process to ensure you can accurately gather the data on sales by week of your line items and a process in place to review your actual sales against your 4- week target each week RetailTribe Ltd. All Rights Reserved 4

5 Creating sales momentum in the season At the end of the first month of the season you now have a checkpoint. You should be reviewing where you are against your sales and inventory target, and deciding what retail actions you should be taking. You should also be freshening up the merchandising and introducing promotions to create momentum. Stars and Dogs If you have done the analysis on your inventory you ought to be able to identify those lines which have sold through, or even out, really well. These are your superstars. My recommendation is that you contact the Vendor and discuss: a. Can they replenish those lines and if so, can they do it within 10 days (anything longer than that and they are taking away too much of your selling season), b. What deal will they do on this top up order (no carriage, and a mark down discount to cover the increased likelihood that you will be carrying merchandise into the end of season)? Do NOT be afraid of replenishing your popular lines, especially if you can get financial cover from the Vendor. You will also note that there are colors and styles that are NOT selling. These are potential liabilities to you. Take the following actions: a. Examine, especially with colors, the reasons they are not selling you may find a problem that requires extra special attention. We have one customer who had bought a shade of blue that was identical shade to the blue worn by the Green staff. b. Consider contacting the Vendor and getting a rebate that allows you to have your staff wearing a color / style from these slow sellers. c. Look at the merchandise location is there somewhere more favorable that these color / styles can be placed which does NOT damage your overall presentation, d. If there is a price- point that is the challenge, then what can be done with the pricing at this early stage to create sales momentum, e. Contact colleagues who have taken the same range and discuss what their situation is. If they have had better results, what are they doing? f. If this is a general problem then contact the Vendor for suggestions and look for a mark- down allowance now RetailTribe Ltd. All Rights Reserved 5

6 Create Retail Theatre Just the arrival of the new season s clothing creates some theatre. Four weeks into the clothing season, and it is time for you to generate the retail theatre. You should: a. Re- merchandise the store, changing manikins, table displays and selection locations. The path through the shop should present the golfer with different colors and styles suggesting different opportunities. If you can do this more than once a month, then do, b. Initiate promotions to speed volume of sale for a lower margin: o Buy 2, get a third shirt free o Buy 1 shirt, get 50% off the 2nd, c. If you have the ability to promote it effectively, create a meaningful weekly multi- buy offer. Get the offer into a display area with the choice of multi- buy items together. Make sure this offer changes each and every week. Create a sense that golfers should check your promotional offer for the week, and buy quickly so they don t miss out. The individual multi- buy promotions are the opportunity to target your dogs that are not selling. If light- blue shirts are not selling, then a great multi- buy on black shorts or trousers and the light- blue shirt, where you give away the margin on the shirt, starts to resolve your inventory challenges. Use the public holiday weekends, which start to occur through the early summer, as an opportunity to run time limited, weekend madness, special- offers incorporating a number of multi- buy and specific single item discounts. Please remember that once a consumer has bought and saved an amount of money, they psychologically believe they have that saved amount to spend again. So with every multi- buy you should also be looking to target a product to additionally sell, even a sleeve of balls, which is at or around the amount of the saving they have made. All of the above is about maintaining interest in your proposition and creating sales momentum. That needs your staff to be sales people. It also needs you to be a retail and marketing director RetailTribe Ltd. All Rights Reserved 6

7 Don t take action too late Have you noticed how early the high street clothing retailers now start their first sales in the season. It seems like the new merchandise has been out less than 4 weeks and they are already running a sale and marking it down. If you walk into these stores and look around you ll even see some quite big discounts on some lines. While I am not advocating that you literally copy the behavior or timetable of the fashion retailers, there are big, important lessons to learn: a. They are planning to sell out completely or as close to that as possible, b. They came at this with a schedule of dates for the season, c. They are using a few deep discounts to draw traffic early in the season, d. They do as much as possible to show the savings, e. The sale items hit you as you walk into the store, but in the early season sales, you have to walk the whole store to find the deepest discounts, f. As you walk the store, sales staff tell you about the sales items, g. When you check- out they also tell you again about the sales. Neat trick Here s a neat trick I have seen good fashion retailers like Abercrombie and Fitch use at the check- out when you have just taken advantage of an early season sale. It s July 1 st. As you walk into the A&F store you are struck by the Another 25% off red line items signage. That means you walk the store looking for the red line items. But you re also confronted at the front of store by some bright, clearly still in fashion, shirts with a very simple 20% off sign. You pick up the red and white shirt at a price 20% less than the original. The saving is re- enforced because you have seen the new lower price ticket stamped over the still visible original price. You have paid, and the checkout operator is putting the folded shirt in the bag with the receipt. He or she then tells you that from July 14 th to July 24 th they are having their 40% off sale, and gives you a Voucher. The Voucher is small enough to easily fit in your wallet and is essentially a reminder of the dates, although it does offer you a slightly bigger discount off one item in that sale between those dates. That is smart. It increases exponentially the number of repeat customers that A&F will get back into their store during the Clearance Week. It is inspiring you to think about other items you have seen which you might want, and encouraging engagement with you in the 2 weeks of the clearance sale. More sales conversions during the sales and, also, a great loyalty trick to retain customers RetailTribe Ltd. All Rights Reserved 7

8 What this neat trick demonstrates to me is that A&F are working to a detailed but actually very simple plan. It is a plan that every PGA Professional can work to, with so many more possibilities than A&F have. Just let your mind think of those possibilities if you have a plan and time for preparation. Golfers are in your shop every day buying golf balls or paying for green fees. You have the opportunity to have pre- printed, simple, small vouchers that can be slipped into their wallet, which offer them an extra discount between certain dates. In fact with a little thought you can use ideas like these to help your golf club generate extra rounds or at least help them show extra value on their rounds. And all the while you will be driving extra footfall into your shop during your Clothing sale periods. Look at the other Clothing retailers and learn from them. What they all know is that the greatest retail failure is too little, too late. They start to try and create momentum very early in the season, and they don t take chances with product being left over. You should follow that lead. Read the case study of Peter Meyers on the following page RetailTribe Ltd. All Rights Reserved 8

9 Case Study: Success, despite the terrible weather In appalling weather conditions in the UK, Peter managed his clothing season perfectly. The results for Peter have been good sales, critical cash generation and stock cleared. Early in the season Peter created momentum with multi- buy opportunities. His margin might have been lowered slightly up front, but his early volume at higher margins compensated for that. Then in the face of very poor weather in his summer, he started his clothing markdown at the beginning of July with a discount that created real sales momentum. Finally, as he came to the end of July he went onto a clearance sale with clearance markdowns. The end of July might sound too early but remember the warning about doing too little, too late. By starting his clearance in the last weekend of July, he actually exploited the fact that golfers are still looking for shirts they can wear in the summer. Wait until September, and the consumer s mind starts debating how much wear they are going to get out of any summer shirt in the current year. The value of any purchase they make will be diminished if they buy the summer shirt in September. The value perception is very important to the long- term customer loyalty you are looking for as an independent retailer serving a community. Peter has achieved two very important marketing results with his last weekend in July clearance: a) He has created a strong value relationship with a customer who he also wants to sell golf equipment and lessons to; b) He has kept the customer off the High Street and shopping on- course. He has also cleared stock and turned it into cash. Many of you may feel that you can box summer clothing up and have it ready to put out again next year. This will make you feel comfortable about your average gross margin you have achieved. However, it has never been good practice, and certainly with the advances in golf fashion, it certainly isn t now. Even if Peter s average gross margin achieved over the season is down, he is able to re- invest the money, back into winter season stock. Now he can make another profit on that money before the next summer arrives. Peter made great use of his online marketing solution to promote his sale to a wide audience. Unlike the High Street, which receives passing traffic, Golf Club Professionals need to work hard to get their customers to feel they need to make a special visit to the club RetailTribe Ltd. All Rights Reserved 9

10 If the stock is boxed then so is your cash. This limits you from investing you cash in winter product and creating a real profit from it. Therefore your return on investment is actually lower RetailTribe Ltd. All Rights Reserved 1 0