Prada - Soho NYC

If you've never been to the Prada store in SOHO NYC, it's really worth a visit.
It's the no.3 Prada store in the network, after NYC's 5th avenue store and the original store in Milan. Their customer base split is 65% female and 35% male. Interestingly enough the male section is actually at street level. This was a strategic move for menswear last year as it was felt men would suit shopping in an open plan area more and women prefered the privacy of the downstairs area.

There are a number of unique attributes about this store. Firstly as you enter, a wall spanning the entire length of the store greets you. This wall is a handcrafted piece of art from floor to ceiling reflecting the current collection and is replaced each season.



There is a 'wave' area right in the middle of the store which hosts a number of private shows and ticketed events. The 'wave' is made of zebrawood and when an event is being held a stage platform rises out of the floor with a huge LCD screen beneath it.



The entire store has been designed to change with the season. Each shelving piece is hung on cages from tracks in the ceiling. They are actually the same design as in a car manufacturing plant. This means that each shelving piece can be moved around freely. The lower levels of the stores are divided into individual rooms hosting different lines from the season's collection. The walls to these rooms are also all on sliding tracks allowing the size of each room to change according to the level of stock/space required.

The VIP areas are sectioned off booths where people can enjoy a personal shopper choosing their pieces carefully based on their desire. The changing areas in these booths have not only 360-degree mirrors but also a camera that sits behind you projecting an image of the back onto a screen in front.

Possibly the most talked about area that most people have heard about is the infamous changing rooms in the main area of the store. These are clear glass panels that frost up when you touch a sensor inside them. 7 or so years ago when these first appeared in Prada stores they were deemed to be at the cutting edge of retail technology. An area which Prada feels they want to reassess and improve on today. So much so that they are currently working on an interactive display to feature on the main wall as you enter the store as part of their 2011 seasonal collection.

The last thing to note is that every creative decision is based of the seasons catwalk fashion show, from the look of the advertising, the uniforms worn by sales assistants to the complete in-store design.

With such a uniquely designed store you can only ask the question 'what next'? Well word has it that in development for Prada's next flagship store is a completely interchangable environment. Constantly wanting to update the store with the seasons fashions, Prada are developing a store with 4 main mechanical parts. Each of these parts with form the fixtures and fittings of the store and be able to rotate, turn and twist to enable a new environment to be created each season. So there you have it history in the making, you heard it here first!

America on sale

I heard a fact a yesterday from the Chairman and CEO of Williams Sonoma, Howard Lester that US retailers in general will have made losses of around 25% from mid 2008 to the end of 2009.

Obviously there have been a number of ways that these retailers have had to combat the hit to their bottom line. Restructuring has been the obvious one I have heard. Companies are using their assets and working smarter. As a result unemployment has now risen to $5.1M people or around 9%. Companies are changing they way they do things, finding new ways to cut expenditure to adapt in to this new economy.



Another tool being used in this environment is the good old SALE. In an attempt to fight for the consumer’s dollar, some retailers are cutting into their margins just to get people into their stores. Take Saks on Fifth Avenue as an example. Last Christmas they advertised 70% off their entire store! Macy’s is permanently on sale. I’ve seen $5 deals across stores here, BOGOF deals on clothing lines, 40-60% off, then another 10% already marked down prices when you get to the checkout. But what does that do to a brand and the effectiveness of a sale? Well we’re seeing a number of retail outlets fold, Abercrombie and Fitch, Dockers. Pottery Barn (who are part of the Williams Sonoma group) have tried 30% off the range in store but it doesn’t work. If the whole of the US is on offer consumers begin to expect such low prices all the time, which is clearly not sustainable to retailers.




So the key is to use a sale selectively and strategically. Nordstrom and Bloomindales now only have 2 sales per year, a Stocktake sale at the start of the year, and mid season sale half way through the year. Macy’s yesterday had a 1 day sale which they heavily advertised online and TV. By doing so retailers give their sales more credibility and therefore gives the customer more sense of urgency and excitement. Moreover it’s usually used on stock which are just out of season or need to be shifted, stock that has already been accounted for so it doesn’t hurt their bottom line as much.

In my opinion some of the better strategies some retailers are addressing the problem with are:

• Through selected offers via their loyalty programs
• Interest free periods
• Free shipping within the US
• Targetted eDM’s based on individual customer profiles from the local store Manager
• Guarantees on items
• Good returns policies

All of these are methods of adding value, value around their brand to give customers a good experience so they will come back for repeat business and spread the word.

Old Navy goes 'Back to Basics'

Without a doubt, retail in the US has taken a huge hit in the global financial crisis. As an example Westfield in the US has already decreased it's net worth by 10%. Perhaps though what's more interesting is the reaction that some of the big players have had in an attempt to combat further revenue loss. In 1993 we heard the phrase 'back to basics' being used in UK politics by John Major. A moral campaign designed to retrieve the governments perceived ability to safeguard public finance. Now in the US there is an obvious trend to head just that way.

After years of diversification and experimentation with company models, retailers are once again going back to the core truths of their brand. Take the classic American clothing brand 'Old Navy' for example. Old Navy (owned by the GAP group) has a long heritage in the states and is now the largest apparel brand in North America not to mention the fastest retailer to reach $1 Billion in sales. With so much competition in the market Old Navy found themselves branching out to be everything to everyone – fashion for the masses. In doing so however they were losing the identity people had come to know and trust and therefore losing traffic into stores. In fact they lost as much as 100 million footprints, which equates to 8 times the number of visitors to Disney World each year! So Old Navy had to reinvent itself and become top of mind with its customers again.


How did they do that?
By drilling down back to their DNA and developing a comprehensive picture of their target market and their needs, Old Navy realised that what people wanted was the trusted traditional brand they once knew. Great quality classics at reasonable prices. That personality archetype was summed up in 4 DNA strands. They wanted to be a brand that was:

• Value – they knew they couldn’t always be the cheapest brand on the market, especially with the likes of Wal-Mart selling clothing lines. They did want to offer their customers the best quality at the best price however.
• Family Brand
• Fashionable – Ideally they wanted customers to think ‘here’s an incredible offer at an unbeatable price’ and tell their friends what they’d purchased
• Fun – As the core essence to the brand, they wanted to reinvent the irreverence that the brand originally stood for. It’s the one unique attribute that sets Old Navy apart from its competitors.

So a new mission statement was created

Save fashion from its current place in the lowly grocery trolley so that consumers can say once again ‘I got it from Old Navy’



After years of evolution within their range and logo, Old Navy went back to the very first logo design that customers recognised and kept their model much simpler.
Their new advertising campaign reflects this quirky irreverence, true American brand identity but does so with an engaging and powerful retail idea. They created a whole group of characters with mannequins who parody celebrity gossip magazine. As celebrities are such a driver for fashion trends now what better way to drive the retail message than through the fictitious dramas that surround their lives. It is a compelling and humorous direction that delivers on their core brand values whilst keeping a strong retail feel and price focus. The touch points to this campaign were TV, in-store catalogue taking the feel of a gossip mag (each shot was part of a saga and all were shots of the mannequin characters not traditional models), in store the group of mannequins welcome you at the entrance and, online a coupon treasure hunt website was created with traffic being directed from the TVC.

Within 1 hour of the ad going on air, 2000 coupons were found online and research has shown that people once again identify with the brand, remembering the ads and feeling that they were clearly focused on the price.

And it’s not just retailers who are going ‘Back to Basics’. Customers are aswell. With less discretionary income consumer choices are leaning towards key quality items in neutral colours that will have longevity. There is less desire for quirky prints and outrageous colours. Good quality basics in classic styles and colours. And that is where traditional American brands like Old Navy are making a comeback.