shopping

Will That Be Cash or Credit?

Where are customers buying their clothes?

I recently just had a field trip to Macy’s with my Fashion Careers class. It was actually kind of funny to go there for a field trip… because I used to work at that particular Macy’s. So I had a little reunion with my old bosses and we had a tour of my old digs.

In my Fashion Careers class, we have been talking about the customer/consumer. Wholesalers need to consider how much the customer would be willing to spend, and how fashionable that one customer may be. Next thing to consider is to find out where the customer has bought and will buy this merchandise.

Let’s briefly go over the dominant retail categories that carry fashion merchandise.

  1. Department Stores
  2. Discount Stores
  3. Specialty Chain
  4. Designer-owned specialty store
  5. Small specialty stores and boutiques
  6. Off-price stores
  7. Warehouse stores
  8. Factory outlets
  9. Catalogs
  10. Hybrid stores
  11. Telemarketers
  12. Electronic retailers

Let’s go over a few of these retail categories:

Department Store: Department stores are large emporiums that carry hard and soft goods. Hard goods can include home furnishings; Soft goods can include apparel and accessories. Brand name and designer name merchandise is often available to the customers. Department stores usually have a broader range of prices, usually higher signifying better quality. Customer service is also very important to department stores. Personally, a couple of my favorite department stores are Macy’s and Bloomingdales.

Designer-Owned Specialty Stores: Designer-owned specialty stores carry only the labels of that one designer. They are owned, operated and promoted by that design house. A few prominent examples would be Versace, Chanel and Betsey Johnson.

Off-Price Stores: The general idea is that Off-price stores buy unwanted merchandise, due to various reasons, from wholesalers. Some popular Off-price stores are TJ Maxx, Marshall’s and Ross.

I will forever have a deep passionate love for shopping. Stores will not be seeing less of me any time soon. That’s great if you have a favorite store or brand, but I recommend you mix it up. Try shopping at a place you would usually never step place in. For example, I would prefer buying shoes at Neiman Marcus… but I have to admit, I have found some pretty fabulous shoes at Payless.