Why do these women have their panties in a bunch? Ok, so Forth & Towne is closing its doors, but people, please. You survived before Forth & Towne ever showed up. I can give you a long list of places to shop. Nordstrom comes first to mind. They carry just about the same type of merchandise that Forth & Towne did along with the same individualized service. Then there’s Gap, Banana Republic, Saks, Neiman Marcus plus the designers I mentioned at the beginning of this article.
Ladies, no more crying, ok? Just be thankful you even have clothes…
Forth and Towne obviously did not work. But there has to be some clue that they did not address the baby boomer generation in the right way.
A smart company would put together the right selection to keep Baby Boomers in the mix without making them look like they've hit a mid life crisis. They have more..... yes MUCH more disposable income than any other group.
Even though I am not a part of the Boomer generation this is in fact a HUGE opportunity that few retailers can seem to capitalize on. My advice...take a step back and evaluate the product. What's selling...what's not selling what are other successful Boomer Focused Retailers selling...such as Chicos. This can be figured out....
Do the research...and provide the product baby boomers are looking for as well as find an effective way to speak to them through marketing and merchandising. Forth and Towne shouldn't have thrown the concept out with the bathwater. The BB market is so strong and it is a much more lucrative category than the ultra competitive juniors and over saturated contemporary.
I sound a little passionate but I am just so confused why some of these brilliant retail gurus...a lot of whom I worked with personally and know first hand how smart they are. To see these silly failures can be extremely frustrating from an insider perspective.
Folks...at Gap, JCrew, Limited, next time you sit in the boardroom to have your same meetings looking at everything the same way...really THINK OUT...OVER and AROUND the box. If anybody can do it you guys can. Make it work...this market can not go undressed!
Posted by: Ralinda | May 31, 2007 10:20 AM | Permalink to Comment