John Lewis to launch new in-house lifestyle range

After John Lewis’s huge success over the Christmas period, increasing sales by more than 15% compared to last year, the company knows it cannot afford to stand still and let competitors steal customers away. Hence my attention is now focused on the launch of a new in-house lifestyle range – Kin. Come February the 1^st, customers will be able to buy into John Lewis’s new clothing range - Kin, spanning womenswear, menswear and childrenswear.

Offering a new customer base simple but fashionable contemporary clothing at good prices, John Lewis hopes the new range will increase the percentage of sales produced from own-label brands from 25% to 30% within the year.

“We see this becoming a multimillion-pound brand and anticipate it achieving sales worth several million pounds by the end of 2013,” said McCormack, director of buying for fashion at John Lewis.(Drapers Online)

While Kin Pop-Up Stores will open in John Lewis’s 5 best performing stores, the new range will be rolled out across all 30 stores and online too.

‘The Kin branding and logo has been developed by British designer Mark Farrow while the campaign was shot by fashion photographer Boo George.’ (Drapers online)

Unfortunately, even John Lewis seems to be lacking in promotion for this range as a visit to their website quickly revealed. However Drapers online stated ‘The store is also launching a major advertising campaign across print, online and outdoor, to support the collection, focused towards the second half of the year’

I will give an update from Friday with hopefully a few more in-depth details…

HMV – hailed the last man standing - stands no more

As of the 15^th January 2013 HMV may no longer be the last man standing in entertainment retail on the high street. After months of difficulties and after the company had to warn investors in December that the group expected to face a solvency crisis by the end of January, the brand finally fell.

Record companies don’t want to see the business fail as it could signal the death of physical CD and DVD sales with no high street presence left to sell them, as despite the rise of digital, physical format sales still make up three quarters of the entertainment market.

Customers have also been left out in the cold as it was announced HMV could no longer honour gift cards and vouchers. It left many with useless bits of plastic instead of a present that for many could have been used to purchase that album that could be cherished forever, or that DVD to be enjoyed on a cosy evening in with the family. Instead the situation lead to instances of irate customers taking things into their own hands – my favourite example being the grandfather who, after having his grandson’s gift card refused, simply took the games he wanted to purchase straight out of HMVs Dublin store promising to post the worthless gift card to the store in return.

Since then, Deloitte, the company dealing with HMVs finance during its administration has vowed that from 22^nd January it will start allowing customers to use vouchers for purchases once more. However, how many customers will now have discarded their gift cards?

So why did such a long-standing part of our high street simply crumble as it has?

I believe the key reason is down to the slow pace in which HMV adapted, expanded and moved the business forward, neglecting key trends in the entertainment market until other competitors had entered and established themselves first barricading HMVs offer when they finally caught up.

A prime example is the surge in popularity of digital downloads. Back in 2003 when iTunes lead the way for mp3 downloads, HMV should have clocked the potential in the new format, as it did with CDs replacing tapes, and tapes replacing vinyls etc. However it took until 2010, after even online competitors such as AmazonMP3 had been launched two years earlier. Had HMV grabbed hold of digital way back in 2004/5, the business would have had an extra source of revenue giving it more time to contemplate the problem of declining physical product sales.

Furthermore research has suggested a revived interest in the vinyl format which has created successful businesses out of many independent record stores, but that yet again passed HMV by. While some larger stores may stock popular vinyl records, vinyls are not supplied in all stores owned by the chain, and HMV has missed the opportunity to build a new customer community through new and independent music that could hook customers into store and convince them that they may discover their new favourite band.

Of course the competition in physical and digital sales from huge online stores such as Amazon and from supermarket chains offering chart entertainment is possibly the biggest problem still facing HMV. They can’t compete price-wise and it’s proven unsuccessful to try, but if HMV is bailed out, there is still a lot of opportunity out there for the brand given they finally accept change and catch up in the market quickly.

Sources:

Why Did HMV Fail? 2013. Descrier. http://descrier.co.uk/uk/2013/01/why-did-hmv-fail/, accessed 21/01/13

McCartney, J. 2013. HMV fell victim to our temperamental love affair with brands. The Telegraph 19th Jan 2013. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/9812776/HMV-fell-victim-to-our-temperamental-love-affair-with-brands.html, accessed 21/01/13

King, M. 2013. HMV backtracks over refusal to accept gift vouchers. The Gaurdian 21^st Jan 2013. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/21/hmv-backtrack-gift-vouchers, accessed 28/01/13

Clancy, R. 2013. HMV will honour gift vouchers. The Telegraph 21^st Jan 2013. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9815074/HMV-will-honour-gift-vouchers.html, accessed 28/01/13

I only wanted 1 CD album…

For this third post I will finish my conclusions from sale shopping. This was the concerning…

Once again, with Love2Shop vouchers in hand, I headed into HMV. I had been after the Mumford and Sons album Babel for quite some time - and after disappointment of not receiving it at Christmas - I thought I’d treat myself using a voucher. HMV was the only retailer selling music in the mix of brands offered on the high street voucher, as quite honestly, besides supermarkets, they are the only major retailer left in physical CD sales on the high street. I wasn’t expecting to see the album on sale due to its popularity, but knew that even online weren’t selling it any cheaper. It soon became apparent the Milton Keynes store was out of stock. Disappointed I left the store, putting the situation down to popularity of the album, the small store and the likelihood that HMV hadn’t received any stock deliveries over Christmas.

However, when unable to find the album in Exeter’s large city centre store, and then a week after Christmas in Kettering, I began to worry. There was none of the album available in the Northampton store, and still – another week later the Kettering store was still out. By this point alarm bells were ringing, and my frustration growing. Online prices were falling for the album and with the inability to use the voucher online at HMV or elsewhere, I decided to ask a member of staff at HMV Kettering when they would expect new stock. The assistant explained that a previous order fell through due to the supplier not having the album in stock either, but that they were hoping for a delivery the following weekend. However, on the 15^th January 2013, 3 days after my visit to HMV, it was announced the chain had fell into administration.

Hardly surprising then that I was unable to access this album. 3 days ago I purchased the deluxe album for £8.99 via Amazon mp3 download.

No Deal

Following on from my first post, I will now describe the bad experience I encountered sale shopping. This is the closed fitting rooms of River Island. Having been given some Love2Shop vouchers as a Christmas present, I could see they were redeemable in River Island – a brand I quite often like to browse. So I went in to their huge sale and picked up a few items I was excited to try on – some dipped hem skirts – something I’d wanted for a while, but hadn’t found the right style and price for. However when I got to the fitting rooms there was a bored looking sales assistant lazily leaning on a naked mannequin with her other hand full. I asked to try on the pieces I had picked up, but was told changing rooms weren’t open during the sale. Annoyed I tried to hand her the stuff I had in my hands as the last thing I wanted to do was go to the effort of putting them back where I found them. Shrugging and looking at her ‘full’ hands she told me to just shove them on one of the rails next to me full of other merchandise. There was no way I’d be buying clothes without trying them on. With that I left disgruntled. Later I had heard Marks and Spencer were running the same policy, but telling customers they would be able to return items if they were no good. Some service but still lacking after the inconvenience of closed fitting rooms.

Closed changing rooms means empty changing rooms

Just as an example of contrast – New Look had queues snaking round past the tills into the merchandise stands. Evidently there efficient service of taking you to a free fitting room in the store (meaning no queue to try on!) was translating to successful sales. It should be said I only saw one purchase at the tills during my time browsing in River Island’s store…

I suppose one justification for River Island’s decision is that without having to manage fitting rooms, staff can manage tills and the shop floor more successfully. However, as I have pointed out, I was asked to dump my items anywhere by a member of staff, and the tills were hardly ringing. Perhaps the decision was more shrewd – by not allowing customers to try on pieces, they might still be tempted to buy at the lower price, and if it turned out the piece wasn’t right, customers would only be able to exchange for other items in-store or given a gift token for River Island instead of a money refund, hence keeping your money in their business.

Either way it bothers me that the service was so poor and businesses find it acceptable to close changing rooms. Quite simply – if you know you’re going to be busy, refine your service systems and have more staff serving that day, otherwise it might just damage your customer loyalty, as it has done for me and River Island.

Now that’s what I call service

This blog has been created since I realised I had a lot to say about the world of fashion, retail and business. While I have a degree in Fashion Marketing and Branding, and keep my finger on the pulse of fashion business in whatever way I can, it was perhaps my annual trip to the January sales that has motivated me to start this blog. 

Stemming from the basic experience I had on three trips to the sales (in Milton Keynes, Exeter and Kettering) I came away with three starting points. One good, one bad and one pretty concerning… 

I will begin in this post with the good. 

While I can often be unsuccessful picking up sale items that I love and that are the right size/fit me, I found a beautiful pair of Vans in Schuh. A grey pair with pink leopard print – almost half of the price they should be. 

With low expectations I asked to try on my size – a very average size 5. As I thought, this size was out of stock in-store. However, as I was about to leave the store in defeat, the sales assistant kindly checked Schuh’s central stock database to find size 5s were available for delivery. She helpfully suggested I try a size 5 in the same style (but different print) as the shoes I wanted, to check fit and if I liked the style, and that if I wanted, the leopard print shoes could be delivered to an address of my choice the following day free of charge! 

Well I did in fact fit the size 5, and I did love the style and inevitably I bought the shoes. When waking up the following morning, I discovered my shoes were already delivered, and it goes without saying, they are perfect! Top marks for Schuh’s service in the sale. 

I should point out I am unable to see if this is standard policy all year round, or special service in the sales, and I had asked to try the same pair of shoes in the Milton Keynes store before my success in Exeter. However the sales assistant in MK wasn’t so quick to help, making me ask the questions, rather than anticipating my thoughts and trying to offer helpful service to resolve issues. It leaves me wondering whether the offer of free next day delivery is only available in certain areas or stores, or if there is a distinct difference in service amongst Schuh stores. My advice following their success in Exeter is to establish excellent service in ALL stores, and to roll out the free next day delivery option in all stores all year round if this is not the case already.