Six Month Buying Plan Jennifer Piff & Kelsey Wittman
Retailer: Bloomingdales
Brand Identity
Company History
Mission Statement
Bloomingdale’s was founded by two brothers, Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdale in New York’s Lower East Side. In the late 1800’s most fashion retailers specialized in just one type of garment but the Bloomingdale brothers were the first to sell a wide variety of European fashion. It was the beginning of what would become a department store. In 1886, Bloomingdale’s moved to 59th street and Lexington Avenue and eventually took up an entire city block. By the 70’s, the department store had become synonymous with cutting edge fashion and was the place where designers such as Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis, and Norma Kamali got their first big opportunities.
“Bloomingdale’s is committed to once again lead the way with exclusive merchandise, customized services, and alternative shopping venues. Carrying on the Bloomingdale’s brothers’ dream, we’re always finding ways to set our stores apart. That’s both the legacy and the promise of Bloomingdale’s.”
Retailing Venues • Brick and mortar • Online • Outlets
Values • Originality • Fashion leadership • Contemporary feel • Separate from the mainstream Scope & Size • • • • •
Annual sales volume: $2.317 billion 41 stores, 7 outlets, & online Key markets: New York, California, Florida International Presence: Dubai 10,500 employees
Key Strengths
Core Product Categories • Contemporary • Women’s apparel • Men’s Apparel • Accessories • Home • Beauty & Cosmetics • Kids Target Customers
Competitors
• Sophisticated • Disposable income • Cutting edge of fashion and unique sense of style • Something for everyone • Educated about the world of fashion and designers
• Belk • Dillard’s • Kmart • Neiman Marcus • Saks Fifth Avenue
Bloomingdales is committed to separating itself from mainstream and reinforcing its position as an authority for upscale, contemporary fashion. Bloomingdales always has the newest looks from established brands as well as unique products from rising designers. They are constantly delivering amazing service and an overall luxurious atmosphere. Over the years, Bloomingdales has managed to build a nationwide presence, gained market share, strengthened its customer loyalty, and maintained efficient operations throughout economic decline. In addition, both its online and in-store sales have steadily increased. Perhaps one of the most important strengths of Bloomingdales is their sense of timelessness, which can be seen in their flagship store on 59th and Lexington that has stood in the same spot for over a century.
Product Category: Advanced Contemporary
Competitive Market Analysis
Bloomingdale’s strives to be a leader in fashion and provide the most up-to-date collections for their fashion-foreward customers. Bloomingdales advanced contemporary collection contains trendy collections from the latest designers and is aimed at young, sophisticated individuals on the cutting edge of fashion. Three of Bloomingdales top competitors include: Nasty Gal, Polyvore, and Nordstrom.
Nasty Gal
Polyvore
Nordstrom
Nasty Gal is a global online destination for fashion-foreward, free thinking girls. In 2006, founder Sophia Amoruso started an eBay store selling a highly curated selection of vintage pieces. In just five short years, the shop has grown to become an international style source offering both new and vintage clothing, shoes, and acccessories. This super-trendy website has stimulated a cult follwing and the shop is stocked weekelywith both hand-picked vintage and a highly curated selection of up-and-coming designers giving its customers truly unique items that can’t be found elsewhere.
Polyvore is a technology company pioneering social commerce. Over 20 million unique visitors go to the site every month to create, share, discover, and shop. The site allows customers to search for a particular product and then offers a large variety of styles at many different price points. The customer is then taken to the original retailer of the product and is able to buy directly from that website. Its key strength is its ability to cater the exact needs of every customer and and provide afforable style for everyone. The platform allows people to mix and match products they love in unique, creative ways, while offering brands deep insight into their customers.
Nordstrom is a competing department store with an unerring eye for what is next in fashion. For more than 100 years, Nordstrom has worked to deliver the best possible shopping experience, helping customers possess style, not just fashion. It offers compelling clothing, shoes, and accessories for men, women, and children. Its greatest competitve advantage is its commitment to customer service by offering free shipping, free returns, and mobile shopping. They also offer new, exciting retail partnerships in order to provide customers with a fresh, relevant shopping experience and inspiring style.
Trends
Athlete Inspired
The Bloomingdales advanced contemporary collection is selected based on key trends in the marketplace that promise to provide compelling fashion in order to drive sales. Because our target customer is on the cutting edge of fashion, the following trends provide compelling evidence for expected growth in Fall 2013.
A key look for Fall is sporty and casual yet chic. The aesthetic employs active wear as everyday wear. The trends stems from a 90’s hip hop revival and utilizes baseball, basketball, hockey, and football style tops, oversized proportions, and active-authentic details, which include sporty stripes, team logos, and player numbers. Trend setters are seen pairing thier casual sneakers or sweat pants with higher-end items to create an effortless look.
Peer-to-Peer E-commerce A new wave of internet start ups are re-creating the social aspects of shopping with friends for an online community. It allows shoppers to build a virtual closet, ask friends for advice, and rate thier look. One example is Go Try It On, which was launched in 2010. It allows useres to upload photos of themselves, add descriptions of brands, and the context of the outfit chosen. The photo can then be commented on or users can simply click “wear it” or “change it”.You can also add inatagram-like filters, create collages and discover on-trend items and add them to a shopping list. It has also partnered with high-profile retailers such as Barney’s New York, Net-A-Porter, and a network of over 40 fashion bloggers whose looks users will be able to shop. Apps like these allow users to communicate their unique personal style and connect with retailers via mobile shopping.
Grunge The grunge aesthetic started as a style based on functional layering and well-worn comfort. Rock bands like Nirvanna inspired a deliberately disheveled image mirrored by the aggression behend the music. Today, the look has been updated by a slew of influential designers such as Phillip Lim and Givenchy. The Belgian designer Dries VanNoten revived grunge style in an elegant way and created a neo-grunge revival that showcased fresh plaids and floral prints on chiffon, merging the casualness of grunge with ladylike femininity. Layering, distressed denim, mismatched pattern, and unbrushed hair are key for this unkempt look. The look is kept fresh by updating flannel shirts to sheer materials with plaid variations, sweaters are layered over long slip dresses worn over pants, and colors are slightly muted with a palette of midtones and rich darks.
Corporate Buying Plan
Sales by Store Location
Assortment Plan
Conclusion The corporate buying plan takes into account all Bloomingdale’s locations. At the beginning of the Fall season, inventory is low in order to compensate for relatively warm temperatures in August. As the season progresses, inventory is gradually increased to prepare for the holiday season. The last markdowns of the season are taken in January in order to prepare for new Spring inventory. The Fall climate in Miami, Florida is drastically different than the climate of New York City. Overall, the Miami location accounts for a little more than the average Bloomingdale’s store, around 2 million, so sales were increased to 4 million. In order to compensate for the difference in temperature, percent of sales for August were decreased because the extreme heat prevents customers from buying warm Fall pieces. In addition, the percent of sales for January were increased in order to prepare for new Spring inventory. The Bloomingdale’s located at 59th and Lexington Avenue makes up the largest proportion of corporate sales, around 20 percent, so sales were increased to 15 million. The climate in New York City is much colder in relation to that of Miami so the division of sales remained similar to that of the corporate buying plan. The advanced contemporary collection assortment features Wildfox, Mara Hoffman, and Free People. These vendors represent designers whose collections showcase modern design at price points that are appropriate for our target customer. The assortment was then further segemented by classifications including: jackets, coats, pants, skirts, knitwear, and tops in order to ensure an even ditribution of vaious categories of merchandise. Fall trends include imporant advances in technology as well as fresh fashion innovation, which indicates that the Bloomingdales advanced contemporary collection can plan for an overall growth from its previous season.
FASM 245 Retail Buying Simulation Professor Daniel Green Six Month Buying Plan Spring 2013 SCAD- Savannah Retailer: Bloomingdales Focus Product Category: Advanced Contemporary Collection Vendors: Wildfox Mara Hoffman Free People Credit: Jennifer Piff Kelsey Wittman