YMA Project

Hopefully Romantic

~ one and only shoes for one and only wedding ~ One and only shoes from Hopefully Romantic for your one and only wedding meets the Macy’s modern customer.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

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Background information Target Customers Customer Profile Board Analysis Concept and Culture Brand Mood Board

Business Description

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SWOT

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Competitiveness

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Industry Current and Future Goals

Launch Plan

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Assortments Merchandise display Assortment Plan

Market Campaign

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Scale up/Scale down

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Six-month Plan

13

Appendix

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Executive summary: One and only shoes for one and only wedding.

The collaboration between Hopefully Romantic from Etsy and Macy’s will provide customers with the most special shoes in their whole life.

We will use our detailed design, exquisite craftsmanship, one by one customization services to make the collaboration successful and give our customers a caring warm experience.

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Background information:

Hopefully Romantic is a bridal store from Twain Harte, California, Katherine Marcoccia, the owner and designer of Hopefully Romantic learned sewing skills from her mother and developed a strong interest in laces, ribbons and fabrics since she saw Cinderella ball-gown and dreamed to wear it one day.

Her skills and strong interest in bridal products have attracted thousands of customers. She used her hands and her passion to help customers to complete their wedding dreams.

Etsy.com is an e-commence marketplace launched in 2005. It is a place for artists who want to sell their handcrafted works online. The website has more than a million active shops and nearly 25 million unique monthly visitors. It consistently pushed out tools designed to exposure more of Etsy sellers. Etsy unique position makes it stand out from regular e-commence sites.

Macy’s Department Stores Inc. is one of the largest department store worldwide. It was founded in 1858 in New York and owns 850 stores in America. It specializes in clothing, footwear, jewelry, accessories, cosmetics and basic electrical equipment. Macy’s is not only famous for its contribution to the American culture with events such as a Thanksgiving Day parade sponsor, but also its strong online position. Macy’s physical and online presence can play a sigbnificant role for Etsy.

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Analysis: The collaboration focuses on flat ballet styles wedding shoes. Design inspired by the bouquet held by the bride, laces and ballet. The unique customization is what differs the collaboration from other brands. Customers can choose a pair of basic shoes and customize with their own ideas, like their names, favorite flowers or anything that has special meaning to them. Not only the surface, but also the soles and insoles can be customized as well. All of the uniqueness will make the wedding shoes become the most special one among the hundreds shoes a woman have in her lifetime.

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From an aesthetic perspective, lace-up and ballet shoes style are trending right now, the ballet lace-up from MiuMiu for example are usually out of stock. According to Harper’s Bazaar, lace-up flat shoes are the new must-have shoes: “The not-so-typical ballet flat that every fashion blogger and IT girl is wearing”. Also, all of the fashion magazines are having articles discussed “How to dress like a Parisian”, as the minimalistic and the Parisian girl style is popular nowadays, people are chasing the effortless fashion style; Perfectly described in Ines de la Fressange books, Parisian chick and secrets of Parisian chick, comfy, simple but still in style is what we are doing. From the practical perspective, brides require long-time standing, standing on a pair of heels for such a long time is really tiring. A pair of beautiful flat wedding shoes customized with the customers’ ideas would become the best substitution when they are dancing or greeting guests. Many brands have well-known pieces for wedding high-heel choices such as Jimmy Choo, but it is really hard to find a pair of perfect flat wedding shoes.

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Target Customers: Our target is independent and opinionated women between 25-35. She is not afraid to try new things and does not consider herself traditional; novelties excites her. She travels a lot and enjoys having adventurous experiences. She is interested in fashion, prefers cool, casual and comfy clothes. She is into effortless styles which will not be too deliberate and complicated.

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Concept and Culture:

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Brand Mood Board

Instead of selling shoes, this collaboration is selling stories and experiences. The article “Brand is Culture, Culture is Brand” from Harvard Business Review emphasized what really makes a brand stand out is its culture. Concept and culture is an important part lots of customers are looking to see.

Many women learn ballet and always dream of their wedding since they were little. Our products give them the chance to make the two dreams come true at the same time. A 17-years-old girl’s dream is to grow faster, become a lady and have a pair of her very own high-heeled shoes.

But for a 30 year old lady who is finally going to realize her childhood dream and marry the one she loves, she may remember fondly the little one who was dreaming and worrying what kind of future she would have. She may want to go back, tell the little girl, don’t worry and don’t panic, everything will be fine in the future, you will have the chance to wear your favorite ballet shoes and you will find your love of live, just take time and grow up, all of your dreams will come true.

We are not only selling a pair of shoes, but also giving customers a chance to make their dream come true and a chance to wear the most special shoes while marrying the most special person.

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Business description: •

Industry:

The wedding industry is growing. According to Global Industry Analysts, Inc., the global market for Bridal Wear is going to exceed US$80 billion by 2020, driven by increasing influence of celebrity weddings and social media.

The analysis did by The Knot, the #1 wedding statics analysis group shows in 2014 couples spent $29,858 averagely on their wedding. Among the total, they spent $2,687 on attire, for shoes especially, they spent $118 on average for the bridal shoes. Another study by The Knot shows the average wedding cost has increased more than $5,500 in the past five years with couples spending $32,461 in 2015.

Couples embrace paying a large amount of money on the wedding because they think it is something only happen once a lifetime, so when people prepare for the wedding, emotional and irrational consumption happens. However, on the Macy’s website, in the wedding shop categories, there is no specific tab directed to “shoes”. People find dresses, jewelry and beauty easily. The wedding shoes are an aspect lacking focus. This collaboration is designed for wedding shoes which can fill up the void in Macy’s current assortment.

The Huffington Post researched, by asking brides, which shoes are they going to choose to wear to walking down the aisle. 21% said they will wear custom-made shoes and 18% said they will wear flats. Interestingly, the research found brides who said they will wear custom-made shoes on their wedding day have a different idea of their perfect wedding venue, and brides who choose flats are two times likely to choose Jackie O as their style icon than Sarah Jessica Parker.

Customization is one of the biggest advantage of this collaboration, it can make customers feel more related to the product and stimulate the desire to purchase. According to survey done by Bain& Company, customers who had customized a product engaged more with the company, especially for events like weddings. The one and only shoes are the best match for the one and only wedding.

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Current and Future Goals:

The current goal for this collaboration is to reach target sales and increase the popularity, in order to make Hopefully Romantic a stable private label selling in Macy’s deparment stores and online.

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SWOT: Strengths

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Craftsmanship Lace-up is in fashion Customization Credibility Hand-made guaranteed the quality

Weaknesses

• Timing Manufacture time may be longer.

• Pricing Average pricing is higher than shoes selling in Macy’s.

• Brand popularity As a new brand, lack of popularity.

• Limited target group Target customers are only bridals, too limited.

Opportunities

• Collaborations To collaborate with famous designers or brands to attract more customers.

• Innovative marketing position There is no brand only focus on wedding shoes in Macy’s.

• Comfort Due to the requirement of long-time standing, flat shoes are much more com-fortable than high heels.

• Market trends for customization Customers feel more related and personal for a customized product.

• Luxury line Release a luxury line with better materials and designs in a limited amount to attract high class customers.

Threats

• Similar sellers on Etsy Direct competitors from two similar sellers on Etsy which are selling handmade ballet style flat bridal shoes.

• Indirect competitive Indirect competitive from high-street brands with lower prices and luxury brands with higher popularity.

• Custom Lots of brides may still want to wear high heels for wedding.

• Decreasing of wedding rate U.S marriage rate hits new low in 2015 and may continue to decline.

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Competitiveness: The demand for wedding shoes especially flat shoes are increasing nowadays, as the collaboration is focused on wedding shoes, our goal is to help customers find the perfect and most special shoes for their wedding.

Customization shoes allow couples to add any element that have special meanings on the shoes, to make them feel more personal.

There is growing trends on all of our shoes elements. First, the lace-up ballet shoe style has been called “the new Must-Have shoes” by Harper’s Bazaar. Secondly, no matter fashion, interior or lifestyle magazines are talking about “How to dress like or live like a Parisian style”, the minimalistic, effortless style is very popular right now, our shoes are comfy, simple but still in style. Finally, preparing for a wedding is a happy time but also an exhausting process, especially on the big day, brides require many hours on their feet, so a pair of beautiful and trending flat wedding shoes customized with the customers’ ideas would become the best substitution of the high heels when they are dancing or greeting guests.

Macy’s is providing customers with a trust-worthy brick-and-mortar shopping experience to try products and enjoy the services. Also one of the best and most successful department store, Macy’s has a comprehensive platform. The customers who are shopping at Etsy are looking for artists not factories, . same as what we are doing, we are not only selling hand-made shoes but also selling stories and experiences. Hopefully Romantic relies on its own creative designs and exquisite craftsmanship to help brides find their dream wedding shoes.

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Launch Plan: •

Assortment:

There are ballet flats and lace-up flats, each have three designs and four colors for customers to choose.

Small Size Stores (5): We do not provide customized services.

Medium Size Stores (5): We only provide customized services for lace-up flats.

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Flagship Stores (3): We provide customized services for both styles.

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Merchandise Display:

Our two styles shoes are displayed on the two sides of our stores. We will have a big and comfortable area for customers to sit and try shoes, also there are 6 mirrors for customers to see. (picture of “the model at the center of sofa” see appendix 1.)

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Assortment Plan:

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Market Campaign: •

In-store and direct mail market strategies:

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Opening week campaign:

In-store marketing. Wedding arch and ballet dresses decorations (see appendix 2) in flagship stores which can attract attention and show customers the direct concept.

We will start with a direct email markety strategy. Starting with who have made a wedding registry at Macy’s, wedding planners and event planning agencies. For online promotion, there will be a tab on Macy’s website under the wedding shop categories to lead customers directly to this collaboration. Also on the homepage of Etsy, Macy’s and Macy’s “wedding Shop” page, there will be a rolling picture introducing this collaboration For the opening week, cards (see appendix 3) will be placed in strategic areas in the Macy’s department stores with some requirements writing on that, anyone fulfills the conditions can take the card with them and come to the store for free champagne.

At the same time, pictures of these cards will be posted on our Instagram account, person that fulfills the requirements can come to the store and show the phone to our staff and have a free champagne.

We will prepare a registry book like the wedding registry book in our store, anyone can come in and sign the book to give us their information. We will draw a lottery every three weeks for a pair of free shoes. This is a way we can get the information of our target customers easily.

Scale up/ Scale down: •

In-store / Out-of-store campaign:

If the plan goes well and needs to scale up the store, the reatil space allocated will become bigger and increase the assortments. Also we will open a private VIP section for customers who want privacy.

If there is a lot of remaining inventory, we will do some discount in Macy’s to sell at a lower price. Then bring the remain shoes to backstage and sell in Macy’s outlet stores.

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Six-month Financial Plan:

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Appendix: 1. Launch Plan – Merchandise display – Model picture:

2. Market campaign – Regular campaign – Wedding arch and ballet dresses decoration in front of the store.

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Appendix: 3. Market campaign – Special campaign – Cards with requirements for free champagne

4. Scale up – area for customers to try and choose their customized shoes.

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