OPENING CEREMONY Est. 2002
buying team | suzanne brady. Naomi crumpley. Jie Min Gan. Taylor Jackson
Table of Contents Meet the Founders Our Mission Brand Identity Scope and Size Merchandising platforms Customer Profile Core Strengths and Competencies Core Strategies for business growth Competitive Marketplace Analysis Competition swot analysis trends Corporate Buying Plan Store Buying plans assortment plans statement of risk | opportunity
Come in, we’re
OPEN ING CEREMONY
the retailer with limitless possibilities...
Meet Humberto Leon and Carol Lim Humberto Leon and Carol Lim began their journey as college friends at the University of California, Berkley where they studied majors that have nothing to do fashion design. They always loved shopping but as time passed, that excitement dulled. After starting jobs in visual merchandising and banking, the pair took a shopping trip to Hong Kong. That trip was where they fell in love with the experience of shopping again and wanted to revitalize that excitement for others; giving birth to Opening Ceremony. It started out with the merchandise they bought in Hong Kong, but as the company grew, they offered products from international and American emerging designers. They eventually developed their namesake in house ready to wear line. Leon and Lim set out to make shopping fun again through engaging brick and mortar experiences.
Our Mission
Opening Ceremony
exists to forge an innovative environment that reaches far beyond the fashion world by creatively merging sports, business, and global participation.
Brand Identity □ oc playfully and eclectically reinterprets retail clichés: □ By collaborating with American heritage brands □ By housing emerging designers with established designers
â–Ą and by incorporating global participation through housing guest artists and designers from around the world with an accompanying theme
â–Ą OC reinvents the exclusivity of retail by inviting new, innovative brands to their curated retail experiences
Scope and Size □ OC is a multi-million dollar retailer with 4 brick and mortar
stores and an e-commerce website. Alongside its own in house label, OC carries designer labels such as Acne Studios, Issey Miyake Cauliflower, J.W. Anderson, Courreges, Alexander Wang and many more. The in house collections are wholesaled to nearly 400 stores in retailers such as Barney’s New York, Nordstrom, Bergdorf Goodman, Harvey Nichols, Lane Crawford, Mitsukoshi and Printemps.
□ Collaborating with other fashion brands, popular artists, movie
directors and other creatives drives OC’s ways of revitalizing the retail experience.
□ Carol and Humberto are also creative directors of Kenzo.
Stores | Locations □ New York (flagship store) □ 35 Howard Street
4 stories & basement □ 33 Howard Street 3 stories | menswear
□ Ace Hotel (New York) □ boutique shop | gift shop in Midtown New York
□ Los Angeles □ 10,000 sq. ft. “mini-mall” in West Hollywood
□ Tokyo, japan □ 4 story, 13,000 sq. ft. building in
Tokyo’s Omotesando neighborhood □ Tokyo unit in the Shinjuku train station with 2 stories and a store in Nagoya
Pop-Up Shops □ Brooklyn Museum pop-up store compliments
the sports exhibition in the museum, features OC’s capsule collection CLUB USA
□ OC x Lane Crawford in Beijing and Hong Kong. recreated cities and places that inspired and shaped OC
□ Ace Hotel pop-up store in Shoreditch, East London
□ Olympic Themed Pop-Up Shops in London 3000 sq. ft. London pop-up shop in Covent Garden and a complementary New York unit at 10 Greene Street that coincided with the Olympics
Merchandising Platforms 961,000 followers
□ Brick and mortar stores □ 4 major retail locations and pop-up shops
153,000 followers
178,598 Likes
□ E-commerce □ openingceremony.com □ luxury retailers: barneys.com
shop.nordstrom.com and more
□ social media □ presence on Instagram, Twitter, 4,300 followers
Facebook, and Pinterest
□ wholesale □ distribution to luxury retailers
Customer Profile We have Millennial Consumers consisting of Innovators and Achievers with a strong sense of fashion and indvidual style.
□ age: 25-38 □ thrive in large urban cities □ earn a middle to disposable income □ biggest interests
pop culture travel new experiences
Customer Persona American □ innovator □ Name | Abigail □ Age | 31 □ Location | Manhattan, NY □ Education | BFA in Fashion Marketing
and Management at FIT
□ Occupation | Event Planner/ Public
Relations Specialist
□ Salary | $112,000 □ Habits | Supporter of Humans of NY
Reads Refinery 29 daily
Customer Persona International □ achiever □ Name | Jason □ Age | 26 □ Location | Tokyo, Japan
□ Education | BFA in Graphic Design Kyoto Seika University
□ Occupation | Freelance Graphic
Designer
□ Salary | $41,000 □ Habits | Reads OC’s blog on his way to
work
at the Core
Core Category of Business □ Women’s, Men’s, and Children’s Apparel and Accessories
Core Strengths and Competencies □ Physical Retail Spaces
□ Visually interesting spaces with non-traditional mannequins and fixtures.
□ Each space is themed and designed depending on which products it contains.
□ Funky and unique merchandising reflects the brand identity while giving the customer
a unique experience at each location.
□
E-Commerce
□ Products and brands are easy to
□ Website is clean and simple with
□ On the website, the customer has
find via menus.
visually engaging photos that advertise current collaborations or trends. the ability to shop, learn about the company, and keep up to date with the OC blog.
Current Strategies for Business Growth □ High-low pricing strategy □ Trend Management □ Each brick and mortar store has an edited assortment with a personal touch
□ Collaborations are a way to reach a new customer base. Previous Opening Ceremony
collaborations include Rodarte, Topshop, Pendleton, Maison Martin Margiela, and non fashion collaborations like Chloë Sevigny, Spike Jonze, and Terence Koh.
oc x Rodarte
oc x pendleton oc x CHloë Sevigny
oc x TopShop
Competitive Marketplace Analysis
Buying Category:
Women’s Designer Collections
The Competition Brick and Mortar
strong visual merchandising, carrying high end brands
carries contemporary fashion forward brands
carries trendy, sustainable merchandise
carries similar brands and product assortments
The Competition E-Commerce
carries large assortment of high-low brands
consistent oratorical brand identity with a strong design philosophy
aesthetically pleasing online platform, carrying a large assortment of unique brands
2.4 million Instagram following with a visually appealing huge assortment of designer brands
the s.w.o.t. analysis How do we compete?
SWOT Analysis
Strengths □ Social Media | OC has a large online
□ Collaborations with other companies | this
□ Physical Retail Space |unique, immersive
presence, primarily with Instagram and Twitter
□ Instagram | (961k followers) shares a
curation of lifestyle and mood photos, stores, fashion shows, campaigns expressing a clear aesthetic of OC
□ Twitter | (153k followers) shares media
retail environments
□ Diverse Product Assortment | high-low merchandising that offers the in house alongside other designer brands
with Instagram but offers more behind □ Brand Image | distinct and consistent with the scenes, promotions, collaborations, their brand identity collections, and company happenings
allows OC to extend its customer reach
also allows followers to view the personality of the brand. Content is not as filtered as Instagram
SWOT Analysis
Weaknesses □ Website
□ could offer more lifestyle and product
□ could update blog as frequently as
photos
Instagram and Twitter
□ Small Brand Assortment
□ Compared to its competitors, OC carries
a limited assortment from the brands it offers
□ Only 3 Stores in the U.S.
□ Los Angeles, New York, and the Ace
Hotel (small boutique)
SWOT Analysis
Opportunities □ Bring in a new American designer
□ introduces a new international designer often
□ bring in a NYFW Designer to Watch
□ Expand the assortment of products from each brand
□ could have a wider range of styles that remain true to
their identity
□ Continue collaborations and collections made
exclusively for OC □ great way to bring in new customers
□ Open new U.S.
retail locations
□ Miami, San Fransisco, Atlanta
SWOT Analysis
Threats □ Decline of the Luxury fashion industry
□ the decline of the luxury fashion
industry is causing brands like OC to struggle and threaten the potential to expand
□ The competition
□ competitors are naturally threats to
the brand
trends
we consider
Fashion Trends
Trans-Seasonal â–Ą the differentiation between traditional seasons blur allowing for more
layering and thus numerous styling options within separates
Fashion Trends
Away from the Body â–Ą oversized dresses and blouses
â–Ą a mix of solids and graphic prints are important
Fashion Trends
Away from the Body
â–Ą oversized outerwear : utility jackets, windbreakers, bomber jackets â–Ą lightweight fabrications are ideal
Fashion Trends
High Neck Focus
â–Ą items with a unique attention to necklines that
deter from a focus on the bust
Fashion Trends
Cropped Pants â–Ą pants wth cropped, mid-calf lengths
Lifestyle Trends
□ Experience
□ when consumers care more about the
experience of the trend
□ Identity | Personal Heritage
□ not following a trend just because
□ being sure of oneself
everyone else is doing it; doing what you like because you like it
□ Genderful | Gender Fluidity
□ gender neutral fashion
Technology Trends □ Mobile Apps
□ Interactive system between customer and
□ Messaging, checking on merchandise
retail staff or personal shoppers
stock in brick and mortar shops
□ Magic Mirror
□ interactive mirror display on the wall
which allows shoppers to select items they want to try on. This notifies personal shoppers who will bring the clothes to the changing room
corporate BUYING PLAN
Corporate Plan focus product category: WOmen’s designer collections The Planned Net Sales for the U.S. Marketplace are $3,850,000.00 We planned for a 10% increase in sales from last Spring. (000’s)
The inventory turnover rate is at 3.1 which means we turn over newer stock every 2 months. Since we run the risk that comes with newer fashions to the marketplace our Planned Reductions account for that extra push to sell through inventory.
6 month buying plan | Spring 2017 The Initial Markup Percent covers the costs to acquire new merchandise alongside operating expenses (000’s)
The Markdown Patterns that we utilized involved bringing in more new merchandise in the beginning of the season and bringing in more markdowns at the end of the season to prepare of the net season’s merchandise
New York Store Plan focus product category: WOmen’s designer collections The Planned Net Sales for this season are $2,120,000.00. (000’s)
The Inventory Turnover Rate is a little faster than the corporate plan because this is our flagship store so it is more likely that we bring in more volume than the Los Angeles Store.
6 month buying plan | Spring 2017
(000’s)
Los Angeles Store Plan focus product category: WOmen’s designer collections The Planned Net Sales for this season are $1,154,000.00. (000’s)
The Inventory Turnover Rate is slightly slower than the corporate and NY store plans since it is the second U.S. brick and mortar store to open in the U.S. Also this location’s weather, cultural environment and more may have a major influence on what consumers prefer from the assortments retailed.
6 month buying plan | Spring 2017
(000’s)
assortment Plan focus product category: WOmen’s designer collections This plan consists of the categories we are interested in buying from Women’s Designer Collections. It also shows which designer’s women’s collections that we feel align most closely to the trends we initially considered buying.
The Other designers section consists of newer designers that we would like to introduce to the brick and mortar marketplace and to our consumers.
6 month buying plan | Spring 2017
Statement of risk or opportunity
as a buying team, we believe that our buying plan exists as an opportunity for the brand to continue doing what they do well which involves introducing new brands, bringing in global participation and reach, while providing aesthetically exciting visual merchandising to the consumer who likes to dress at the edge of fashion.
meet the buying team
Taylor Jackson | JiE Min Gan Naomi Crumpley | Suzanne Brady
references https://www.openingceremony.com/About-Us.html http://www.latimes.com/travel/fashion/la-ig-0907-opening-ceremony20140907-story.html http://www.harpersbazaar.co.uk/fashion/fashion-news/news/a6457/bazaar-meets-opening-ceremony/ http://www.elle.com/fashion/a11356/the-success-of-opening-ceremony-470082/