Opening Ceremony 6 Months Buying Plan

WOMENSWEAR

6 Months Buying Plan Tianyi Wang Mengying Zhang Tian Shi

Chapter I Brand Overview Creative directors Brand History Brand Mission Brand Identity Scope Customer Profile

5 8 10 12 14 18

Chapter II Competitive Market Analysis SWOT Analysis Competitors Advantages Collaborations

Window Display & Store Design

2

24 26 32 32 36

Chapter III Buying Trends Buying Category Trends Moodboard Brands Lifestyle Trend: Swimwear

40 41 48 52 54

Chapter IV Six Months Buying Plan Corporate Buying Plan New York Store Buying Plan LA Store Buying Plan Assortment Plan Final Statement

61 64 65 66 67

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BRAND OVERVIEW

Carol Lim

Nationality : Korean in LA Education : University of Califonia at Berkely Career before OC: Merchandiser at Bally

Humberto Leon

Nationality : Half Chinese and Half Peruvian Education : University of Califonia at Berkely Career before OC: Visual Diretor at Old Navy & Burberry

CREATIVE DIRECTORS

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EVERYTHING STARTS WITH...

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LOVE OF TRAVELING

LOVE OF SHOPPING 7

In 2002, the friends Carol Lim and Humberto Leon went on a trip to Hong Kong. They were very much impressed by the Hong Kong designers and the diversity of merchandises. They had the thought of bringing their shopping experiences in Hong Kong back to US and that’s what they did to create Opening Ceremony. Both leaving their corporate jobs, they started their business with the wish to bring the sense of creativity and uniqueness to their customers. They wanted to transform the traveling experiences and bring what interests them into the store for their customers. They bought their first series of merchandise from what they found on the trip to Hong Kong and everything sold out so quickly that they had to go back to Hong Kong 16 times in a year to keep up the inventory. Opening Ceremony grows rapidly. It gains more attentions after their collaborations with Nike and Vans in 2004. It has lots of good medias and people in the industry have had good reviews and high expectations on Opening Ceremony. It has the reputations of edgy and always trying to be one step ahead of the trend.

BRAND HISTORY 8

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Inspired by the Olympic Games, the founders chose Opening Ceremony as the name of their stores, and were also adapting the international approach of it. In addition to the emerging American designers, every year, Opening Ceremony represents one visiting country/city, and showcasing the creative sprits and products of the certain country. By doing that, they wanted to constantly bring their customers new and exclusive products and ideas, and again transforming traveling experiences to special retail shopping experiences. The successful examples of this kind of retail model are that they are the first store that carried and introduced Havaianas’s flip flops and Topshop into the US.

BRAND MISSION 10

Inspired by Olympic Games Represent one country every year

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What make Opening Ceremony Opening Ceremony are its creativity and innovation.

It’s always searching for trends, and is quite successful on that. They are willing to take risks to stay on top of the game and always be trendy and edgy. They want their customers to walk into the stores and buy clothings and other accessories that they cannot find elsewhere. Everything about Opening Ceremony is really unique. It practices the high low merchandising model in which they don’t choose merchandises by price point, but rather by styles. Therefore, it’s common in Opening Ceremony that a $ 400 expensive top may be hanged right next to a $40 T- shirt. Their collaborations add on to their exclusive collections and the visual merchandisings and displays in their stores are the top of the industry and create a special shopping experience. It is one of the most innovative brands in the industry.

BRAND IDENTITY 12

YOUTHFUL FUN FORWARD-THINKING INNOVATIVE

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OC New York OC Los Angeles 14

OC at Ace Hotel

SCOPE

OC New York

Opening Ceremony New York was the first store opened by Carol and Humberto. It located at the intersection of Soho and Chinatown in downtown New York. The total square footage is approximately 3000 square feet.

OCNY officially opened in September 2002. OCNY has always doubled as a clubhouse for artists, designers, friends, family, and anyone who shares the OC spirit.

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OC Los Angeles

Opening Ceremony opened its Los Angeles location in April of 2007 in the former dance studio space of Hollywood icon, Charlie Chaplin. The 10,000 square foot boutique, located in West Hollywood, is the second shop operated by Opening Ceremony founders Carol Lim and Humberto Leon. Featuring a sprawling space of hallways and separate rooms, the shop’s inspiration stems from the experience of driving the L.A. freeways.

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OC At Ace Hotel

Tucked into the lobby of the Ace Hotel in Midtown New York is Opening Ceremony’s very own twist on a hotel gift shop, stocked with hand-picked travel essentials from Carol and Humberto's international adventures.

Since opening in February 2010, Opening Ceremony at Ace has become a favorite shopping destination among locals and a welcomed introduction to the OC brand for curious travelers.

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Opening Ceremony ‘s customers are aged between 22 and 35 years old. Their customer is the type of person who is passionate about fashion, loves to try new things and has his or her own personal dressing style. He/She would earn a middle to upper class incomes and most possibly engaged in creative occupations. They have sophisticated but fun aesthetics and would desire trendy and unique fashion pieces. They are the first one to try out new ideas and would always be ahead of other people on following trends.

CUSTOMER PROFILE 18

Ira - Female - 22 years old - Senior student from NYU, majoring in photography.

- A tattoo artist and work part time with an income around $2200 per month.

- She likes to travel alone with her camera, and goes to flee markets - She frequently checks OC blogs - Rents an loft apartment in Queens with her boyfriend, and two other roommates - Likes sports wear and favors different and unique graphic prints - Loves listening to electronic music

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Kris - Male - 30 years old - Graduated from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Visual Communication Design - Originally from Toronto,Canada - Stayed in Chicago after graduation, and had worked for a magazine then a graphic design company - Now has his personal studio on visual design - Income $ 100,000 per year - Loves Korean food and seafood - Favourite musician: Imagine Dragon - Has business trips to new york a lot and each time went to check the OC stores - Goes to gym a lot, and love to collect distinct eyewears - Loves sweatshirts and small accessories from Opening Ceremony 20

Sayaka - Female - 26 years old - Japanese - Born in Yokohama - Graduates from Tokyo Waseda University in Fashion Design - Fashion editress of Nylon Japan magazine - Income $ 96,000 per year - Likes to watch science fiction films - Often goes to the OC stores in Tokyo - Has bussines trip to the US several times each year and loves to check the difference between OC stores Tokyo and NYC - Fan of unique denim pieces

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COMPETITIVE MARKETPLACE ANALYSIS

SWOT ANAYLSIS

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S

W

Creativity in Products & Stores Exclusive Products Unique Business Model Visual Merchandising Collaborations Omnichannel Shopping environment

Only four stores around the world Two in NYC, one in LA and one in Tokyo.

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O Open more stores in major tourism cities like San Francisco, Miami, and Honolulu due to its traveling features.

Open more stores in cities like Boston and Chicago for its private label line and other edgy and trendy collections.

T Investor Weak Market for Luxury Good The Expansion of Competitors

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COMPETITORS 26

- New York-based luxuary

department store.

- Target customers have high income and are highly educated.

- Trendy products and selection of up and coming brands.

- Well developed e-commerce site.

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- The world’s premier luxury fashion destination.

- Speaks to a monthly audience of over 6 million via a global multi-channel ecosystem.

- Strong editorial content, from themed edits to trend guides.

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- Unique e-commerce sites - Customers can conveniently experience a wide variety of trends and products - Free shipping and returns to the US

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OTHER BOUTIQUES IN NEW YORK - Dover Street Market - Tomorrow Land - Assembely New York

Out of the physical boutiques, we want to point out Dover Street Market.

It is a London based multilevel fashion retail and concept store. They are centered on the idea of beautiful chaos.

Similar with Opening Ceremony, they focus on creative visual merchandising, and represent street and up-and-coming labels. It shares a similar aesthetic with Opening Ceremony.

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SOCIAL MEDIA

Since 2009, the opening ceremony website, OC worldwide has provided the OC community with a online multimedia forum.

OC worldwide offers a online store, blog, editorial contents, which allows customers experience OC through the digital platform.

Another part of OC social media is Instagram , facebook and snapchat. Fans can stay connected with the latest news from OC. 31

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ADVANTAGES

COLLABORATIONS

Collaborative design has been a key aspect of Opening Ceremony’s retail philosophy. Leon and Lim have worked to introduce new designers as well as collaborate with brands on designs exclusive to OC.

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MANSUR GAVRIEL

COACH

THIERRY BOUTEMY

DKNY

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

ADIDAS VANS

WINDOW DISPLAY & STORE DESIGN

Opening Ceremony believes that one of the most creative and fun aspects of running a pop-up shop is managing the visual merchandising elements of the retail environment. Visual merchandising includes window dislay, which is everything that’s in the window and is the first site that the customers are going to see, and that draws them into the store, the instore signage that directs customers around, and the merchandising displays that catch their eyes and ultimately evoke their buying desires. Also, Opening Ceremony loves to have corporations with different brands and artists to decorate their windows. Opening Ceremony had tapped Korean label JUUN.J to decorate the window of its New York store. JUUN.J’s current designs will highlight the label’s sporty approach to volume, tailoring and modern design.

For creating effective merchandising displays, Opening Ceremony also puts lots of efforts on the store deisgn. They believe that an attractive visual store display could influence customer buying behavior: the store design should attract customers, enable them to locate merchandises, keep them in the store for a long time, motivate them to make unplanned, impulsive purchase and provide them satisfied experiences when they shop in Opening Ceremony.

ADVANTAGES 36

Opening Ceremony & Juun.J

Window DISPLAY 37

STORE DESIGN 38

BUYING TRENDS 39

WOMEN’S DESIGNER COLLECTION FW 2016 is chosen as our target category. Womenswear is the main category of Opening Ceremony; it generates most of the sales of the brand, therefore, it’s critical for the brand to get the buying plan right. There are much more possibilities and opportunities in womenswear too, since there are more classifications of clothing we need to take into consideration like outerwear/jacket, knitwear, shirt and pants. There are a lot more to play with and could best reflect Opening Ceremony’s identity and image.

By choosing women’s designer’s collection, we want to deliver our customers unique and innovative garments that they cannot find elsewhere. We want our customers to stay true to themselves and never compromise to the trend. We refuse to be ordinary and boring. The collections we select to be stock in store would be playful and fun. We will also bring new lifestyle trend transform the swimwear trend into everyday lounge outfit for our customesr to consider and try out. We are willing to take risks and believe that our customer would be the same. We create trends instead of following the trends.

BUYING CATEGORY 40

TRENDS

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ANDROGYNY ANDROGYNY

CASUAL CASUAL CHIC CHIC

ACTIVE ACTIVE E E C N C E U N L F E IN U L F N I

Androgyny, which is the unisex idea that combined the masculine and feminine characteristics, Casual chic, the easy-going, random but stylistic look, and active influence are the top three trends that influenced Opening Ceremony the most. For our fall 2016 buying plan, we will keep looking into these trends but take them with a twist. We are going to find something new in the same old trend and continue to bring our customers new and inspirational ideas.

This season, the three trends mentioning above are mixing with each other to form a more lively style. The long-sleeves bomber jackets, the sweatshirts, the wide-leg pants and other interesting items enhance all three trends together. People preferring simpler and more basic style may describe them as “weird”, but we believed that’s what Opening Ceremony’s customers are looking for, thinking out of the box, wearing what other people don’t have the nerve to wear. And not all items we pick are so fashion-forward too. A jacket with statement or graphics would look good on anybody who’s looking for a clean-cut and causal style.

We create three mood boards that represent the aesthetic of our buying plan, with vibrant colors like red, yellow and pinks.

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MOODBOARD

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CURRENT BRANDS ·Acne Studios ·J.W.Anderson ·Jacquemus ·Low Classic ·Undercover

BRANDS 52

os on

c r

NEW OPPORTUNITIES ·MGSM ·Marni ·Cédric Charlier ·Vetements ·Off-White

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The new lifestyle trend we want to introduce to our customers is SWIMWEAR. Nowadays, people are wearing active wear or sleep wear inspired pieces on street. In the up-coming season, we see a transition from swimwear to daily casual wear and lounge wear. People is going to wear them not only at the beach, but also on street, layering with other clothings, for example a short and a thin jacket. We see the trend coming, and we think this is going to influence Opening Ceremony’s customers, because our customers would want to be the first to adapt a new lifestyle. They would want to be ahead of the game and they would want to be different with others. Wearing swimwear out on street would have a similar style with athleisure. It will add a casual feeing to the outfit and remind people of the sunshine of the west coast. Even though it is fall/winter season instead of spring/summer, we still think it’s necessary to have swimwear in our stores, since we have a global based customers, and a e-commerce to reach out to them. There are still places that are warm enough for people to buy swimwear. Also, fall is a great season to play with layering clothes.

Currently on Opening Ceremony’s website, there’re only 28 options of swimsuits. Our team thinks that we didn’t offer our customers enough options and there is an opportunity behind it. Therefore, taking this opportunity, we are going to update our swimwear collections, bring more interested garments into our stores.

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LIFESTYLE TREND

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POPULAR SILHOUETTE IN SWIMWAER One piece Multi-strap Bikini Cut out Bikini High neck

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POPULAR TREND IN SWIMWAER Slogen Floral Ditsy Paisley Crochet Laced-up Lace inserted Hardware

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SWIMWEAR BRANDS Solid&Striped Anna Kosturova Zimmermann Vitamin A Zulu Zephyr Mara Hoffman

Vitamin A

Solid&Striped

Mara Hoffman

COLLECTIONS WE WANT TO INTRODUCE

Solid&Striped

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SIX MONTHS BUYING PLAN

CORPORATE BUYING PLAN FALL 2016 Focus Prodcut Category : Women’s designer Collections

Plan Net Sales, Fall 2016

3996.0

Est. Net Sales, Fall 2015

3700.0

Plan % Last Year:

8.00%

Average Stock, Retail:

1625.1

Inventory Turnover:

2.46

Planned Reductions, $:

999.0

Reductions % Sales:

25.00%

Plan IMU %:

59.20%

15% 34% 25% 0% 0% IMU % = Profit + Expenses + Reductions - Cash Discounts + Alt. Costs

Net Sales + Reductions 100% 25%

` The estimated net sales for Fall 2015 is 3.7 millions dollars. We planned an 8% increase for Fall 2016 season. Opening Ceremony continues to grow these years; the market has had a good response to our merchandises; and we believe Opening Ceremony will keep doing well. We planned the increase rather conservative, the weak market on luxury good will be effecting us, but since we have a high-low merchandising model, price point is not our main focus and we do have some lower priced items, it won’t hit us as hard as other luxury brands. In the other hand, the downfall of the tourism will have a bigger impact on us, since one of our stores is located in Manhattan and has a global customer base.

For the inventory turnover, we planned it on a faster rate, because Opening Ceremony is a fashion-forward brand; we want to keep updating our inventory and bring new products to our customers. For the same reason, we planned a high reduction percentage to clear out the old inventory to have the space for the new up -and-coming trend.

CORPORATE BUYING PLAN FALL 2016 Focus Prodcut Category : Women’s designer Collections

August

September

October

November

December

January

Fall 2016

Net Sales

479.5

679.3

599.4

799.2

959.0

479.5

3996.0

% Fall

12.00%

17.00%

15.00%

20.00%

24.00%

12.00%

100.00%

Plan BOM Stock

1390.6

1698.3

1618.4

1918.1

2109.9

1390.6

1625.1

Stock / Sales Ratio

2.9

2.5

2.7

2.4

2.2

2.9

Plan EOM Stock

1698.3

1618.38

1918.1

2109.9

1390.6

1250.0

Plan Reductions

99.9

149.9

149.9

199.8

249.8

149.9

999.0

% Fall

10.00%

15.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

15.00%

100.00%

Purchases, Retail

887.1

749.3

1049.0

1190.8

489.5

488.8

4854.4

Purchases, Cost

361.9

305.7

428.0

485.8

199.7

199.4

1980.6

STORE BUYING PLAN

NEW YORK STORE LA STORE

Opening Ceremony’s store buying plan will be similar to the corporate buying plan. There are only three stores in the US and the ACE hotel store sales mostly travel related essentials and accessories which left the New York and LA stores for women’s designer collection. Therefore, the planned sales increase, reduction percentage and markup percentage stay the same with the corporate plan. Our team thinks that New York and LA stores will take up 95% of the sales in women’s designer collection, New York for 50% and LA for 45%. Since New York store is the major store, and Manhattan based customer are more edgy and trendy, we planned a faster inventory turn over rate to keep them updated and interested, while leaving LA store a similar rate with the Corporate Plan.

NEW YORK STORE BUYING PLAN FALL 2016 Focus Prodcut Category : Women’s designer Collections

Plan Net Sales, Fall 2016

1998.0

Est. Net Sales, Fall 2015

1850.0

Plan % Last Year:

8.00%

Average Stock, Retail:

726.2

Inventory Turnover:

2.75

Planned Reductions, $:

499.5

Reductions % Sales:

25.00%

Plan IMU %:

59.20%

August

September

October

November

December

January

Fall 2016

Net Sales

239.8

339.7

299.7

399.6

479.5

239.8

1998.0

% Fall

12.00%

17.00%

15.00%

20.00%

24.00%

12.00%

100.00%

Plan BOM Stock

623.4

747.3

719.3

839.2

911.1

623.4

726.2

Stock / Sales Ratio

2.6

2.2

2.4

2.1

1.9

2.6

Plan EOM Stock

747.3

719.3

839.2

911.1

623.4

620.0

Plan Reductions

50.0

74.9

74.9

99.9

124.9

74.9

499.5

% Fall

10.00%

15.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

15.00%

100.00%

Purchases, Retail

413.6

386.6

494.5

571.4

316.7

311.3

2495.1

Purchases, Cost

168.7

157. 7

201.8

233.1

129.2

127.0

1017.6

LA STORE BUYING PLAN

FALL 2016 Focus Prodcut Category : Women’s designer Collections

Plan Net Sales, Fall 2016

1798.2

Est. Net Sales, Fall 2015

1665.0

Plan % Last Year:

8.00%

Average Stock, Retail:

726.1

Inventory Turnover:

2.48

Planned Reductions, $:

499.6

Reductions % Sales:

25.00%

Plan IMU %:

59.20%

August

September

October

November

December

January

Fall 2016

Net Sales

215.8

305.7

269.7

359.6

431.6

215.8

1798.2

% Fall

12.00%

17.00%

15.00%

20.00%

24.00%

12.00%

100.00%

Plan BOM Stock

625.8

764.2

728.3

827.2

906.3

625.8

726.1

Stock / Sales Ratio

2.9

2.5

2.7

2.3

2.1

2.9

Plan EOM Stock

764.2

738.3

827.2

906.3

625.8

605.0

Plan Reductions

45.0

67.4

67.4

89.9

112.4

67.4

499.6

% Fall

10.00%

15.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

15.00%

100.00%

Purchases, Retail

399.2

337.2

436.1

528.7

263.4

262.4

2227.0

Purchases, Cost

162.9

137. 6

177.9

215.7

107.5

107.1

908.6

ASSORTMENT PLAN

FALL 2016 Focus Prodcut Category : Women’s designer Collections Planned Purchases, Retail: Classification

Total

Purchases

Outwear/Jackets

20%

970.9

Knitwear

18%

Shirts

4854.4

Vendor

Total

Purchases

Acne Studios

20%

970.9

873.8

J.W. Anderson

10%

485.4

10%

582.5

Jacquemus

8%

388.4

Skirts

12%

582.5

Proenza Schouler

18%

873.8

Pants

22%

970.9

MSGM

12%

582.5

Dress

10%

485.4

Vetements

15%

728.2

Swimwear

8%

388.4

Off-White

8%

388.

Total

100%

4854.4

Others

9%

436.9

Total

100%

4854.4

Our team constructed the assortment plan base on clothing classifications and vendors. For Classification, we planed to buy more on outwear/jackets and pants since it’s fall season, and outwear is on trend right now, there are lots of different styles associate with that. Worth mentioning, we planned 8% of the purchase on swimwear. Swimwear is the new lifestyle trend we want to introduce to our customesr, and since there aren’t many options right now in Opening Ceremony, we believe there’s a opportunity on swimwear. But with the consideration that it’s a new trend and it is fall season, we planned a rather small percentage. For the vendor, we want to buy from Acne Studios, and Proenza schouler, brands that we already have a success sales with, and continue working with the.. At the same time, we also want to add MSGM, Vetements and Off-White to our vendor list; and give Vetements a larger percentage, since it’s really on trend right now.

FINAL STATEMENT

Our team believes that this buying plan has more opportunities than risks.

Opening Ceremony is currently doing really well in the market place. It’s been noticed and acknowledged by more and more people, and medias in the industry have had good reviews on them. It is seen as one of the most innovative brands in US and people are having high expectations on Opening Ceremony, waiting to see what ‘s their next move. We believe that there’s still space for Opening Ceremony to grow. For fall 2016, we continued working with vendors/brands that sold well in our store like Acne studios, and Proenza Schouler; our customers are already familiar with them and showed their interests in them. Also we are going to introduce new brands and new lifestyle category swimwear to stimulate their interests and bring them some freshness. There are risks for trying out new possibilities, and a large mark down is written into our buying plan for that reason, since we do want to offer our customers cutting-edge merchandises and carrying more fashion-forward and innovative designers. But we don’t think it will compromise our profits because we are confident with our trend spotting and we have confidence on our customers’ abilities to adapt new ideas.

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