Professional Documents
Culture Documents
FALL 2016
WHO, WHAT, WAR?
In a world in which people can u an item antime, anwhere, and intantl hare their opinion aout it,
taing on top of trend and cutomer demand keep thee trategit in the retail clothing indutr u.
rin O’Donnell
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Photo: Chri Langer
rian Lnch ’79, preident and CO of Jutice, a pecialt retailer of oung girl apparel and lifetle product
In hi ⊌rt jo after graduating from aon in 1979, rian Lnch worked for a clothing tore known a The Lodge at Harvard quare.
ach time Lnch made a ale, he would pull the tag o⊌ the garment. The tag then were collected, oxed up, and ent to an o⊌-ite
compan that calculated uch tat a ell-through rate. Nearl a week later, the reult would arrive in the mail.
“The timing of the information wa frighteningl low,” recall Lnch, a 36-ear veteran of clothing retailer, including Gap and Ann
Inc. Currentl, he’ preident and CO of Jutice, a pecialt retailer of oung girl (age 7 to 14) apparel and lifetle product with
more than 950 tore in the United tate and 17 countrie. “Toda, everthing’ intantaneou and complete and comprehenive.”
Lnch receive interim da reading with uch information a foot tra⊌c, the numer of item in each purchae, the cot of each
purchae, and the margin on each product.
“I know where we are during the da in all 950 tore,” he a. “It’ jut a whole di⊌erent allgame.”
It’ an Omnichannel World
Monumental hift have een going on in retail, a aon alumni working in the indutr. Changing the wa retailer approach
uine are the exploion of digital commerce and the emergence of the omnichannel model, the latter of which acknowledge that
cutomer are jut a likel to hop on a laptop in their kitchen or from their phone a the are to drive to a tore on a aturda
afternoon.
“Omnichannel ha een revolutionar for the indutr,” a Jutin MacFarlane ’94, chief trateg, analtic, and innovation o⊌cer for
Mac’, the iconic department tore. For more than a decade, MacFarlane wa a management conultant for apparel manufacturer
and retailer, and then he worked for Ann Inc. efore joining Mac’. “The indutr had operated in a ver linear wa for a hundred
ear, and almot overnight we changed all that.”
Gone are the da when cutomer ervice meant impl ta⊌ng the tore with reponive ale aociate or hiring friendl, e⊌cient
people to anwer phone at a catalog call center. Thoe element are till important, a alumni, ut retailer have had to revamp their
uinee igni⊌cantl to accommodate digital device.
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At Jutice, Lnch and hi team are focued on ⊌nding new wa to lend the digital and tore experience to make them eamle. For
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example, everthing old in Jutice tore i availale online, ut the retailer alo o⊌er additional inventor a we-onl product. o
during the ack-to-chool hopping eaon thi pat ummer, Jutice rolled out an orderin- tore option. ale aociate and tore
during the ack-to-chool hopping eaon thi pat ummer, Jutice rolled out an orderin- tore option. ale aociate and tore
ign alert cutomer to the online product, viewale on their phone or an in-tore computer. Cutomer then can pa for good at
the tore regiter and arrange for them to e hipped home. “In the omni world, if ou go into the tore, ou hould e ale to purchae
an product that’ online,” Lnch a.
Man omnichannel retailer alo provide the option of ordering product online and picking them up at a near tore, note ileen
Rizzo, MA’97, enior vice preident for omnichannel proce and tem at Mac’. Thi option appeal to cutomer who want to
avoid hipping cot, prefer to pa cah, like to tr on clothe efore the u, or jut want their item fat. “There’ the immediac of
it,” Rizzo a. “If I’m rowing online at 9 a.m. and I want to wear it tonight, that’ reall convenient.”
A 20-ear retail veteran, Rizzo ha worked a an indutr conultant, a well a for Joan & David (a now-defunct hoe compan) and
J.C. Penne. he rememer when Amazon jump-tarted e-commerce in the 1990. Retail companie wanted in on the game ut uilt
their dot-com uinee a eparate entitie, Rizzo a. Given that in-tore and online cutomer were often the ame people, that
eparation ecame prolematic. Mac’ hifted it trateg around 2010, devoting reource to a lended, omnichannel approach.
Toda, while Mac’ ha announced a recent pate of tore cloing, it i among the top ⊌ve online retailer in the countr, according to
a 2016 Women’ Wear Dail ranking.
The Cot of Remaining Competitive
The tranition to omnichannel ha een expenive, alumni note, requiring major invetment in infratructure, uch a uilding
facilitie to handle ditriution. The ervice that cutomer have come to expect, including fat and low-cot (or free) hipping,
increae cot for the retailer a well. “We’re contantl plaing with and teting out the right level of inventor and where ou put
that inventor to e cloet to the cutomer o we can reduce the cot of getting it to them,” Rizzo a.
Retailer alo need to ta ahead of the o-called “digital native,” the ounger generation who grew up uing digital device and alk
at ugg app or nonintuitive navigation. Moile i “a ig focu of what we’re doing toda,” a Lnch of Jutice. “The content mut e
native to thee device, o that the creenhot look good, it ⊌t on the phone people have, and i eail readale and acceile.”
Chritopher Dia, MA’11, director of gloal merchandiing for women at Gap, a Gap cutomer in China didn’t reall ue dektop
computer for e-commerce, ut the recentl went “from 0 to 60” in adopting moile phone for making purchae. He note that
retailer are working to enure cutomer get what the need in China and elewhere, even when the’re uing a mall, hand-held
creen.
Garnet Hill, a mainl mail-order retailer that pecialize in women and kid fahion, a well a home product, receive roughl 86
percent of it ale tranaction via the we and moile device, a andi ummeron, MA’11, enior vice preident and general
merchandie manager. The other 14 percent of ale come from phone order and retail location, including Garnet Hill’ outlet at it
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corporate headquarter in Franconia, New Hamphire. ut the driver ehind mot of the compan’ ale, even thoe coming from the
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we, i it deluxe catalog, which feature Zen till-life cover and lavih photograph. “We want to create omething eautiful that the
cutomer can read like a ook,” ummeron a. o the compan mail
cutomer can read like a ook,” ummeron a. o the compan mail
an etimated 40 million catalog to cutomer each ear, a igni⊌cant
invetment.
ven in the digital age, catalog remain an important tool for man
companie, ummeron a. An 18-ear veteran of L.L.ean, where he
led the women, kid, and home diviion, ummeron moved to the
undance Catalog in Utah efore he wa hired Garnet Hill nearl two
ear ago. he note that in the earl 2000, multiple retailer, including
Land’ nd, made the trategic deciion to cale ack their catalog to cut
cot, auming cutomer would ⊌nd the compan online. ut ale
dropped igni⊌cantl, forcing them to ring ack the catalog.
The Power of Analtic
Figuring out who cutomer are and what the prefer, uch a a fondne
for peruing catalog, alwa ha een pivotal to making mart trategic
Photo: Chri Langer
rian Lnch of Jutice deciion. Toda, however, alumni a the exploion of data availale
aout cutomer and their purchaing hait ha tranformed trateg.
Retailer know not onl what clothe cutomer u, ut alo uch
peci⊌c a the rand the prefer, if the’re witching loalt to other rand, and which price point and markdown prompt them to
u. “Thi ha een a ig change over the lat 10 ear,” a MacFarlane of Mac’. Hi team include doctorate-level data cientit
who analze the ream of information now availale aout cutomer and their ehavior. “Thee cientit are reall helping u
undertand the power of our data and are unearthing pocket of competitive advantage.”
ummeron a that Garnet Hill ha imilarl detailed data aout it cutomer. Retailer alo can garner cutomer information
through loalt program and private lael credit card, including how man time a ear a cutomer make a purchae. ummeron
o⊌er the example of kid clothing and ackpack, product he worked with in the pat at L.L.ean and now at Garnet Hill. “We have
a huge ackpack uine at ack-to-chool time,” he a. “Man of thee uer purchae onl the ackpack, and nothing ele.”
Adding thoe cutomer to the catalog mailing lit didn’t pa o⊌. “Once we were ale to analze thi data and target more valuale
uer, our mailing ecame much more productive,” he a.
Rizzo of Mac’ add that man retailer upplement in-houe data with tat from The NPD Group, a market reearch ⊌rm that
collect information aout other companie’ cutomer tranaction. “It’ a wa of knowing what cutomer are doing in our
competitive et o ou can identif the opportunitie to improve our uine, and where ou’re getting eat our competition,”
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he a.
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Retailer alo are comining analtic with
Retailer alo are comining analtic with
new technologie, hoping the can tempt
cutomer to make purchae. Rizzo and her
team currentl are working to place radio-
frequenc eacon in tore to can for
hopper with the Mac’ app on their
phone. The compan then can identif the
hopper and know her hitor, including the
fact that he wa looking at a particular
rand of hoe on it app the previou week.
“a he jut walked into the tore and
happen to e in the hoe department,”
Rizzo a. “I’m going to end her phone a 20
percent-o⊌ coupon good for the next hour
on a pair of hoe.” Reearch how that
millennial cutomer repond epeciall
well to thi tpe of peronalization, he a.
While the advantage of analzing trend in
Photo: Winnie Au
cutomer data are clear, Dia of Gap elieve
ileen Rizzo, MA’97, enior vice preident for omnichannel proce and tem at Mac’
it’ important not to e chained to the
numer and to upplement data with
information gathered through imple oervation. Dia, whoe experience include tint with Talot and Puma, a he ha taken
hi team on ⊌eld trip to high chool at dimial time to ee what kid are wearing, and viited competitor’ tore to ee how their
aortment compared to hi compan’. Thi kind of information gathering can inpire urprie that cutomer love, he a. “If it
wa onl analtical, then it would e automated in a ene,” Dia a. “You can’t jut look at numer.”
MacFarlane agree. Analtic provide valuale inight, ut that data mut e comined with knowledge that come from
experienced, avv retail uer. “It ha to e lended,” a MacFarlane, “with merchant working together with the data cientit.”
What Cutomer Want
The central quetion that trategit ue all thi data to anwer remain: What doe the cutomer want? Lnch, who joined Jutice a
little more than a ear ago, note that the compan ha een in the midt of a turnaround. Part of that proce wa learning that the
pricing tructure wa not working for it cutomer. Lnch’ team conducted extenive market reearch, including urve and focu
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group, and found that mother, who tpicall get the ⊌nal a in how much mone will e pent, were turned o⊌ Jutice’ price.
“We had a lot of complicated promotion,” a Lnch, “and our initial ticket placed u a eing the mot expenive retailer in the
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categor.”
Ultimatel, the compan arrived at new, more competitive price, identifing ome core product a “tle u” that never go on ale,
Ultimatel, the compan arrived at new, more competitive price, identifing ome core product a “tle u” that never go on ale,
while placing other item on ale periodicall, ut le often than efore. “All of it ha worked ver, ver well,” Lnch a.
Mac’ alo i implifing it price tructure, rethinking it approach to markdown and coupon. “Cutomer tell u that our pricing
can e confuing,” MacFarlane a. “We’re working to alleviate that pain point for ure.”
At the ame time, trend ugget that hopper are hungr for deal, Rizzo a. he point to the increaing popularit of o⊌-price
retailer—T.J. Maxx, Marhall, urlington Coat Factor—where garment are a eaon or two ehind and ell for lower price. In
repone, Mac’ launched acktage, it own o⊌-price tore.
The emergence of “fat fahion,” made popular retailer uch a Zara and H&M, which produce new product wiftl and cheapl,
alo put preure on retailer to repond to trend more quickl. ocial media, epeciall viual app uch a Intagram, make it ea
for cutomer to ee what people are wearing around the world and immediatel eek imilar tle. Mot retailer tpicall need up to
nine month to get product from deign to the cutomer’ cart, Rizzo note, ut panih compan Zara can get new deign to tore
in a matter of week, in part deigning, manufacturing, and ditriuting from facilitie located cloe together in urope.
To compete with thi fat pace, other retailer are developing tool that treamline the proce of planning, deigning, and
manufacturing a well. “Fat fahion ha forced u, in a good wa, to ecome more agile from a uppl chain tandpoint o that we can
provide the frehne and fahionale product that people are expecting,” MacFarlane a. New item in Inc. and tle&Co., two of
Mac’ private rand, now reach tore in a little a four month, Rizzo add.
oon after ummeron arrived at Garnet Hill, the compan introduced an integrated calendar tool that allow ta⊌ memer to ee
how their deciion will impact other acro the organization. For example, ecaue the compan o⊌er certain core product ever
eaon, it can work with vendor to tart the manufacturing proce earl, taking advantage of factor downtime to get etter pricing
and, thu, wider margin. “If we’re ehind in our deign ccle and haven’t olidi⊌ed our color and ilhouette and mi our deadline
to take advantage of our production ccle, we negativel impact our margin,” he a.
Thi tem alo help enure that the compan tock what cutomer want. The tool i ued in weekl meeting, when
merchandiing, inventor, and uppl chain team meet to review uine of the previou week and compare it with ale forecat.
“We dicu high-uppl and low-uppl inventor and area of rik, along with uggeted trategie to mitigate impact acro the
organization,” ummeron explain.
Inpiring Loalt
The ke to taing relevant in thi ever-evolving environment, a alumni, i producing product that people can’t get elewhere,
maintaining direct relationhip with cutomer, and inpiring loalt. “It till ccle ack to the cutomer and what unreplicale
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experience, ervice, or product ou can o⊌er that eparate ou from our competitor and make ou the go-to place,” Lnch a.
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ummeron admire Uran Out⊌tter, a retailer that he elieve ha managed to ta relevant even though it cutomer age out of
ummeron admire Uran Out⊌tter, a retailer that he elieve ha managed to ta relevant even though it cutomer age out of
it demographic after jut a few ear. Uran Out⊌tter acquired the majorit of The Vetri Famil group of retaurant, including the
chain Pizzeria Vetri, in 2015. Plan for the acquiition include opening Pizzeria Vetri location next to Uran Out⊌tter and iter
tore Anthropologie and Free People in mall, creating what the indutr du rand cluter. “rand are eeking wa to
di⊌erentiate themelve through thee experience,” ummeron a.
imilarl, Garnet Hill ha launched everal
venture to create new experience for it
cutomer. Thi pat ummer the compan
introduced a moile outique, a repurpoed
hipping container out⊌tted with a
miniature retail pace o⊌ering clothing and
home good. The outique, which can e
moved to di⊌erent location, i deigned to
ring the catalog and lifetle component
of the rand to life, ummeron a. “Thi
i a new idea that no one ele i doing,” he
a, “and we were ale to create ome uzz
in traditional and ocial media.” The
container outique alo i helping the
compan tet the poiilit of opening
retail tore in variou location.
Garnet Hill alread opened a tore in
Photo: Tom Kate
ridgehampton, New York, two ummer andi ummeron, MA’11, enior vice preident and general merchandie manager, Garnet Hill
ago. Although it ha long run an outlet at it
corporate headquarter, thi tpe of tore
wa a ⊌rt for the catalog compan. “Our original concept for the New York tore wa a pop-up in a rented pace in ridgehampton,”
ummeron a. The goal wa to ell product and run event that would oot rand awarene. ut a word aout the tore pread
and cutomer excitement grew, the compan opted to open a more permanent pace. “The repone to the tore wa phenomenal and
outpaced expectation,” he a.
To e competitive, clothing retailer will keep tring new wa to connect with their cutomer, a alumni, emphaizing that the
ucce of digital commerce doen’t pell the end of the tore. Rather, the future of retail i aout integrating all the tool at a rand’
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dipoal. “Retailer are prett hard on themelve, ut the tranformation of omnichannel over the pat ⊌ve ear ha een incredile
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throughout the indutr,” MacFarlane note. “We ometime forget we’ve onl een doing thi for four or ⊌ve ear, and the evolution
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of the integration of phical and digital i onl in the ⊌rt inning.”
rin O’Donnell i a freelance writer in Milwaukee.
rin O’Donnell i a freelance writer in Milwaukee.
TAGGD POTD IN
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