Other NYC sales

Any reports? I work downtown, unfortunately, but I'm pretty sure I saw these advertised in the paper....

they weren't bad. I picked up a couple of D&G shirts at Barneys and an Armani Black Label shirt at Bergdorfs. Both were marked down more than 60%.

Tangential question: who pays full retail? I really don't understand paying full retail for RTW clothes. I don't care how much money you have, unless the airplane lost your luggage and you are walking around in a loin cloth, I honestly don't understand how any clothes sell at full price.

There are people with more money than time.

Some people don't enjoy sale shopping. They get more enjoyment from retail. Also, some people like to buy something right when it comes out -- usually these are people who buy trendy clothes. And there is no doubt that shopping on sale is more difficult -- you've gotta get there right when the sale starts to get the really good stuff. Some people don't have the flexibility or economic incentive to do this.

I never put anything on sale largely for that reason. If you price fairly and sell quality, you won't need to place things on sale at the end of the season. Not that they're nice at all, but Tommy Bahama never puts anything on sale.

Not that they're nice at all, but Tommy Bahama never puts anything on sale.

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That's not exactly true.  I've been in a few different department stores over the past few weeks and I have seen Tommy Bahama marked down.

I think the difference is much of their product line is basic and remains the same from season to season.  So the "good" items, or at least the items that are consistently selling never get marked down, because stores have no need to do so.

Same with Alden shell cordovan shoes. They never go on sale, so people are willing to pay more for them. Grensons can be had at sale prices all the time. So I would not willing to pay anywhere near MSRP for them. It's interesting how the buying psychology works. We won't pay buy $600 Grensons until they are below $250, but we'd sure as hell buy Alden shell cordovans at that price.

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(tgfny @ June 29 2005,17:14) Not that they're nice at all, but Tommy Bahama never puts anything on sale.
That's not exactly true. Â I've been in a few different department stores over the past few weeks and I have seen Tommy Bahama marked down. I think the difference is much of their product line is basic and remains the same from season to season. Â So the "good" items, or at least the items that are consistently selling never get marked down, because stores have no need to do so.
I guess they allow it through the department sale avenue. Their owned stores don't (or at least I read that, those stores scare me.)

I never put anything on sale largely for that reason. If you price fairly and sell quality, you won't need to place things on sale at the end of the season. Not that they're nice at all, but Tommy Bahama never puts anything on sale.

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I have 2 Tommy Bahama Hawaiian print silk shirts purchased from Bloomingdales at over 50% off.

I have 2 Tommy Bahama Hawaiian print silk shirts purchased from Bloomingdales at over 50% off.

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That markdown money is coming from Bloomingdale's, not TB. A retailer can at any point markdown it's merchandise, however, if the wholesaler disagrees with the markdown, they will not put any money towards it, or they will just take returns on the merch.

A smaller company like TB would benefit more from just taking returns.

There are two issues: one, the type of contract between the retailer and the supplier - buy-back, revenue sharing; Firms can set ceiling price on their products ( has to do with bargaining power of the retailer and the supplier).
Second, retailers try to "educate" their customers not to wait for sales. Grenson's are probably in what people call a spiral-down effect.

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(redtree00 @ June 29 2005,19:07) I have 2 Tommy Bahama Hawaiian print silk shirts purchased from Bloomingdales at over 50% off.
That markdown money is coming from Bloomingdale's, not TB. A retailer can at any point markdown it's merchandise, however, if the wholesaler disagrees with the markdown, they will not put any money towards it, or they will just take returns on the merch. Â Â A smaller company like TB would benefit more from just taking returns.
Maybe and maybe not. I bet TB runs their department store business differently then their own stores. Wholesaler's today expect that department stores are going to have to take MD's at a certain point to move through seasonal product, particularly at the end of each season. Also, I am curious why you think TB would benefit more from taking returns. What are they going to do with the inventory once they get it back? In my experience it is more profitable in the long run for a wholesaler to help the stores take a markdown and sell through the merch themselves. Granted, the companies I have worked for are bigger than TB, but TB does approx $300 million a year, so they are not exactly small.

Buster Firms can set ceiling price on their products ( has to do with bargaining power of the retailer and the supplier).

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Again this is sort of true. As a supplier you can suggest retail prices. Once the stores have the goods they can price them however they see fit. Now granted, the wholesaler doesn't have to support companies that sell their product at a lower price, nor do they have to continue selling them, but they can not set prices. Most stores do follow those suggested retail prices though.

Most stores do follow those suggested retail prices though

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Actually, there is a contract that is called "fixed- price contract", and a retailer can be excluded from trade if he fails to abide to it. I am not sure in which markets it is implemented, but I know it is.

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Most stores do follow those suggested retail prices though
Actually, there is a contract that is called "fixed- price contract", and a retailer can be excluded from trade if he fails to abide to it. I am not sure in which markets it is implemented, but I know it is.
In 12 years of working for retailers and wholesalers I have never heard of this. I'd be curious if someone could shed more light on it. My experience has been that you have to be very careful how you discuss pricing. I have even seen letters from the lawyers of retailers admonishing my co-workers for telling their accounts what price they should retail something for. It is a delicate situation where you have to be careful of your wording. From the Federal Trade commision website

Resale price maintenance agreements. Vertical price-fixing -- an agreement between a supplier and a dealer that fixes the minimum resale price of a product -- is a clear-cut antitrust violation. It also is illegal for a manufacturer and retailer to agree on a minimum resale price. The antitrust laws, however, give a manufacturer latitude to adopt a policy regarding a desired level of resale prices and to deal only with retailers who independently decide to follow that policy. A manufacturer also is permitted to stop dealing with a retailer who breaches the manufacturer's resale price maintenance policy. That is, the manufacturer can adopt the policy on a "take it or leave it" basis. Agreements on maximum resale prices are evaluated under the "rule of reason" standard because in some situations these agreements can benefit consumers by preventing dealers from charging a non-competitive price

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