New Contest - Page 9

Who said women want discounts? Most of my female friends (18-22 at least) don't give a damn about discounts, they want to feel like they are hot shit and getting something nobody else has / would want if they saw them with it. I don't think discounts are necessarily the answer, I'd worry about making the store a cool, desirable and exclusive destination. EDIT: But if they don't want to leave the city to come there, that's a definite issue. Satellite temporary women's only boutique to show them what you've got and push traffic out to you? Not sure

^ that's really a lot of the issue. You can find 7 jeans/rock and republic/hudsons as well as other name brand clothing for women at discount retailers.

You're not going to find men's clothing such as Engineered Garments, Rag and Bone, Nice Collective, Wings and Horns, in such places.

the girls i know that throw down mucho dinero don't care about niche and hard to get shit. they wanna wear the trendy stuff (like R&R, etc.) that they can show off in. they shop at sak's and neiman's and diesel so they can be seen doing it. the girls i know that don't throw down mucho dinero probably shop wherever they get shit the cheapest, which is probably cheaper than a boutique shop can do. the only smaller boutiques that do well here are in the trendiest parts of the city and are few and far between. girls are weird about this shit. unless you can create some sort of craze for certain items or looks, you may need to just focus more on men's stuff.

I think Mauro's biggest problem is that he doesn't have a market for the women's clothes.

Getting some publicity on the west coast might be a good bet, because it could just be your location. What would happen if your women's sale continue to suck?

Mauro, have you given any consideration to dropping women's clothing completely? Is that a line that can't be crossed for your business model?

I just don't know any women who buy expensive stuff, aside from shoes - the way of the world seems to be that they can find interesting/attractive clothing cheaper than men. J. Crew/White House Black Market/etc. is considered high-end for them, and I'm talking 20-35-year olds, some in college, some bartenders, some professionals.

And the gold diggers who will drop big coin that I'm acquainted with are more concerned about brand recognition to show off in the club than quality and look.

+1

have a promotion day where girls come in and try to make the best/most stylish outfit out all the clothes you have or maybe with one piece that you choose (like most creative way to wear it contest) and you could either take pictures or have a runway show where people can come and judge it (crowd applause or something) and winner gets to keep the outfit or something else cool that you might think of.

this has probably already been said somewhere in there, but dressing others in your clothes works, but I don't think it would work very quickly. My dad has taught marketing for 30 some years, so I can ask him for a couple tips when I see him

I agree, most girls buy based on trends and what look/brand is hot at the moment. Most girls don't care for craftmanship or quality but assume it based on brand and are wiling to pay obscene amounts of money for shit products. For example Australian women's label Sass & Bide, the denim is absolutely shit as is the construction and yet the prices are phenomenally high for what they are...I wouldn't pay $30 for them...and yet girls lap it up because Kate Moss wore them years ago. It's superficial but that's how things work.

Because of that brand recognition assumption I mentioned earlier, women are less likely to buy niche brands because the brands' 'social worth' is not yet proven. Just like it's no fun talking to people about your favourite bands if they've never heard of them, it's no fun talking about your favourite clothing brand(s) if none of your friends know of them.

It's a shame that most of your niche labels don't get the attention/sales it deserves and your well-known labels are also sold everywhere else...

It seems like girls definitely need back pocket stitching, so take, for example, Nudies, (or any other with back pocket stitching), and focus on those. Talk all around about how great nudies are, in the store talk really loudly to your salespeople so that everyone can hear. Then, find some celebrities, or make up some celebrities who you saw wearing them.

advertising on forums where women generally talk about fashion, or on womens fashion websites?

Sometimes in marketing its not the message that doesn't come across. It may need a tweak with the messenger. It may go along way to enlist some people that interact with lots of women on a daily basis as well as being trusted and having built a relationship with them over the years. i.e. Hair stylists. you could offer a discount to the salon employees for each referral or just offer them discounts for shopping there and let word of mouth work its own magic. Also, for women seeing a garment on their body, how it falls is huge. It might be part of the reason for your lack of online sales. Perhaps a greater emphasis on your accessories, hand bags, wallets, shoes etc.. good luck hope this was of some use.