More on trunk shows
Further to yesterday’s post, retail blogger Bish Shops alerted me to the following news on trunk shows:
NEIMAN MARCUS PLANS SHOWS TO ENTICE TOP CUSTOMERS TO BUY NEW LINES AT FULL PRICE
Upscale retailer Neiman Marcus Group Inc is to set up special trunk shows and meetings with designers for its best customers in a bid to get them to buy new fashion items at full price.
Engaging Neiman’s core, wealthy customers are the retailer’s “best chance of turning the tide” of deep discounts that is drowning company profits, chief executive Burt Tansky said yesterday.
“The challenge that we have is to get the customer back into the store to buy at full price, because none of us can continue to sell at promotional prices and deep discounts,” Tansky told the National Retail Federation annual convention in New York. “First of all, there’s no advantage to it. Second of all it leads to hell … and it’s got to stop.”
Privately-held Neiman Marcus is testing several marketing ideas across its 40 signature stores, including bringing in groups of 20-30 shoppers for special events, Tansky said.
“We have a number of things going on and already we are starting to understand that our customer, the affluent customer, will come into the stores if we create the right environment,” he said. He noted that some clients said they felt uncomfortable “shopping ostentatiously… Our challenge is to break through that mindset”.
[Source: WGSN]
