target audiences for retail stores

Retailers make money by attracting specific customers to their stores. I used to think that the target audience was based on age, income, and education. However after reading and learning more about the target audience I have realized that it is more than that. After taking the survey on VALS, it showed that I was an experiencer therefore I shop based on self expression and social aspects. Characteristics of the consumer help determine the target audience as well. If a store is selling fashionable, yet cheap clothes like forever21 they are going to appeal more towards girls aged between 15 and 22. This target audience is normally looking for an outfit to go out with friends in or an outfit to wear to school. Whereas a retailer that sells button down shirts and suits is more appealing to an older audience because they need clothes for work and to look professional. Dick's sporting goods appeals to athletic people. If a person needs shoes for soccer or a work out outfit they head to Dick's. They have a wider range of target audience. Depending on what the consumer is shopping for and their income is a huge factor in target audiences.

About Express

As I searched throughout the Express web sight the first thing I noticed was a quote by Michael Weiss, the president and chief executive officer of Express. This quote stood out to me because it defines why I enjoy Express so much. Michael Weiss stated "Express is not about a single point in time, but rather a spirit, energy, and a belief that we can and will be the best retail fashion brand in the world". Express started in 1980 as an eight-store experimental division called Limited Express for what is now Limited Brands. The brand went from zero to a billion dollars in sales in ten years. Express started as an experiment. It was developed after another very successful retailer. In 2001, the Structure division of Limited Brands was folded into Express to create the powerful, dual gender brand that exists today. In July 2007 Express became an independent, privately held company. One designer for express states that they find inspiration and trends from all over the world and then interpret those trends into something that consumers in the United States will buy. Today Express has over 550 stores nationwide and an online store. Not only does Express create sexy, sophisticated, must have trends for work, the weekend, or going out they also have a men's portion that has become successful. Express is in the process of expanding Express in other countries and getting a store in Hawaii. I am excited to see the positive changes Express will make in the near future.

RCS261: Favorite retailer

Working in retailing has helped me when shopping at other stores. Through my years I have shopped at many stores. However my favorite would have to be Express. Express has a variety of selections from jeans, to cocktail dresses, to fun and flirty shirts. My mom always taught me to shop at places where the majority of the people my age would not shop at. So the majority of people my age here on campus shop at forever 21 and there is not much variety so a lot of people are going to have the same outfit as you, this is what I try to avoid. That is why Express is one of my favorite retailers because not a lot of people my age shop there. Express also is made to fit a women's body with the full on curves which I have which fits me well. Although Express is more pricey it is still reasonable. The clothes fit well and are made well which is a key factor is retailing. Another thing I like about Express is that it is always up to date with the key fashions and goes beyond by creating new trends. Every time I wear Express I always feel like the leader rather than the follower of fashion. It makes me feel better about myself and I feel that is how clothes should make you feel. That is why Express is my favorite retailer.

Housing crisis affected home fashion retail

With the economy in a recession on the way to a depression everything in
the economy has come to a hault. Consumers are not willing to buy as much as
they did in the past because of the tight money issues. Not only does this
effect the clothing aspect but the home fashion retail. Right now we are in a
housing crisis. Houses are not being sold or bought due to sticky financial
issues arrising. Without new houses people do not need to decorate therefore the
home fashion retail is plummeting. I think that the home fashion is in much more
danger than clothing because even with the recession people need clothes to
wear, however people can hold off on decorating their houses. This is not good
for the home fashion retail. Another reason why I feel the home fashion retail
is plummeting is because home fashion trends change every ten years, where as in
clothing there is a seasonal based trend. This could be another reason why the
home fashion retail segment is losing money as well. I am not looking forward to the
future and to see where the economy will lead the fashion industries.

The Challenges of apparel retail

With the economic recession everything in our economy has paused. I know from experience working at Banana Republic in Charlotte for the past year that a year ago sales were stable and we met our goals each month with banana cards and the merchandise sale was above average. However when I went back a few weeks ago to work they had to let people go and we had not made our monthly goals since I had left. I know that its not only Banana Republic that is suffering from this economic recession. That is one challenge I see of apparel retail. Another one that I have noticed from working in the apparel retail business is that from the end of January to about March there are no customers. During this time I was not scheduled to work which put a damper on my income. I know others in the industry were also tight on cash because of the decline in business. The apparel retail industry will never go out of business but it is constantly fluctuating. These challenges that I mentioned are from my history working at Banana Republic and the things I have noticed throughout my year as an employer there.

sweatshops

The main question that many fashion industries ponder are sweatshops. They are said to be bad and the United States somewhat tries to expose these sweatshops. However on the other hand sweatshops save companies millions of dollars each year by shipping fabrics elsewhere to be sewn and made for the consumer here in the United States. As a merchandising major my opinion would be do whatever to save money especially with the economy right now. Yet in order to write this blog I wanted to learn a little more so I browsed through YouTube to find an actual showing of a sweatshop and how unfair it is for other countries to make far less than they should. Some of the conditions as well are overwhelming. I also remember in high school in my fashion merchandising class I was showed a video of an undercover sweatshop in China and some of the graphics on this video have stuck in my mind. The conditions in a sweatshop are awful. So what is a merchandiser supposed to do in this situation. I think this is why there still are so many sweatshops out there. A recession is on a rise and the United States can not afford to spend any more money. I wish there was some way they could meet in the middle. Maybe by making sweatshops not as harsh and paying more but not as much as we would pay in the United States. I think everyone in the fashion industry needs to work together to eliminate sweatshops and try to keep the prices down as well.

art vs. utility

Everyday we wear clothes and there are always a few people that stand out and make their clothing choices into an art form. When deciphering between fashion as an art or utility it really cannot be determined. As the designer fashion is art. Look at the couture lines, that is art. However most when designers design they sketch which is art and when creating a new piece of clothing that is art. Yet once it gets to the consumer it is wearable. The consumer can then decide if they are going to make it more artsy by adding their own style to it and making it stand out from the rest of the crowd. I consider that art as well. Fashion is art and utility from the beginning of the process to the end one cannot pick out if it is one or the other.