BA(Hons) Fashion Merchandise Management€¦ · tailoring pieces, coats and leather jackets (see Appendices Figure 4). Prices are slightly cheaper than mainline. Branding The sub

Charlotte Holland 2FMM 504 1

BA(Hons) Fashion Merchandise Management

Charlotte Holland


Contents Page


Introduction

Figure 1 1971 Campaign Shot

Reiss Background

Reiss originally started in 1971, selling men’s suits. Traditionally customers might buy a

Reiss suit for work or a dress for an occasion, but not necessarily for relaxing at the weekend.

With today’s current climate and shoppers looking for lower price points, Reiss’s casual offer

over performed in the business.

The female population profile is ageing but women are maintaining a younger mindset,

making fashion and design more important than ever. UK Womenswear Retailers 2009 –

Verdict.p2. With this in mind Reiss launched a younger, lower- priced sub- brand this

Autumn/Winter 09 to widen its customer base. % of range for AW09


Andy Rogers Reiss Brand Director stated that “Not enough people know about us and know

how good the prices are.” The new sub-brand is called ‘1971’, this allows Reiss to reference

people, music, culture and world events of 1971 to give the brand back a story that is

appropriate to a denim collection (see Appendices Figure 1).

Brand Values

The Reiss denim range provides an opportunity to exaggerate certain brand values. These

values are shown below.

Iconic Sexy Confident Modern

Design led Globally relevant Accessible luxury

Aspiring

Reiss denim should be the most overtly sexy part of the brand, it’s a chance for Reiss to have

fun with its brand values and excite customers with a distinctly new offering (see Appendices

Figure 2).

Positioning

In referencing 1971 it is important not to be retro or ironic but to be inspired by the best

elements of that era. Think Rolling Stones brown sugar – rather than glam rock.

The distinct and separate brand positioning allows Reiss to communicate a slightly edgier

message whilst retailing the premium status that Reiss has (see Appendices Figure 3).

Product

The AW09 collection is denim-led but still retains strong Reiss handwriting. The new label

is an exciting cool, edgier range with 1971 branding and detailing in the latest cuts and


finishes. Sitting alongside the denim features rock-inspired T-shirts, denim mini skirts, sharp

tailoring pieces, coats and leather jackets (see Appendices Figure 4). Prices are slightly

cheaper than mainline.

Branding

The sub brand has its own 1971 labels and tickets to clearly define the product from mainline,

as shown below. The collection will be displayed separately for launch (see Appendices

Figure 5).

Figure 2 1971 Branding

Research Question and Objectives

With the new launch it is important that the range is tracked, in terms of trading –

sales/units/cash/cover, in order to analyse and move forward with this range this research is

crucial. This will benefit the company as this report will provide in depth research for the

trading of the new range. Including reliable factual information which could spot missed

potential and influence the planning for next season. This leads to the question.


‘Has 1971 been successful in capturing the right customer and marketing position in today’s

economic climate and how can 1971 be maximised next season through sufficient profiling

and grading for each individual store?’

The research question being examined will be defined and accomplished using the following

objectives;

1. To understand the customer of the new sub-brand and how this has been affected by

the economic climate.

2. To investigate the new market that 1971 sits in and new competitors Reiss faces.

3. To evaluate the performance of the new 1971 denim styles and determine a plausible

offer for AW10.

4. To review store performance for AW09 and set up a new store grading system for the

1971 collection.

Methodology

The research for this project will be conducted within Reiss and with employees and

customers. By collecting data internally and externally this will increase reliability and

determine two different perspectives. The staff and customer will be from different stores

around the UK in order to increase validity and generalisability. This will also ensure a true

representation of the customer profile is captured. To minimise threat to reliability and to

ensure the existing and new customer is included, it will be ensured that factors such as age

of the participants are balanced. The research methods will be as followed.

1. Complete thorough analysis of literature on the marketing position in the economic

climate.


2. In order to pursue the first objective, a questionnaire will be developed in order to gain

perceptions of the 1971 brand and the customer. The questionnaire will be external to Reiss

customers - old and new. These questionnaires will gather knowledge of the 1971 customer

demographics, attitudes, spending power, personality, and lifestyle.

3. Interviews will be carried out internally with area managers and stores, in order to

understand the changing customer they may have noticed in store. The interview will

determine how they feel the reaction of 1971 has been in their stores and if it works. This

will back up objective 4 as the interviews will focus on stores that have over/underperformed.

The interviews will be face to face where possible, with a sufficient count across the

spectrum of stores to provide appropriate representation.

These methods have been selected as they are most relevant for this project and will provide

useful data in order to fulfil the objectives. All methods will be conducted in a way that will

optimise validity and increase reliability.


Customer

1971 Window Display Barrett Street


Customer Profile

As stated by Andy Rogers “it was not our intention to go younger. It was our intention to

make the pieces more youthful but the collection is relevant for everyone.” The new

collection has driven the brand further and catered for a wider audience, with a more casual

element. This will not only appeal to new customers who primarily buy casual clothing, but

also to existing customers enabling them to buy a higher proportion of their clothing from the

retailer as a result of its stretched offer.

Women are maintaining a younger outlook on life for longer. Social trends such as women

deferring childbirth are making the 25-34 age sector more attractive to retailers. Women are

getting further in their careers before having children, achieving higher disposable incomes

and are more able to indulge. – UK Womenswear Retailers 2009 – Verdict.p4.


History of Department Mixes

Dept Dept Desc Lyr Ytd

Sales Tyr Ytd Sales

£ Var Lyr

Var Lyr %

Lyr Ytd Core Sales

Tyr. Ytd Core Sales

Core Var Lyr £

Core Var Lyr

%

Core Contributio

n

Sell Thru %

16 FORMAL JACKETS £13,272. £33,444. £20,172. 152. % £9,779. £19,055. £9,276. 95. % 6. % 2. %

17 L LEATHERS £1,538. £8,191. £6,653. 433. % £1,321. £6,235. £4,914. 372. % 3. % 2. %

18 L CASUAL JACKETS £20,787. £33,064. £12,277. 59. % £11,720. £22,130. £10,410. 89. % 7. % 2. %

25 L FORMAL TROUSERS £19,318. £24,540. £5,222. 27. % £10,060. £8,818. -£1,242. -12. % -1. % 1. %

26 L CASUAL TROUSERS £6,958. £9,838. £2,880. 41. % £3,888. £5,160. £1,272. 33. % 1. % 2. %

27 FORMAL SKIRTS £7,819. £10,094. £2,275. 29. % £4,981. £4,883. -£98. -2. % 0. % 1. %

28 CASUAL SKIRTS £20,857. £23,733. £2,877. 14. % £11,128. £14,312. £3,184. 29. % 2. % 1. %

29 DRESSES £71,059. £82,142. £11,083. 16. % £29,482. £35,083. £5,601. 19. % 4. % 1. %

35 L SHIRTS £10,892. £21,237. £10,345. 95. % £6,416. £11,381. £4,964. 77. % 3. % 1. %

45 L COTTONS £7,407. £16,193. £8,786. 119. % £4,572. £9,172. £4,600. 101. % 3. % 1. %

46 L TOPS £15,918. £33,590. £17,672. 111. % £8,617. £14,827. £6,209. 72. % 4. % 2. %

55 L KNITWEAR £32,905. £40,630. £7,725. 23. % £16,432. £28,336. £11,904. 72. % 8. % 1. %

65 L COATS £47,631. £84,618. £36,987. 78. % £28,161. £49,748. £21,587. 77. % 15. % 2. %

£276,360.

£421,315.

£144,954. 52. % £146,559. £229,140. £82,581. 56. % 56. % 1. %

The above report demonstrates department mixes for AW07 vs AW08. The report shows

that Lyr core sales have dropped slightly in the more formal aspect of formal trousers and

formal skirts. Despite this, formal jackets have continued to improve with a 152% variance

on last year. This would suggest that customers in AW08 were not buying the whole

tailoring pack. Cottons had a huge uplift in AW08, suggesting customers were purchasing

into a more casual offer. Dresses and casual skirts did not have as strong a season as

participated. This was all taken into account when planning for AW09, it seemed it was the

perfect time to launch 1971 and push the more casual aspect (see Appendices Figure 6).

Price Points

Prices are slightly cheaper than mainline, although exit pricing touches the core offer in some

areas. There are some lower entry points, but also some at high end. T-shirts are between

£35 and £40, jeans range from £79 to £95, and coats reach £225. The lower price points and

edgier offer aims to capture a younger audience (see Appendices Figure 7).


Questionnaire

This primary research is to be carried out in order to gather quantitative information. This

questionnaire will be targeted at existing and new customers in order to understand their

perspective of the new 1971 sub-brand and also to gain information about the 1971 customer

profile. Please see Appendices Figure 8 for customer questionnaire.

Quantitative Research Method

The below table includes plan for questionnaire for customers:

Actions

Precise definition of target population; Female,

Age group 20 to 35

Primary data collection Questionnaire

Sampling frame Customers

Sample size 210 customer questionnaires

(ensure it is geographically dispersed)

Type of Questionnaire Self – administered questionnaire (completed by respondent – emailed to stores for customer to complete)


Questionnaire Results

…age 25 and above…demographics…



AW09 Womenswear 1971 Performance

The above report shows the AW09 1971 sell through and performance for the season to date. Casual Jackets have taken the biggest percentage

of the sales mix with 17.1% of the 1971 sales mix, 24.4% of the total season buy and 26.8% sales mix of total.

Dept 1971 SLS MIX OF TOTAL

1971 BUY MIX OF TOTAL

1971 SLS £K 1971 SLS MIX %

1971 BUY MIX %

1971 ST %

TOTAL SLS £K TOTAL SLS MIX %

TOTAL BUY MIX %

TOTAL ST %

16 FORMAL JACKETS 9.5% 6.2% £47,612. 2.4 % 1.4 % 55.5 % £500,504. 4.2 % 3.3 % 36.4 %

17 L LEATHERS 20.6% 40.9% £45,196. 2.3 % 3.1 % 23.7 % £219,495. 1.8 % 1.1 % 47.1 %

18 L CASUAL JACKETS 26.8% 24.4% £335,556. 17.1 % 11.7 % 46.9 % £1,250,810. 10.4 % 6.9 % 42.7 %

20 L DENIM 99.9% 100.0% £287,710. 14.7 % 19.7 % 23.9 % £287,874. 2.4 % 2.8 % 23.9 %

25 L FORMAL TROUSERS 0.0% 0.0% £323,692. 2.7 % 2.2 % 34.4 %

26 L CASUAL TROUSERS 24.6% 10.9% £19,665. 1.0 % 1.1 % 30.0 % £79,935. 0.7 % 1.4 % 13.2 %

27 FORMAL SKIRTS 0.0% 0.0% £202,806. 1.7 % 1.4 % 34.4 %

28 CASUAL SKIRTS 7.1% 10.5% £57,244. 2.9 % 5.0 % 18.6 % £802,103. 6.7 % 7.0 % 27.3 %

29 DRESSES 8.8% 8.3% £207,499. 10.6 % 13.5 % 25.2 % £2,354,301. 19.6 % 23.3 % 23.9 %

35 L SHIRTS 4.9% 3.6% £13,541. 0.7 % 0.7 % 30.4 % £274,320. 2.3 % 2.9 % 22.2 %

45 L COTTONS 37.0% 35.4% £299,793. 15.3 % 12.2 % 40.3 % £809,926. 6.8 % 5.0 % 38.5 %

46 L TOPS 21.3% 16.1% £169,314. 8.6 % 8.1 % 34.3 % £795,677. 6.6 % 7.2 % 26.0 %

55 L KNITWEAR 10.1% 4.6% £147,442. 7.5 % 3.3 % 73.5 % £1,456,687. 12.2 % 10.4 % 33.2 %

65 L COATS 10.6% 13.8% £113,185. 5.8 % 9.1 % 20.4 % £1,068,056. 8.9 % 9.5 % 26.5 %

85 L SHOES 16.2% 14.9% £84,875. 4.3 % 5.9 % 23.7 % £524,341. 4.4 % 5.7 % 21.8 %

95 L BELTS 14.3% 12.5% £45,008. 2.3 % 2.6 % 28.7 % £314,713. 2.6 % 3.0 % 25.1 %

96 L SCARVES 8.1% 2.3% £15,157. 0.8 % 0.4 % 70.2 % £186,471. 1.6 % 2.2 % 20.2 %

98 L BAGS 13.9% 7.2% £73,292. 3.7 % 2.2 % 53.9 % £529,157. 4.4 % 4.4 % 28.2 %

Sum: 16.4% 14.4% £1,962,088. 100.0% 100.0% 32.2% £11,987,850. 100.0% 100.0% 28.4%


Womenswear Option Analysis - Best Sellers

Opt Count

Dept

Style Col Description Colour Stock Delivered

Cum Sales Units

Sell Thru %

First Sale Date

Current Stock

Av Cost Price

Sell Price

Margin %

Cum Sales Cost £k

Cum Sales Value £k

Total Stock Delivered £k

1. 18 3034 20 ZOIE DB ZIP BLAZER PAN

BLACK/637 1,010 729 72.2 % 12/08/2009 226 £33.94 £159.00 74.4 % 24.7 110.1 151.8

2. 18 3005 02 BELLA-FITTED SHORT JK-APS

CREAM/693 604 381 63.1 % 13/08/2009 197 £34.64 £149.00 72.8 % 13.2 55.4 86.1

3. 55 3099 20 GLITTER BEADED SHLDR DRSS

BLACK 937 614 493 80.3 % 03/09/2009 82 £24.85 £110.00 72.0 % 12.2 50.1 63.3

4. 98 3117 20 SORA STUD DRAWSTRING W

BLACK 300 215 71.7 % 31/07/2009 72 £50.06 £225.00 73.7 % 10.8 46.7 64.6

5. 18 3034 02 ZOIE DB ZIP BLAZER PAN

CREAM/637 681 287 42.1 % 21/08/2009 378 £33.94 £159.00 75.4 % 9.7 44.9 105.7

6. 20 3011 20 GRACE LOW SKINNY FULL ZIP

BLACK/709 1,317 512 38.9 % 07/08/2009 750 £21.67 £89.00 70.9 % 11.1 43.7 112.3

7. 46 3053 03 GENISIS CHAIN PRINT TANK

PEARL/718 710 557 78.5 % 19/08/2009 107 £17.87 £85.00 73.5 % 10.0 43.0 56.4

8. 55 3064 69 ROESIA TIGERPRINT KNIT

LILAC MIST 902

626 504 80.5 % 03/08/2009 84 £18.52 £89.00 74.7 % 9.3 42.3 52.3

9. 20 3207 21 FARRAH-HIGH WAISTED SKINN

DARK GREY/762

781 411 52.6 % 03/08/2009 339 £20.98 £89.00 71.2 % 8.6 34.3 66.8

10. 45 3176 20 ALEXANDER STUD SATIN AST

BLACK/821 596 388 65.1 % 07/09/2009 187 £28.60 £89.00 62.5 % 11.1 33.9 51.2

Please see Appendices Figures 9 for option analysis for core 1971 sales weeks and Figure 10 for cum option analysis. The best seller for 1971

was the Zoie casual jacket (see Appendices Figure 11). The ASP for mainline and 1971 casual jackets is £173, so at £159 the Zoie jacket is a

lower price for Reiss. Similar options in the mainline collection are priced at £225 and £189. The Zoie jacket was an all store buy and has been

repeated. This style also comes in cream but has not sold as well with a 42.1% sell through, compared to the black which has a 72.2% sell


through and has sold 1010 units YTD- black is working well in casual jackets and is forecasting 91%

sell through. Casual Jackets have performed well for 1971 as well as black and dark colours.

There has been a great reaction to the 1971 fashion knitwear pieces. The Roesia has 504 units YTD

and the Glitter (see Appendices Figure 11) 493 units YTD. All are currently on 2 weeks cover and

+80% sell through. There was possibly missed potential in the Glitter as it was only a medium size

buy, the repeat lead time would have been a 12 weeks delivery period. These styles accounted for

11% of total knitwear (135k).

AW09 Knitwear

AW09 showed a great reaction to the Sora (see Appendices Figure 11) stud detail bag, which has sold

215 units YTD . It is on trend – a lot of stud detailing around this season, as well as the drawstring

pouch bag. This 1971 bag has a 72% sell through.

A good reaction to the Genesis (see Appendices Figure 11) print silk tanks with 12% sales vs 6% buy.

This style came in two print options and is a best seller for 1971.

Other styles that worked well in 1971 were the printed tees (Belle and Perry) over performing along

with mainline style Frank – 7% of sales vs 4% buy, 78% sell through and these styles have been

repeated.

As you can see from Appendices Figure 10, an updated option analysis report, the Rolo dress is now

the second best seller. This black velvet dress is on trend for this season and has sold 532 units season

to date and only hit stores in group 3. The dress is priced at £149.00, this is a low price point for a

bustier occasion dress.

SLS MIX BUY MIX

1971 11% 4%

Non 1971 89% 96%

100% 100%


Worst Sellers

1971 accessories styles have underperformed. Especially the Roxette print shoes (see Appendices Figure 12), which were a mid-store buy and

have only sold 5 units YTD. Hip belts were increased due to 1971 jeans even though last year was only 29% of sales 34% of buy. The Renne

skinny jeans belt (see Appendices Figure 12) has only a 7.9% sell through. The Cassie fur gillets (see Appendices Figure 12) with only a 7.8%

sell through has been a worst seller for 1971, this may be due to the high price point of £295. The Amelie ‘1971’ print cotton (see Appendices

Opt Count

Dept

Style Col Description Colour Stock Delivered

Cum Sales Units

Sell Thru %

First Sale Date

Current Stock

Av Cost Price

Sell Price Margin %

Cum Sales Cost £k

Cum Sales Value £k


1. 85 3061 20 ROXETTE PRINT COURT K

GOLD 303 5 1.7 % 14/08/2009 297 £36.05 £139.00 72.5 % 0.2 0.7 42.0

1. 17 3022 20 CASSIE GILLET W/FUR CLR

BLACK 768 77 6 7.8 % 01/10/2009 71 £98.28 £295.00 61.0 % 0.6 1.7 22.7

1. 95 3029 74 RENNE SKINNY JEANS BELT P

CHARTREUSE 661 52 7.9 % 31/07/2009 605 £8.19 £39.00 74.5 % 0.4 1.9 25.6

1. 45 3238 23 AMELIE CHARM TANK

GREY MEL 802 514 87 16.9 % 31/07/2009 422 £6.05 £29.00 72.8 % 0.5 2.2 14.8

1. 28 3063 31 KELSEY ZIP DTL PENCIL SKT

BLUE 761 465 28 6.0 % 12/09/2009 436 £17.21 £79.00 75.8 % 0.5 2.3 36.7

1. 29 3164 02 DREW EMB BATWING AST

CREAM/807 389 26 6.7 % 24/09/2009 358 £22.33 £95.00 72.0 % 0.6 2.4 36.5

1. 45 3238 00 AMELIE CHARM TANK

WHITE 802 598 127 21.2 % 01/08/2009 460 £5.61 £29.00 76.2 % 0.7 3.4 17.0

1. 20 3312 33 DYLAN - BOYFRIEND FIT

LIGHT BLUE/713

606 45 7.4 % 27/08/2009 554 £21.72 £85.00 67.3 % 1.0 3.4 50.9

1. 95 3048 02 JUIN FABRIC WAIST BELT P

CREAM STRIPE

305 51 16.7 % 29/05/2009 250 £16.10 £69.00 73.4 % 0.8 3.5 20.8

1. 46 3065 20 SWISS BATWING ROPE/EYELET

BLACK/772 724 38 5.2 % 29/08/2009 681 £23.11 £95.00 71.7 % 0.9 3.5 68.3


Figure 12) is disappointing with only 16.9% sell through. Another disappointing style is the

Beatriz 1971 tank, which was a key piece in 3 colourways – only 22% sell through since it hit

stores at the beginning of the season.

Economic Climate

With the country officially in recession, consumers have been cutting down on non-essential

spending and womenswear has been no exception. UK Womenswear Retailers 2009 –

Verdict p2.

With unemployment rising, there is little doubt this will have a knock on effect on retail –

particularly discretionary sectors such as clothing. UK Womenswear Retailers 2009 –

Verdict.p3.

With this in mind, Reiss launching a new sub brand and entering a new market with lower

price points and a casual aspect seems the right timing to sit alongside the recession. The

new brand has created an excitement around the brand, drawing in existing and new

customers. Reiss’s existing customers in the recession may not be buying the new suit every

season and may not purchase new occasion dresses for every event. By lowering price points

it makes Reiss more affordable for the new customers, still keeping mainline strong for

existing customers.

So with Reiss entering a new market, how will this affect the customer?


Effect on Customer

Price has become a driver of loyalty for a larger proportion of women in 2009 compared with

2005 across all age categories excluding 25-34 year olds. This has mainly been driven by the

recession – as consumers’ disposable income has been squeezed shoppers are becoming more

savvy in their shopping habits and price is more important. UK Womenswear Retailers 2009

– Verdict.p34.

Figure 4 Price as a drover of loyalty 2009 vs 2005

All women are generally more price conscious in recession and with the boom of value

retailers this has made all shoppers aware of this value sector. With this in mind Reiss

needed to action something to maintain their existing customer as well as draw in new ones.

As you can see from the above figure 4, the recession has not affected the 25-34 year old age

group in terms of price loyalty. With the 1971 range being aimed more at this younger age

group, one can see that they are still price conscious compared to the older age ranges, which

is why this customer may be drawn to shopping in a high end high street brand but with lower

price points.


New Customer

A younger fashion customer on the other hand is facing favourable demographic changes.

The number of 15-29 year olds is growing and is predicted to rise from 11.6m in 2006 to

12.0m in 2011. Key Market Issues P2. With this in mind and the 1971 range growing

stronger and fashion conscious, Reiss should bare these statistics in mind. A lot of Reiss

stores are situated in large cities, with a lot of students and savvy shoppers. The lower priced

cottons t-shirts have proved to have performed well this season, going forward it would be a

recommendation to grow these areas as price remains one of the largest drivers of loyalty,

especially for younger customers who maintain a strong focus on price due to their lower

disposable incomes and desire for higher volumes of lower price fashion.

The recession has impacted consumer expenditure, encouraging women to become savvier

with their purchases and shopping habits. Moreover, an increased concern for good quality

clothing, especially among older customers, has become more apparent as demand has

increased for more durable, longer lasting garments offering better value for money. UK

Womenswear Retailers 2009 – Verdict.p52 The 25-34 year old age group seems to be the

most appropriate age group for the 1971 range to be targeting as you can see from Figure 5,

though price is still important, compared to ten years ago women in this age group have more

to spend on themselves.

K Womenswear Retailers 2009 – Verdict.p38 Figure 5 Changes expected in 25-34 females over 2009 - 2012


These women are becoming more career focused, increasing their disposable income and

staying younger and more fashion conscious for longer – the demand for a convenient range

with income to spend in a high end high street retailer seems to be the customer Reiss should

be aiming for with the 1971 range.

Reiss has had to adapt their positioning to attract more customers through the door and to

distinguish themselves from the mass market. Despite the economic climate driving

increased awareness of prices, Reiss is still positioned above the mid-market, bordering on

premium territory. However, while customers are more price sensitive they are willing to

indulge in more expensive clothing so long as it is perceived as good value. UK

Womenswear Retailers 2009 – Verdict.p43.


Competitors

Figure 6 1971 Window Display Barrett Street

Market

Entering a new market with 1971, Reiss is now competing with high street chains such as All

Saints, French Connection and Zara. As well as mainline competitors such as Whistles,

Karen Millen, Hobbs, Jigsaw and Joseph. Also luxury brands such as See by Chloe, Marc by

Marc and Sonia by Sonia Rykel. According to Verdict ‘Reiss has continued to grow’. UK

Womenswear Retailers 2009 – Verdict. These smaller retailers are often more expensive than

larger clothing retailers on the high street, but are attracting a growing number of customers

as they rapidly increase their presence. The extra expense is justified through offering more

uniquely designed product, often along with aspirational store environments and a strong

service element.. UK Womenswear Retailers 2009 – Verdict. 20.


Comparative Shop

DEPT : 1971 Ladieswear Date of Comparative Shop Visit: 18/10/2009 Product Type

Product Description RI £SP Whistles V REISS

Ted Baker V REISS

French Connection V REISS

All Saints

V REISS Zara V REISS

UO Boutique V REISS Topshop V REISS

Formal wear options waistcoat £69.00 £130.00 £61.00 £79.00 £10.00 -£69.00 £95.00 £26.00 -£69.00 £60.00 -£9.00 -£69.00 shirts £95.00 £80.00 -£15.00 £69.00 -£26.00 £65.00 -£30.00 £70.00 -£25.00 -£95.00 £123.00 £28.00 £28.00 -£67.00

Leathers

short leather £195.00 £250.00 £55.00 £299.00 £104.00 £310.00 £115.00 £250.00 £55.00 £149.90 -£45.10 £270.00 £75.00 £140.00 -£55.00 gillet £295.00 -£295.00 £149.00 -£146.00 -£295.00 £295.00 -£295.00 -£295.00 £85.00 -£210.00

Casual Jackets

fitted military £149.00 £150.00 £1.00 £149.00 £150.00 £1.00 £125.00 -£24.00 £45.90 -£103.10 £250.00 £101.00 £60.00 -£89.00

zip bomber jacket £189.00 £165.00 -£24.00 £189.00 £170.00 -£19.00 £195.00 £6.00 £49.90 -£139.10 £339.00 £150.00 £75.00 -£114.00

blazer £159.00 £160.00 £1.00 £175.00 £16.00 £125.00 -£34.00 £145.00 -£14.00 £49.90 -£109.10 £175.00 £16.00 £60.00 -£99.00 Denim

low rise straight leg £79.00 £60.00 -£19.00 £89.00 £10.00 £75.00 -£4.00 £55.00 -£24.00 -£79.00 £99.00 £20.00 £40.00 -£39.00 boyfriend slouch £85.00 £80.00 -£5.00 £89.00 £4.00 £70.00 -£15.00 £65.00 -£20.00 £19.90 -£65.10 £199.00 £114.00 £40.00 -£45.00 high waisted skinny £89.00 £60.00 -£29.00 £99.00 £10.00 £70.00 -£19.00 £55.00 -£34.00 £39.90 -£49.10 £125.00 £36.00 £40.00 -£49.00

high waisted kick flare £85.00 £70.00 -£15.00 £89.00 £4.00 £75.00 -£10.00 £39.90 -£45.10 £79.00 -£6.00 £40.00 -£45.00

high waisted fashion £89.00 £80.00 -£9.00 £99.00 £10.00 £75.00 -£14.00 £65.00 -£24.00 £96.00 £7.00 £45.00 -£44.00

Options

Casual Trouser skinny zip pant £89.00 £95.00 £6.00 £99.00 £10.00 £75.00 -£14.00 £65.00 -£24.00 -£89.00 £185.00 £96.00 £38.00 -£51.00 Casual Skirt denim mini £69.00 £55.00 -£14.00 £25.90 -£43.10 -£69.00 £25.00 -£44.00 mini zip front £79.00 -£79.00 £69.00 -£10.00 £60.00 -£19.00 £60.00 -£19.00 -£79.00 £180.00 £101.00 £35.00 -£44.00

Dresses

bustier £149.00 £250.00 £101.00 £129.00 -£20.00 £115.00 -£34.00 £135.00 -£14.00 £29.90 -£119.10 £195.00 £46.00 £50.00 -£99.00

jersey £189.00 £195.00 £6.00 £99.00 -£90.00 £90.00 -£99.00 £110.00 -£79.00 £29.90 -£159.10 £185.00 -£4.00 £38.00 -£151.00

zip front fitted £139.00 £135.00 -£4.00 £139.00 £65.00 £95.00 -£44.00 £29.90 -£109.10 £136.00 -£3.00 £45.00 -£94.00

fringe front detail £129.00 £110.00 -£19.00 £119.00 -£10.00 £70.00 -£59.00 £80.00 -£49.00 -£129.00 £145.00 £16.00 £40.00 -£89.00 tank dress £120.00 £95.00 -£25.00 £99.00 -£21.00 £110.00 -£10.00 £90.00 -£30.00 -£120.00 £136.00 £16.00 £40.00 -£80.00

shoulder detail £95.00 £110.00 £15.00 £129.00 £34.00 £85.00 -£10.00 £85.00 -£10.00 £69.90 -£25.10 £148.00 £53.00 £45.00 -£50.00


Product Type

Product Description RI £SP Whistles V REISS

Ted Baker V REISS

French Connection V REISS

All Saints

V REISS Zara V REISS

UO Boutique V REISS Topshop V REISS

Cottons tank £39.00 £45.00 £6.00 £29.00 -£10.00 £30.00 -£9.00 £40.00 £1.00 £14.90 -£24.10 £57.00 £18.00 £6.00 -£33.00 detail t-shirt £45.00 £45.00 £49.00 £4.00 £30.00 -£15.00 £40.00 -£5.00 -£45.00 £65.00 £20.00 £25.00 -£20.00

print t-shirt £35.00 £40.00 £5.00 £39.00 £4.00 £25.00 -£10.00 £35.00 £40.00 £5.00 £22.00 -£13.00 long sleeve £59.00 £40.00 -£19.00 £39.00 -£20.00 £30.00 -£29.00 £60.00 £1.00 -£59.00 £82.00 £23.00 £18.00 -£41.00

embellished shoulder £69.00 -£69.00 £59.00 -£10.00 £45.00 -£24.00 £65.00 -£4.00 £39.90 £128.00 £59.00 £32.00 -£37.00

leggings £35.00 £40.00 £5.00 £59.00 £24.00 £65.00 £30.00 £20.00 -£15.00 -£35.00 -£35.00 £22.00 -£13.00 Tops silk print tank £85.00 £65.00 -£20.00 £89.00 £4.00 £70.00 -£15.00 -£85.00 £86.00 £1.00 £32.00 -£53.00 frill front top £95.00 £75.00 -£20.00 £89.00 -£6.00 £55.00 -£40.00 -£95.00 £116.00 £21.00 £32.00 -£63.00 tank £69.00 £60.00 -£9.00 £30.00 -£39.00 £40.00 -£29.00 £32.00 -£37.00 long sleeve £95.00 £85.00 -£10.00 £79.00 -£16.00 £50.00 -£45.00 £65.00 -£30.00 -£95.00 -£95.00 £35.00 -£60.00

Knitwear printed knit £89.00 £90.00 £1.00 £69.00 -£20.00 £50.00 -£39.00 £80.00 -£9.00 -£89.00 £127.00 £38.00 £35.00 -£54.00

embellished shoulder £110.00 -£110.00 £79.00 -£31.00 £75.00 -£35.00 £110.00 -£110.00 £150.00 £40.00 £38.00 -£72.00

long cardi £89.00 £80.00 -£9.00 £79.00 -£10.00 £75.00 -£14.00 £85.00 -£4.00 £25.90 -£63.10 £90.00 £1.00 £38.00 -£51.00 fringe front detail £89.00 £75.00 -£14.00 £89.00 £65.00 -£24.00 £85.00 -£4.00 £49.90 -£39.10 -£89.00 £35.00 -£54.00

Coats swing coat £225.00 £225.00 £239.00 £14.00 £130.00 -£95.00 £225.00 £59.90 -£165.10 £290.00 £65.00 £75.00 -£150.00 long zip detail £275.00 £185.00 -£90.00 £259.00 -£16.00 £160.00 -£115.00 £250.00 -£25.00 £89.90 -£185.10 £315.00 £40.00 £115.00 -£160.00

Comparative Shop

From visiting many new competitors of Reiss, it is evident that Whistles and Red Baker are most similar to Reiss in terms of price points. In

terms of product, All Saints is a strong competitor within the printed t-shirts department. All Saints has a large range of cottons in store, with

prices ranging £35-£40, compared to Reiss’s printed t-shirts ranging from £35-£45. The Reiss bustier dress at £149.00 was a low price point

compared to similar offering from high street retailers. All Saints and French Connection had the same sort of offering in terms of product to the

Reiss 1971 ranges, in particular French Connection had many dress options.


Denim Competitors

When comparing Reiss 1971 denim to denim brands findings proved that price points from the majority of these specialist denim brands were

generally higher. The brands had many more styles and colour options than 1971 had to offer, as expected from these well established denim

brands. Levis price points were a similar architecture and Wrangler had much lower price points. In terms of 1971 competitors, Whistles prices

are a lot lower than Reiss with the majority of their styles starting at £60, but the fabric is a lot thinner, they also have fewer options. Ted Baker

denim prices are most similar to Reiss, with prices from £89-£99. French Connection, in the next price bracket, around £10 lower than Reiss.

Zara, Topshop and All Saints prices were of a lower architecture, ranging from £19.90 - £65.00.

DEPT : 1971 Ladieswear

Date of Comparative Shop Visit: 18/10/2009

Product Type Product Description RI £SP DIESEL

V REISS FIRETRAP

V REISS LEE

V REISS LEVIS

V REISS

MISS SIXTY

V REISS

PEPE JEANS

V REISS WRANGLER

V REISS

Denim

low rise straight leg £79.00 £98.00 £19.00 £79.00 £105.00 £26.00 £90.00 £11.00 £95.00 £16.00 £70.00 -£9.00 £65.00 -

£14.00

boyfriend slouch £85.00 £160.00 £75.00 £74.00 -£11.00 £80.00 -£5.00 £75.00 -£10.00 £95.00 £10.00 £97.50 £12.50 £75.00 -

£10.00

high waisted skinny £89.00 £100.00 £11.00 -£89.00 £110.00 £21.00 £95.00 £6.00 £110.00 £21.00 £72.50 -

£16.50 £50.00 -

£39.00

high waisted kick flare £85.00 £130.00 £45.00 £85.00 £69.00 £75.00 -£10.00 £85.00 £75.00 -

£10.00 £85.00

high waisted fashion £89.00 £160.00 £71.00 £103.00 £14.00 £115.00 £26.00 -£89.00 £145.00 £56.00 £100.00 £11.00 -

£89.00


Competitive Price - Positioning

Hobbs

Topshop

French Connection

Banana Republic

Marc by Marc See By Chloe

Reiss

High £ Low £

Niche / Premuim

Mainstream

Jigsaw

Sonia by Sonia Rykiel

Joseph

Karen Millen

Cos

Zara

All Saints

Whistles


Denim


Denim Launches

Reiss were not the only retailer to launch a denim collection this AW09, it proved a trend

among the high street retailers. "I am very optimistic about the future of denim," said

Pascaline Wilhelm, fashion director of Première Vision. "I am convinced that it will grow in

creativity and remain strong as a trend-setter."

Mike Egeck, chief executive of the California-based 7 For All Mankind, said: "I think denim

will always remain at the forefront of fashion. What other item of clothing can be worn by so

many different types of people in so many different ways? Denim is a major force on the

runways from Paris, Milan, New York to Los Angeles, and denim companies are moving into

a very fashion-forward cycle with innovation in materials, silhouettes, finishes and trims."-

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/style/03iht-

rdenim4.4.9707370.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2 Denim still works By Oliver Horton


Top end denim from specialist brands and catwalk designers have been facing competition of

both design and price from international retail chains. AW09 denim launches include US

casualwear giant Gap, who launched a new denim range to take on the premium designer

denim market. This launch features 12 fits for women and men, in classic rinses and

distressed finishes in dark to light denim. (Gap launches premium denim -

http://www.drapersonline.com/news/multiples/news/gap-launches-premium-

denim/5005405.article).

Value retailer New Look rebranded its entire denim offer. Within the Yes Yes range, New

Look has renamed its five jean fits to better describe the cut, and added swing tickets

detailing the kind of customer who would wear the fit and the accessories that would match

the look. (Denim range rebranded at New Look -

http://www.drapersonline.com/news/womenswear/news/denim-range-rebranded-at-new-

look/5005599.article)

For autumn 09 Wrangler went back to its roots. The foundation is denim which counts for

around 50% of total options. The collection is split into three delivery stories. The first, Call

Of The Wild has a rugged outdoors look characterised by dirty, vintage looks. The second is

Americana which is full of soft-handling vintage indigo washes. And the third is Utility

which is a workwear look inspired by wartime America. (Wrangler -

http://www.drapersonline.com/trends/young-fashion/bread-and-butter-autumn-

09/wrangler/5000374.article)

For Autumn Winter 09 French Connection have just launched a capsule denim range,

presenting a fresh streetwear collection focusing on authentic denims and easy casual piece

with a distinctive fashion twist. – www.frenchconnection.com/category/denim/denim.htm


Options

The below table demonstrates the number of options that high street competitors are offering.

French Connection has the biggest offering this season, as they have just launched a denim

range. Their flagship store on Oxford Street was holding all options, whereas smaller stores

and concessions had just the key styles. The denim in their bigger store took up a whole wall

of the shop floor with a denim bank, as well as being displayed with the rest of the collection

around the store. The range was clearly displayed and stood out in store and signage

promoting their ‘360 denim’ range.

REISS Whistles Ted Baker French Connection All Saints Zara

UO Boutique Topshop

No. Of Options 15 8 11 17 15 12 11 18

Average SP £85.40 £70.00 £93.00 £73.00 £60.00 £33.23 £119.60 £41.00

Whistles had four main styles displayed on mannequins; their denim is priced much lower

than the rest of their range. They generally offered only one or two washes in one style and

were all fashion pieces – no basic denim.

All Saints had an interesting visual display of their denim in the Selfridges concession, it

clearly showed all styles hanging from a peg, with stock rolled above the display. All Saints

offered the same number of options, with a lower average selling price.

Topshop offers the largest number of options on the high street, within this they offer a petit

and tall length for customers. Prices are consistent throughout the range and have the basic

jeans as well as the fashion jeans.

Generally for AW09 Reiss offered a lot of options compared to their competitors, although

not the highest high street price, cannot compete with the Topshop pricing architecture.


Denim Sales Core Weeks AW09 - Attributes

WEEKS 22 - 26 27-30 31-34 35-39 FISCAL WEEK 6 7 8 9

DENIM MONTH July August September October

CROP TRS SALES £3,192 £10,536 £6,544

% mix 5% 8% 6%

STOCK £201,391 £234,341 £231,621

% mix 23% 27% 29%

KICKFLARE SALES £3,667 £20,329 £19,957

% mix 6% 16% 17%

STOCK £192,727 £168,271 £148,489

% mix 22% 20% 19%

SKINNY SALES £44,393 £58,693 £58,693

% mix 71% 46% 51%

STOCK £143,112 £316,863 £310,278 £310,278

% mix 100% 35% 36% 39%

STRAIGHT SALES £10,885 £36,880 £30,053

% mix 18% 29% 26%

STOCK £182,635 £141,416 £109,519

% mix 20% 17% 14%

TOTAL SALES £0 £62,137 £126,438 £115,247

% mix 0% 100% 100% 100%

STOCK £143,112 £893,616 £854,306 £799,907

% mix 100% 100% 100% 100%

BLACK SALES £19,390 £31,838 £28,941

% mix 31% 25% 25%

STOCK £174,716 £138,328 £108,470

% mix 20% 17% 12%

BLUE SALES £18,792 £49,786 £44,090

% mix 30% 39% 38%

STOCK £72,535 £504,295 £450,049 £583,915

% mix 51% 56% 56% 65%

DARK GREY SALES £12,408 £18,309 £21,713

% mix 20% 14% 19%

STOCK £70,577 £55,143 £80,256 £85,220

% mix 49% 6% 10% 10%

LIGHT GREY SALES £11,548 £29,027 £21,909

% mix 19% 23% 19%

STOCK £159,463 £138,709 £114,429

% mix 18% 17% 13%

TOTAL SALES £0 £62,138 £128,960 £116,653

% mix 0% 100% 100% 100%

STOCK £143,112 £893,617 £807,342 £892,034

% mix 100% 100% 100% 100%


Analysis AW09 Styles L DENIM by option

Count Style Description

Colour Stock Delivered

Cum Sales Units

Sell Thru %

First Sale Date

Current Stock

Av Cost Price

Sell Price

Margin %

Cum Sales Cost £k

Cum Sales Value £k

Mix


Mix

1. 203011 GRACE LOW SKINNY FULL ZIP BLACK 1,352 512 37.9 % 07/08/2009 785 £21.67 £89. 70.9 % 11.1 43.7 17.7 %

115.4 10.1 %

1. 203211 GRACE LOW RISE SKINNY GREY

1,372 310 22.6 % 13/08/2009 1,038 £19.87 £89. 73.5 % 6.2 26.6 10.8

% 120.0 10.4 %

822

1. 203207 FARRAH-HIGH WAISTED SKINN GREY

799 411 51.4 % 03/08/2009 357 £20.98 £89. 71.2 % 8.6 34.3 13.9

% 68.4 6.0 %

1. 203007 FARRAH-HIGH WAIST SKINNY BLUE 803 218 27.1 % 03/08/2009 566 £21.12 £89. 69.6 % 4.6 17.3 7.0 % 69.8 6.1 %

629

1. 203306 PATTI LOW STRAIGHT LEG GREY

784 337 43.0 % 19/08/2009 427 £16.64 £79. 74.4 % 5.6 25.0 10.1

% 60.4 5.3 %

1. 203006 PATTI LOW STRAIGHT LEG DARK BLUE 891 321 36.0 % 14/08/2009 551 £16.44 £79. 74.6 % 5.3 23.8 9.6 % 68.9 6.0 %

1. 203206 PATTI LOW STRAIGHT LEG MID BLUE 808 187 23.1 % 20/08/2009 605 £17.69 £79. 72.6 % 3.3 13.8 5.6 % 62.6 5.4 %

845

1. 203008 DOLLY HIGH WAIST KICK FLR BLACK 893 244 27.3 % 25/08/2009 641 £20.49 £85. 71.5 % 5.0 20.1 8.2 % 75.2 6.6 %

1. 203208 DOLLY HIGH WAIST KICK FLR DARK BLUE 820 111 13.5 % 14/08/2009 704 £16.99 £85. 75.1 % 1.9 8.7 3.5 % 69.3 6.0 %

1. 203308 DOLLY HIGH WAIST KICK FLR LIGHT BLUE 561 45 8.0 % 22/08/2009 512 £17.51 £85. 76.0 % 0.8 3.8 1.5 % 47.3 4.1 %

400

1. 203012 DYLAN - BOYFRIEND FIT DARK BLUE 964 121 12.6 % 14/08/2009 835 £20.50 £85. 71.3 % 2.5 9.9 4.0 % 81.3 7.1 %

1. 203212 DYLAN - BOYFRIEND FIT MID BLUE 1,404 53 3.8 % 28/08/2009 1,347 £18.47 £85. 73.5 % 1.0 4.2 1.7 % 119.0 10.4 %

1. 203312 DYLAN - BOYFRIEND FIT LIGHT BLUE 609 45 7.4 % 27/08/2009 557 £21.72 £85. 67.3 % 1.0 3.4 1.4 % 51.2 4.5 %

219

1. 203221 RIYA HIGH WAIST ZIP SEAM GREY 800 83 10.4 % 12/09/2009 712 £21.36 £89. 71.8 % 1.8 7.2 2.9 % 70.8 6.2 %

1. 203021 RIYA HIGH WAIST ZIP SEAM BLUE 781 57 7.3 % 11/09/2009 719 £21.41 £89. 71.0 % 1.2 4.8 2.0 % 69.1 6.0 %

140

15. 13,641 3,055 22.4 % 10,356 £19.57 72.3 % 59.8 246.7 100.0 % 1,148.4 92.3 %


AW09 Best Selling Denim Styles

Denim was a huge growth area for AW09 with a 1m buy and 61% of

casual trousers. 8 different fabrics were bought and the 3 key fabrics

were backed to be used in any style.

The best selling denim style was the Grace jean, as pictured to the left.

Fashion styles have performed well with the Grace being the best

performer 28% sales vs 19% buy – 822 units sold.

The Grace had no blue option – just black and grey.

The best selling option was also the most expensive

at £89, this shows that Reiss can sell at high prices if

the styling is right.

The Farrah denim style was the second best selling style for AW09, again

with just the two colour options. The grey option has performed with a

51.4% sale through – the highest sell through of all options. This style

was bough in 800 units and went to all stores (see Appendices Figure 13).

AW09’s core offer included the Patti, Farrah and Dolly – slim, skinny and kick flare, as you

can see in the table below. The skinny styles hit down in launch month with 35% off stock

and taking 71% of sales, as you can see from the attribute report on page 31.

OPTIONS MIX % Val (K) SLS MIX Buy (K) BUY MIX

2 13% 85 31% 183 15%

3 20% 82 30% 248 21%

10 67% 103 38% 777 64%

15 100% 269 100% 1208 100%

Grace

Farrah


Black and grey overperformed – harder edged fashion colours. Blue underperformed, as you

can see from the table below.

September was a key month for denim sales as shown in the Attributes report on page 31. In

this core month dark grey took 14% of the sales mix with only 10% stock. With the launch of

the 1971 range in August you can also see that full quantities of denim did not hit down until

September and were 2-4 weeks late, leading to missed sales on the launch month.

COLOUR SLS MIX BUY MIX

BLACK 26% 16%

BLUE 36% 58%

DARK GREY 17% 11%

LIGHT GREY 21% 15%

TOTAL 100% 100%


AW09 Worst Selling Denim Styles

The Dylan style (pictured left) was very disappointing with only 219

units sold across 3 colours 8% sold through YTD. This style had 3 blue

colour options. Sales on this style have proved that maybe all 3 options

were not needed. This boyfriend fit jean is a trend this season, lessons

learnt is that Reiss should only put ‘continual’ product in 3 washes – the

Dylan should have been in one colour option (the colour of the season).

This style has not taken over 8% of the sales mix STD

yet is currently holding 29% of stock in October.

The Riya jean (pictured right) is a worst selling denim style, although it has

not had as long as sale period as the other styles – from a refreshed option

analysis (appendices Figure 10), this shows me that the grey option has only

had a 26.8& sell through and the blue a low 7.8%. Although, the blue

colour option has sold more than the Dylan in mid blue in a shorter sales period.

Riya

Dylan


Stores and Ranging

Figure 8 1971 wall display in Barrett Street

AW09 Store Performance

With AW09 being the launch of 1971, it was decided to send 1971 all stores as a trial season

to see where the range really worked. Please see Appendices Figure 14 for AW09 Ranging.

Stores were graded into 4 different grades – All, Mid, Top and Select, depending on their

grading stores were planned to get a set amount of options. As this was a trial season this plan

was not initially followed to, as you can see from the number of options against actual options

on the AW09 Ranging sheet.

Please see Appendices Figure 15 for 1971 vs Mainline sales for core sales weeks. Stores

highlighted in red show a below average 1971 sales variance against mainline. The core stores

average 1971 sales value for AW09 during core sales weeks is 19.6%. Stores that peformed

over average will be invetigated further, as well as those who underperformed.


Stores with high 1971 Sales Value

% 1971 Sales Val

% 1971 Stock Val

Number of options

Range

1 15 Glasgow Royal Exchange 28.2 % 18.9 % 79 MID

2 38 Bristol 25.7 % 22.0 % 74 MID

3 41 Islington 25.5 % 17.1 % 91 ALL

4 10 Brighton 24.4 % 18.7 % 80 MID

5 17 Liverpool 24.0 % 19.1 % 79 MID

The Glasgow store performed with the highest percentage of 1971 sales value and was not

even holding all 1971 styles. The Bristol store was ranged a Mid store for AW09 1971 and

performed with the high sales value of 25.7% and only 74 options, the store sold 29.1% 1971

against mainline. The Islington store also performed well in 1971 and was correctly graded a

grade 1 store and ranking 14th in the company (see Appendices Figure 16). With Brighton

only holding 18.7% stock this store performed above core store avergage. The Liverpool store

also performed with a high 1971 sales value, but this could be affected by the new Liverpool

store opening which is in close perimeter.

London

% 1971 Sales Val

% 1971 Stock Val

Number of options Range

1 41 Islington 25.5 % 17.1 % 91 ALL

2 16 Kent House 22.6 % 16.9 % 96 ALL

3 78 Cabot Place 22.3 % 16.5 % 62 TOP

4 44 Wimbledon 21.4 % 15.5 % 74 TOP

5 34 New Hamsptead 20.9 % 14.9 % 77 MID

All above London stores performed with a high sales value compared to all core stores. Cabot

Place espceically performed well with only 62 options in the key 1971 performance weeks.


Underperforming Stores

% 1971 Sales Val

% 1971 Stock Val


1 22 Broadgate 14.2 % 11.8 % 53 TOP

2 74 Belfast 14.5 % 17.3 % 80 MID

3 20 Kingston

15.4 % 18.1 % 81 MID

4 19 Cambridge 15.6 % 21.8 % 81 MID

The above stores were the bottom stores in terms of 1971 sales value. Broadgate, typically a

tailoring store with only 14.2% sales value, was a low graded stores and this was anticipated

and therefore only received 53 options. For seasons going forward it may be a suggestion to

take 1971 out of underperforming stores completely.

Surprises

% 1971 Sales Val

% 1971 Stock Val


1 24 Canary Wharf 11.3 % 8.6 % 35 SELECT

2 26 Brent Cross 15.8 % 14.5 % 85 ALL

3 21 Regent Street 17.4 % 15.3 % 83 ALL

The Canary Wharf store were initially planned to receive a select 35 numvber of options,

being a city store – best selling departments tailoring and occasion dresses. The store ended

up receiving 61 and have proved that with only 11.3% sales value in key performance week,

the range has not worked in this store. Brent Cross and Regent Street were graded a top store

for 1971 and have not performed as inticipated. This is especially suprising in Brent Cross,

which is quite a young shopping centre, where you would expect to draw in the younger

casual shopper looking for lower price points.


Selfridges

Selfridges London performed over average with a 19.5% 1971 sales value. This store is

historically one of the highest money taking stores, due to location and footfall of the

concession. The store is the highest taking 1971 store in terms of Cum Sales Value, taking

£150,0330 and selling 1,519 units.

For the core weeks of the 1971 sales weeks, Selfridges were given a pop up shop and this

space was designated for th 1971 range. The pop up shop was positioned in a prime location,

right in front of the lift as you go up to the womenswear floor. From speaking to the

Selfridges manager, it was evident that people were drawn to Reiss because of this pop up

shop. There was a launch evening for the 1971 range in store.

look at denim performance with pop up shop

Selfridges were by far the biggest money taker with denim, ranking first in the company and

actual sales value of £26,231 and 305 unitssold, compared to the next highest store Barrett

Street who sold £17,940, this is a big difference and Selfridges are clearly in their own grade

for denim. During key sales week Selfridges were on 4.53 weeks cover for denim.

Following evidence that Selfridges has performed in its own league with 1971, especially

denim, a proposal would be for Selfridges to have an additional space downstairs with the

high street fashion brands. This space would be dedicated for the 1971 range only or have a

table of just denim. Reiss 1971 would then be able to compete with competitors with a similar

offer such as All Saints, French Connection and Topshop. This would benefit the company in

drawing in new younger customers and making more people aware of the 1971 brand and

seeing it separate to the mainline, making it more credible on its own. Enabling Reiss to

compete with its mainline competiors still on the womenswear floor and giving more space for


the mainline collection, which is more inline with surrounding competirors, such as Jaeger,

Cos and Joseph.


John Lewis Analysis

N.O Store Name 1971 Sales Units

Mainline Sales

Total Unit Sales

% 1971 Sales

1971 Sales Val

Main SalesVal

% 1971 Sales Val

1971 Stock

Mainline Stock

Total Stock

% 1971 Stock

1971 Stock Val

748 JOHN LEWIS CARDIFF

22 70 92 23.9 % £1,770. £8,647. 17.0 % 1,36

6 7,368 8,734 15.6 % £126,282.

749 JOHN LEWIS LIVERPOOL

38 144 182 20.9 % £3,183. £15,913. 16.7 % 833 5,809 6,642 12.5 % £67,315.

750 JOHN LEWIS CAMBRIDGE 36 203 239 15.1 % £3,053. £22,780. 11.8 % 886 5,590 6,476 13.7 % £71,564.

751 JOHN LEWIS CHEADLE

62 222 284 21.8 % £4,603. £24,503. 15.8 % 858 5,397 6,255 13.7 % £70,622.

752 PETER JONES 63 301 364 17.3 % £4,864. £31,465. 13.4 % 1,20

8 7,181 8,389 14.4 % £130,242.

753 JL CRIBBS CAUSEWAY

41 157 198 20.7 % £3,139. £16,262. 16.2 % 913 5,884 6,797 13.4 % £75,078.

754 JOHN LEWIS BLUEWATER

65 273 338 19.2 % £4,864. £32,491. 13.0 % 1,40

1 7,451 8,852 15.8 % £119,382.

755 JL OXFORD CIRCUS

77 357 434 17.7 % £6,806. £42,999. 13.7 % 1,22

3 7,417 8,640 14.2 % £115,174.

756 JOHN LEWIS EDINBURGH

54 203 257 21.0 % £4,177. £21,032. 16.6 % 896 5,941 6,837 13.1 % £69,255.

757 JL MILTON KEYNES

51 182 233 21.9 % £3,585. £19,942. 15.2 % 899 5,927 6,826 13.2 % £73,537.

758 JOHN LEWIS SOLIHULL

40 179 219 18.3 % £3,331. £17,587. 15.9 % 850 5,665 6,515 13.0 % £68,447.

Generally the John Lewis stores have not performed greatly in the 1971 range as you can see

above. This could be automatically put down to the typical John Lewis shopper being slightly

older than the 1971 range is aiming at and possibly to fashion for this type of customer. John

Lewis Cambridge the worst performing store, only selling 36 units in core weeks, this goes

alongside with the actual Cambridge store who only sold 74 units. However, the John Lewis

Cheadle has performed well (see Appendices Figure 17 – Cum Sales Denim) and is ranked

46th in company and is turning on 7.36 weeks cover for core sales weeks (see Appendices

Figure 17 – 1971 vs Mainline for Time Frame - denim) , this is generally high for any John

Lewis store.


The images below show the 1971 visual merchandising in John Lewis stores. Fashion cities

such as Manchester, Liverpool and London were the best performing John Lewis stores.


Interview

This primary research will involve interviews with store managers. The stores that will be

focused on will be stores that have performed well with the 1971 range and also those that

have underperformed. The purpose of this research is to understand stores customer reaction

they have received in store. It is important to understand why 1971 is not working in the

underperforming stores.

Qualitative Research Methods

In order to gather qualitative data, standardised face to face interviews have been designed.

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2007) state that non standardised interviews are used to

gather data, which are normally analysed qualitatively. These interviews will be targeted at

store managers around the UK. Those managers that are further away from London will be

interviewed over the phone. Using this type of research instrument will allow for specific

questions to be asked. See Appendices 18 for interview questions.

Actions

Store Managers to Interview Underperforming

Kensington, JL Southampton, York, Bond Street, Notting Hill.

Over performing

Selfridges London, Barrett Street, White City, Leeds, Stansted.

Primary data collection Interview

Sampling frame Store Managers

Sample size 10 store managers

Type of Interview Face to face

Phone interview


Interview Results

See Appendices Figure 19 for Selfridges interview transcript.

Feedback from Leeds

From a customers point of view, there is no differentiation between mainline and 1971 –

apart from the label. Money needs to be spent in order for it to do well and be recognised as

a household name. Visually in store it needs to stand out, it needs to be separate to mainline

with graphics so customers can visually see that the difference. Possibly having the 1971

range positioned at the back of every store for example. The range is missing identity and a

lot of the styles could have been in the manline collection and there were similar styles in

mainline. The product needs to make a statement and have a separate identity to mainline. It

visually needs to be different and money must be spent on marketing.

In terms of capturing a new customer – Leeds is very student based – approx 60,000 students

– they all shop in All Saints if we could even capture 10% of these customers that would be a

start. The 1971 was too expensive for the students with some price points even higher than

mainline.

Generally feedback received from store managers has been that 1971 needs identity and must

stand out from mainline. It should be displayed separately with graphics to make the brand

visible to customers. A lot of stores have also said that the customers lost interest towards the

end of the season – due to lack of newness and not enough back up on bets selling items.

Lessons learned have been that the product needs to be continually strong throughout the

whole season, in AW09 there were no 1971 styles in group 3 – just 1 & 2, this must be

reviewed. Along with the visual merchandising of 1971 – customers must see a clear

definition between mainline and 1971 in store.


With this is mind, 1971 has still performed well for some stores and product and display has

not effected these stores. The next step will be to visit stores and areas that are

overperfioming and underperforming to understand why this is happening. This could be

down to the type of customer that each store has.


Store Visits to Underperforming Stores

Kensington (see Appendices Figure 20)

Location London

Grading AW09 Mid Store

1971 Sales Var against mainline

16.9% (core average 19.6%) for time frame

1971 Cum Sales Units : 242 Sales Val : £19,698

Weeks cover for denim

30.5 weeks cover

1971 company ranking

43rd

Denim ranking 67th

Display in store 1971 in section separate in store

Surrounding stores Kensington Church Street – antique furniture shops at one end and lots of cosmetic shops. Next door to a wine shop, opposite Mac make up store.

Feedback from Manager – felt that the 1971 range was not represented as it should have been in store. Might as well be off the shop floor as the section is hardly being touched by customers – wasted selling space. Especially the tailoring pieces – very slow sellers. Not right time of year for the tank tops (Beatriz – three colour options, bough in large quantities as Reiss anticipated the rate of sale to be higher and sold out by this stage of season). Had half of the denim options off the shopfloor.

Need more of best sellers in store – have had to transfer out best sellers on IBT’s. Need more stock of best selling items. Manager feels they need variety and stronger special pieces for 1971. Need newness. One dress for this stage is not enough. Should be condensed and stronger – not productive use of selling space in store.

Generally, feedback received showed that the store manager feels they are underperforming due to lack of newness in store. Customers not seeing anything new in the 1971 so have lost interest and stopped looking in that section. This seems to be a common factor as stores have not received any new 1971 styles in group 3. The only new style in group 4 has been a dress and scarf repeat in different colour option. They really needed the dress in store as it lifted the 1971 display wall – if there was more of this and back up on best selling items, customers may not have lost interest. With denim, customers were trying on but not liking the fit and wouldn’t attempt trying on other styles. Customers are already loyal to their denim brands.


Bond Street (see Appendices Figure 21)

Location Central London

Grading AW09 Mid store


16.7%

1971 Cum Sales Units : 427 Sales Value: £42,827


22.13 weeks cover


16th

Denim ranking 32nd

Display in store 1971 displayed at back of store, could not really tell it was 1971

Competitors surrounding store

Higher end stores and designer labels on Bond Street.

1971 didn’t stand out in this store. Not much table space for jeans, only had the Dylan jean displayed on a table. Stores need something to define 1971 from mainline, so that customers can clearly see the new brand and direction of company. This may encourage new customers to come in store and show them what Reiss has to offer, then they will realise Reiss has the casual element as well as the formal and occasion wear it is known for.

1971 may not be working as well in this store due to the size of the store – it is a fairly small store for Reiss as a central London store. Mainline takes over the store, leaving not much room for 1971. For mainline – 10th in company for cum mainline sales value – for the size of the store it has performed well.

Bond Street is known for designer stores and the type of customer may not be looking for casual wear.


Store Visits to Overperforming Stores

Islington (see Appendices Figure 22)

Location London

Grading AW09 All Store


25.5 %



6.26 weeks cover


14th

Denim ranking 12th

Display in store Majority displayed separately – denim also displayed in with mainline


Jack Wills, All Saints, Frost French, boutique shops, vintage shops and antique shops.

This store have performed very well on denim, the feel of the Islington area is very laid back and causal. It is a real quirky area and generally a very ‘cool’ area, that is young and trendy with lots of vintage shops, antique fairs and pubs. Competitors around the area go along with the casual scene.

Feedback from staff is that customers are generally younger, quirky and rock n roll. Customers look for something to wear on the weekend that is not too occasion but has a casual element. Customer loved the casual cottons and tunic dresses to wear with the leggings. There was a lot of initial interest in the 1971 range as the Islington customer loved the idea of something fresh and new. A lot of younger customers asking about the new range but also the existing customers still liked it.

There is an Accessory store next door, as the main store performs so well for 1971 and it is the right customer and location – propose to turn Islington Accessory store into a stand-alone 1971 store. It is a fairly small space – but perfect for holding the 1971 collection.


Bristol Park Street (see Appendices Figure 23)

Location South West

Grading AW09 Mid Store


25.7%



30 weeks cover


52nd

Denim ranking 73rd

Display in store


Boutique shops, All Saints, Jack Wills.

Bristol Park Street has a 25.7% sales variance against mainline compared to Bristol Quakers Friar 21.7%. Both are above average in the company, but the Bristol stores need some differentiation from one another. The Bristol Park Street store has been a bottom store since the new Quakers Friar store opened last year. In order to get the Park Street back on track something has to change. The Clifton area that Park Street is located is a quirky area, which is more relaxed, casual and generally has a younger shopper and university students– compared to the Quakers Friar store which is located just outside Cabot Circus – a new shopping centre. The Quakers Friars street conists of high end retailers such as LK Bennet, Harvey Nichols, The White Company and Ted Baker.

It would be a recommendation to take 1971 out of the Quakers Friar store completely and make the Park Street store a 1971 stand alone store. Making the Park Street store is roughly half the size of Quakers Friar with limited stock room space. This would make the small store which already feels quite quirky with the exposed brick work and low lighting more exclusive and it also fits in with the boutique like competitors surrounding the store. The shopping centre store than then focus on mainline, which fits in with the shopping centre shopper and the surrounding competitors.


(see Appendices Figure 24) Cabot Place Canary Wharf

Location Central London – the City

Grading AW09 Top Select


22.3% 11.3%

1971 Cum Sales Units : 223 Sales Value : £17,257

Units : 275 Sales Value :£19.814

Weeks cover for denim 10.55 weeks cover 7.3 weeks cover

1971 company ranking 50th 38th

Denim ranking 59th 29th

Cabot Place used to be accessories store and is a small store with very limited stock room space. Canary Wharf is a lot bigger but again with limited stock room space. Feedback from Canary Wharf is that customers are looking for either formal wear for work or occasion wear for going out. Their usual customer is not looking for casual wear, with thousands of job cuts in the city their typical city worker shopper has been affected by the recession. A combination of the credit crunch and hard times on the high street means that the relationship between retailers and their banks is more delicate than ever. Therefore there must be a differentiation between the two stores that are located in walking distance to one another.

Cabot Place received more 1971 options than the main Canary Wharf store and has performed with an above average sales variance against warehouse, compared to the very low 11.3% from Canary Wharf. This shows that the 1971 range in the smaller store has performed well and therefore going forward it would be a good idea to make the smaller store 1971 only. This store struggled in SS09 but since it has received 1971 and had a more casual element it has been able to draw customers in, instead of them just heading over to the big store.


(see Appendices Figure 25) Covent Garden Long Acre

Location Central London

Grading AW09 ALL Store ALL Store


20.5% 17.2%


Units : 376 Sales Val : £31,831

Weeks cover for denim 11.8 weeks cover 15.17 weeks cover

1971 company ranking 7th 21st

Denim ranking 10th 29th

Covent Garden store is Ladieswear only on two floors. Long Acre store us smaller and mainly menswear. Ladieswear is downstairs with small shop floor space. The stores are positioned only a short walk across the road from one another.

The main Covent Garden store has performed much better and they received the same number of options for AW09. They are ranked very highly in the company for 1971. And has taken almost double in cum sales value compared to Long Acre store.

Propose to take 1971 out of 1971 completely as for seasons going forward menswear will take over the whole ground floor, leaving womenswear with just a small selling space downstairs. It would be an idea to make this store mainline holding only occasion and special pieces of the season with not only one colour option of styles.

The main store could have mainline and 1971 separated on different floors.


Evaluation of Store Visits

- clear that the type of shopper and area has an effect of the stores 1971 performance

- stores need differentiation from one another in close perimeter

- too many denim options – half in stock room

- propose to make some stores all 1971 and some take completely out


SS10 Grading

From looking at cumulative sales for 1971 (see Appendices Figure 26) it has enabled the

report to look at each stores performance to enable a grading system to be set in place for

AW10. To give depth to this analyse the report has been sorted in order of Cum Sales Value

(see Appendices Figure 27) and also Cum Sales Units (see Appendices Figure 28).

After this thorough analysis, store visits and talking to managers a proposed grading system

has been built. See Appendices SS10 Grading. The following comments show the reasoning

behind each decision made (see Appendices Figure 29).

Grade 1 - All 1971

Grade No. Location Name Cum Sales Value

Cum Sales Units

Cum Sales Value

RANGE AW09 RANGE SS10

1 60 BARRATT STREET £138,225 1,615 16.2% ALL ALL OPTIONS 1 789 SELFRIDGES £150,330 1,519 15.0% ALL ALL OPTIONS 1 900 INTERNET BRANCH £51,642 557 15.6% ALL ALL OPTIONS 1 38 BRISTOL £12,046 147 21.7% MID ALL OPTIONS 1 78 CANARY WHARF ACCESSO £17,257 223 15.5% TOP ALL OPTIONS 1 64 ISLINGTON ACC #N/A #N/A #N/A #N/A ALL OPTIONS 1 28 COVENT GARDEN £60,356 668 15.0% ALL ALL OPTIONS 1 77 LIVERPOOL ONE #N/A #N/A #N/A #N/A ALL OPTIONS 8

Grade 1 includes stores that will receive all 1971 including any special pieces for AW10,

which will be exclusive to these stores. It has been decided that in order to differentiate

stores in close perimeter and due to the potential growth of the new sub-brand that it is

recommended for the company to trial stand alone 1971 stores. In order to grow the brand

this will show the customer that Reiss has the separate brand and is growing its casual wear.

New customers can visit the stores and soon be loyal to the 1971 denim, it will make it stand

out in the market and make customers see Reiss in a casual aspect as well as the tradition

tailoring and occasion wear offer. The stand alone stores will potentialise the aspect of

drawing new customers in.


The suggested stand alone stores as highlighted above are Bristol, Cabot Place (Canary

Wharf Accessories), Islington Accessories and Liverpool One (see Appendices Figure 30).

With the suggestion to take 1971 out of the Long Acre store, the Covent Garden store will

receive all options and have a separate sales floor for 1971. All of these stores have other

stores nearby which will carry mainline styles, so that the existing customer has the option of

both. Barrett Street, Selfridges and the Internet store s will all continue to receive all 1971

options.

Grade 2 - All


Cum Sales Units

Cum Sales Value


2 1 KINGS ROAD £110,447 1,164 15.3% ALL ALL STYLES 2 16 KENT HOUSE £80,409 949 17.4% ALL ALL STYLES 2 70 WHITE CITY £88,637 1,018 14.1% ALL ALL STYLES 2 15 ROYAL EX GLASGOW £18,603 224 21.0% MID ALL STYLES 2 6 LEEDS £52,620 595 15.8% ALL ALL STYLES 2 23 SHAMBLES £44,486 498 16.3% ALL ALL STYLES 2 400 DUBLIN £53,065 540 12.3% ALL ALL STYLES 2 10 BRIGHTON £21,573 255 19.9% MID ALL STYLES 2 13 BLUE WATERS REISS £73,220 785 15.6% ALL ALL STYLES 2 63 HEATHROW T5 £57,301 737 16.6% MID ALL STYLES

10

Stores in Grade 2 will receive all 1971 styles, but will not get all colour options. Although

White City has not had a particularly high cum sales value, the store is a big money taker and

for this reason is a Grade 2 store, this is the same for the Dublin store.

Royal Exchange has been moved up a grade also with an above average 21% Cum Sales

Value, compared to the other nearby Scottish store which has been moved down a grade, sue

to a 13% Cum Sales Value – this will also give the stores some differentiation. Brighton has

also moved up a grade, after visiting the area, it is clear that is a very trendy, quirky area with

a lot of boutiques and vintage shops, there is a young customer to be captured further in this


area. Heathrow T5 ranked 8th in the company for overall 1971 departments and 7th for denim,

and therefore has been moved up a grade.

Grade 3 - Mid


Cum Sales Units

Cum Sales Value


3 21 REGENT ST.NEW £34,774 384 12.3% ALL MID 3 48 READING £28,719 308 19.2% MID MID 3 8 NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE £22,719 265 19.7% MID MID 3 44 WIMBLEDON £20,625 264 17.3% TOP MID 3 35 RICHMOND £21,098 260 17.0% MID MID 2 26 BRENT CROSS £45,461 522 12.4% ALL MID 3 62 YORK £18,831 228 16.7% MID MID 3 740 FENWICK NEWCASTLE £30,541 331 16.4% MID MID 3 18 CHESTER £20,344 226 16.9% MID MID 3 37 EDINBURGH £24,435 273 16.3% MID MID 3 27 BIRM BULLRING £31,244 341 15.8% MID MID 3 34 NEW HAMPSTEAD £25,852 298 14.9% MID MID 3 68 EXETER £21,552 267 16.1% MID MID 3 40 BROMPTON ROAD £54,135 596 14.5% ALL MID 3 787 SELFRIDGES TRAFFORD £14,539 162 18.4% MID MID 3 75 STANSTED £22,304 351 16.1% TOP MID 3 14 NOTTINGHAM £20,858 260 15.9% ALL MID 3 29 LEADENHALL £32,218 425 14.6% MID MID 3 71 LEICESTER £24,682 299 14.9% MID MID 3 39 VIGO STREET £26,666 304 14.1% MID MID 3 42 HEATHROW TERMINAL 3 £41,302 599 14.7% TOP MID 3 7 NEW BOND STREET £42,827 427 13.9% MID MID 3 30 KENSINGTON £19,698 242 13.4% MID MID 3 74 BELFAST £24,356 287 12.0% MID MID 3 760 GALLERIES LAFAYETTE £8,639 64 7.0% #N/A MID

25

Grade 3 stores will receive all mid store buys for AW10. Although Regent Street performed

with a low cum sales value, this store is a key London store for Reiss and still sold 384.

It is recommended to move the Stansted store up from AW09, as the store ranked in at 11th

place for actual quantity sold for denim (see Appendices Figure 31). This store would be a

grade higher, but the actual size of this store is small, therefore will receive mid store options

and a higher mix of denim compared to other departments.


Heathrow Terminal 3 has been moved up a grade from last season, performing 6th place for

denim and turning on 3.53 weeks cover (see Appendices Figure 32). The number of options

for this store will need to be looked at individually as it is a small store with very limited

stock room space.

Galleries Lafayette’s till was broken until half way through the season, therefore they have

been graded a mid-store, due to the fact that this is the only store in Paris it should represent

the Reiss brand – mainline and 1971.

Grade 4 – Low Mid


Cum Sales Units

Cum Sales Value


4 738 FENWICKS TUNBRIDGE £10,641 111 17.1% #N/A LOW MID 4 795 HARVEY NICHOLLS £30,918 336 13.3% TOP LOW MID 4 73 CHELTENHAM £18,650 218 16.3% TOP LOW MID 4 43 BATH £15,451 194 15.4% TOP LOW MID 4 46 NOTTING HILL £12,607 155 16.7% TOP LOW MID 4 25 GUILDFORD £23,488 277 14.8% MID LOW MID 4 11 TRAFFORD PARK £24,468 282 14.6% TOP LOW MID 4 36 SOUTH MOLTON STREET £26,332 309 13.0% TOP LOW MID 4 19 CAMBRIDGE £14,372 188 14.3% MID LOW MID 4 786 SELFRIDGES BIRM £9,113 97 14.9% TOP LOW MID 4 9 GLASGOW £30,061 312 13.0% TOP LOW MID 4 61 ST.ALBANS £13,931 168 12.9% SELECT LOW MID 4 20 KINGSTON £17,608 233 12.2% MID LOW MID 4 49 OXFORD £10,745 151 11.7% TOP LOW MID 5 755 JL OXFORD CIRCUS £13,160 134 10.0% SELECT LOW MID 5 748 JOHN LEWIS CARDIFF £5,975 68 13.9% #N/A LOW MID 5 754 JOHN LEWIS BLUEWATER £9,459 119 11.2% SELECT LOW MID

17

Stores in grade for will receive all big buys and some medium buys depending on individual

store performance and size. The John Lewis stores will receive a lower number of options,

due to only having a small concession space. Although the Glasgow store has sold £30, 061

cum sales value, their sales value was a low 13.0%. The Royal Exchange store will represent

1971 in Scotland as they have been moved up to grade 2 store and will get all styles.


Grade 5 - Select


Cum Sales Units

Cum Sales Value


5 22 BROADGATE £20,261 255 10.8% TOP SELECT 5 739 BENTALLS KINGSTON £9,007 108 9.4% SELECT SELECT 5 749 JOHN LEWIS LIVERPOOL £8,211 90 15.5% SELECT SELECT 5 751 JOHN LEWIS CHEADLE £8,538 111 11.0% SELECT SELECT 5 756 JOHN LEWIS EDINBURGH £7,036 85 11.3% SELECT SELECT 5 752 PETER JONES £9,157 107 10.1% SELECT SELECT 5 757 JL MILTON KEYNES £6,176 85 11.0% SELECT SELECT 5 758 JOHN LEWIS SOLIHULL £5,021 69 11.5% SELECT SELECT 5 753 JL CRIBBS CAUSEWAY £5,099 66 10.4% SELECT SELECT 9

The above stores will get selected styles from big buys. These stores are small on space and

have not been performing well with 1971 compared to mainline. The John Lewis Cheadle

store has performed well on denim, this will be looked at when planning options per store.

Grade 5 - None


Cum Sales Units

Cum Sales Value


1 41 ISLINGTON £41,563 496 19.4% ALL NONE 2 5 LONG ACRE £31,831 376 12.7% ALL NONE 4 24 CANARY WHARF £19,814 275 7.6% SELECT NONE 3 17 LIVERPOOL £16,006 181 15.9% MID NONE 3 72 QUAKER FRIAR BRISTOL £24,064 265 18.2% MID NONE 5 759 JL SOUTHAMPTON £4,953 65 9.8% SELECT NONE 5 750 JOHN LEWIS CAMBRIDGE £4,578 53 7.8% SELECT NONE 7 14.5%

After looking at the above stores AW09 1971 sales performance they have either

overperformed or underperformed. The Islington store has performed really highly in 1971,

this has led to the decision to make the Accessory store next door a 1971 stand alone store,

this is the reason why the store won’t receive any options.

The Long Acre store in SS10 will be mainly menswear, leaving just a small shop floor space

for ladieswear. With the Covent Garden store performing well, they will hold all 1971 styles


and the decision has been made to take 1971 out of the smaller Long Acre store completely.

The surrounding stores to Liverpool and Quaker Friar will now be all 1971; from this

decision 1971 will be taken out of these stores to make them completely mainline.

Based on the above John Lewis stores sales performance, 1971 will be taken out completely.


SS10 Options

The next step is planning options for stores for next season, see Appendices Figure 33 and 34

for 1971 SS10 Campaign shots. The table below shows the size of buys for each department,

from this options for stores can be decided, ensuring a balanced range and mix over all

departments.

1971 SS10 Buy

No. Dept Sml Med Big Options Mix

17 Leathers 3 2 1 6 6.5%

18 Casual Jackets 1 6 1 8 8.7%

20 Denim 5 0 13 18 19.6%

26 Casual Trousers 3 2 1 6 6.5%

28 Casual Skirts 3 2 1 6 6.5%

29 Dresses 2 4 8 14 15.2%

35 Shirts 1 0 1 2 2.2%

45 Cottons 6 8 9 23 25.0%

46 Tops 2 1 3 6 6.5%

55 Knitwear 2 0 1 3 3.3%

28 25 39 92 100.0%

To decide how many options each store will receive will depend on the stores grading, also

baring in mind the size of the store.


Options for Grades

Grade RANGE SS10 Options AW09

Options SS10

1 ALL OPTIONS 99 92

2 ALL STYLES 99 80

3 MID 70 70

3 MID 70 60

4 LOW MID 50 50

4 LOW MID 35 40

5 SELECT 35 30

5 SELECT 35 5

6 NONE 35 0

6 NONE 35 0

The above table shows how many options each grade will receive. Grade 1 stores will

receive all 92 options; this is slightly less than AW09. Grade 2 will receive all styles, this is

80 options. High graded Mid stores will receive 10 options, smaller stores in this grade

should receive 10 less options. Grade 4 stores will receive 40-50 options of the big buy styles.

Grade 5 will receive a select amount of 30 styles. The John Lewis stores in this Select grade

will receive the 5 key denim options. Grade 6 will not receive any denim styles.

For SS10, the number of options has been looked into in more depth, according to size of

store and AW09 1971 performance. See Appendices Figure 37 for detailed SS10 stores

options.


SS10 Department Grids

When planning options, it is important that each store’s strengths and weaknesses are taken

into account. Now that there is sales history from AW09, all stores will be ranked within their

grade by department based on sales performance. By looking at department cum sales (see

Appendices 35), options by department by store can be planned; this will look in depth at

individual store performance to ensure that each store is receiving the right mix of product to

potentialise sales. This grading will be constantly reviewed by department, to ensure that

stores are not missing out on styles in areas they are overperforming.

To plan the number of options by store, the size of buys, individual styles and store cum

analysis must all be taken into consideration. With denim, dresses and cottons being the

biggest department mixes of the total buy, the following information shows the theory behind

the option planning.

Denim

See Appendices Figure 36 for detailed denim analysis; this is ranked by cum sales units

within in grade. The highlighted stores shows

smaller Reiss stores. The high fashion pieces in

denim this season is the Minnelli (pictured left)

and the Joplin (pictured right). These group two

styles both come in two colour options, therefore

lower grade stores and those stores who did not

perform well with denim will only get one of each

style – the Select John Lewis stores will not

receive any of these styles.

Minnelli Joplin


Styles such as the Patti and the Dolly that come in two colour options, only grade 1 stores

will receive all 4 of these options – apart from top Grade 2 stores that will receive all 4

options as they will not be receiving the small buys.

Although the Debbie group 3 style is a small buy, this style will also go to mid stores

Heathrow Terminal 3 and Stansted, as this style in a denim short and the terminals always do

well with shorts as customers are purchasing for their holidays.

The Select John Lewis stores will receive the 5 core styles; Patti (2 options) – straight leg,

Dolly – kickflare, Smith – skinny and Farrah – high waisted skinny. As the John Lewis

Cheadle store performed well on decide, it would be suggested to send them 8 denim styles in

total.

The smaller stores in Grade 1 such as Islington Accessories and Canary Wharf Accessories

will receive a smaller allocation profile of 8 sizes rather than 10.

Dolly Patti


Grade 2 stores will receive 14- 16 options. Kings Road, White City and Kent House

performed well on denim SS09 and should therefore receive 16 options. The top grade 3

stores will receive the same number of options with 14 options, these two stores are the

smaller stores and will therefore get less number of options across the other departments. The

lower grade 3 stores will receive 12 options, and smaller stores 11 – giving these stores just

one option of he Patti and Dolly in group 1.

Dresses

See Appendices Figure 39 for dress store ranging. Grade 1 stores to receive all 13 dress

options, as well as the top dress selling stores from grade 2. Only

top stores will receive the Maddy dress (fabric pictured right), this

dress is a small buy that Beyonce Knowles has been pictures

wearing and has had a lot of press – so this is predicted to have a

high sell through.

The Hercules dress pictured below, is featured in the look book and is a big buy of 1,000

units. This style is ranged for grades 1-4.

Grade 3 stores will receive 10-11 options. Galleries will

receive just 8 of the more day/occasion styles, they will not

receive styles such as the Mortiz, this is a tie dye jersey dress.

Galleries have not historically sold jersey dresses (5.05% of

dress sales – see Appendices Figure 42).

The Edinburgh store is ranked third in company (see

Appendices Figure 43) for occasion dresses. The 1971 range

consists more of the day/jersey dresses therefore this store will

Hercules

Maddy


receive 9 dress options from 1971 and when planning

mainline collection it will be ensured that this store makes

up their dress department mix in occasion dresses. This is

similar for the Belfast store who last season sold 34.06%

occasion dresses, this store has been taken off the Mortiz

jersey dress (fabric pictured right).

From looking at the Attribute report, this has enabled detailed information about what dresses

stores sell, stores have been looked at individually and taken off dresses accordingly.

Top grade 4 stores will receive 8 options; whereas the smaller

lower performing stores will receive 6. The lower performing

dress stores will not receive the Venus dress, pictured left, as

this print dress is a high fashion piece that not all customers will

understand.

Broadgate and Bentalls Kingston will receive 4 of the big buys

across all 4 groups, to ensure newness. All stores will receive

the Chantilly dress, which is a key style, lace – on trend and

featured in campaign shot (fabric pictured right)..

In group 2 the June dress has been chosen, over the other big

store buys, because this is the ‘safest’ and ‘easiest’ style to

wear (as you can see from the sketch left).

Venus

June

Mortiz

Chantilly


Cottons

See Appendices Figure 40 for cotton store ranging. There are 22

options within 1971 cottons, 9 of which are big buys. In order

for the smaller stores not to be over optioned, they will receive

one colour option of styles such as the Benaco (pictured left) and

the Garda (sketch right).

Kings Road, Kent House and

Bluewater were top selling

cotton stores for AW09 and will

therefore receive 19 out of 22

options. The rest of grade 2 will receive all styles, including

the small buy Chrissie as pictured below.

Brompton Road and Brent Cross performed well on cottons and will

therefore have around a 25% mix of cottons within 1971. Grade 3

ranges from 13- 16 options, depending on their AW09 performance.

Grade 4 ranges from 7 -14. Harvey Nichols, South Molton Street and

Glasgow were top performers in this grade and will receive 14

options. The smaller concession stores are planned for 7; they will

receive new styles throughout the season across all 4 grades.

All stores apart from Bentalls Kingston have been planned for the

Winnie cotton (fabric pictured right), this is a key cotton that

comes in two colour options. As Bentalls Kingston have only sold

9 cottons season to date, this store should only receive 4 options.

Benaco

Winnie

Chrissie


SS10 Department Option Planning

Appendices Figure 41 demonstrates SS10 options planning across all 1971 departments. The

number of options for stores within each grade will vary in accordance to their individual

store performance and size.

Stores have been planned a number of options within each department…..according to sales

history…where some stores are higher in one area that they have performed well in, they

have less options in other departments.

The majority of stores are under the proposed total option count. This is due to the fact that it

is important to react to store performance throughout the season, options should be reviewed

throughout the season, especially as this is the first spring/summer 1971 collection and

therefore this is still a learning curve for Reiss. Stores will still be drawing in new customers

and getting different reactions towards the SS10 range, therefore the Merchandising team can

react to sales and extend styles according to individual store performances. The stock must

get to the right stores in order to fulfil sales potential.


Denim Options AW09

Reports...cover..too many options....feedback from stores…stock left

(see Appendices Figure 45 – Kent House Denim).

Denim cover report below) – stores and cover

Kensington. Feedback on denim – not great fit – need two lengths. Need more safe pieces. As it has just been introduced customers need to find the perfect jean so they come back in future – bit too creative for first season. People are loyal to denim brands and know what fits them and size – Seven jeans. Once they try on one style and it doesn’t fit- wont bother trying anymore. Need a middle ground. Too many denim options – need to be safe style, zip too seasonal for introduction.

Islington – enough options but maybe not the right options. Needed high waisted straight leg. Customers loved the Patti and Grace.

e.g … # core, # fashion, # options


1971 Denim Performance Key Sales Weeks

CORE


Total Unit Sales

1971 Sales Val

1971 Stock

1971 Stock Val Cover

1 KINGS ROAD 102 102 £8,375. 146 £12,436. 5.73

5 LONG ACRE 24 24 £1,929. 91 £7,755. 15.17

6 LEEDS 43 43 £3,374. 115 £9,789. 10.70

7 NEW BOND STREET 15 15 £1,152. 83 £7,051. 22.13

8 NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE 20 20 £1,526. 63 £5,407. 12.60

9 GLASGOW 24 24 £1,927. 54 £4,594. 9.00

10 BRIGHTON 21 21 £1,614. 70 £5,944. 13.33

11 TRAFFORD PARK 34 34 £2,678. 50 £4,194. 5.88

13 BLUE WATERS REISS 61 61 £4,990. 127 £10,851. 8.33

14 NOTTINGHAM 18 18 £1,364. 68 £5,814. 15.11

15 ROYAL EX GLASGOW 18 18 £1,507. 68 £5,776. 15.11

16 KENT HOUSE 89 89 £6,823. 127 £10,861. 5.71

17 LIVERPOOL 25 25 £1,926. 79 £6,715. 12.64

18 CHESTER 17 17 £1,369. 65 £5,573. 15.29

19 CAMBRIDGE 15 15 £1,230. 68 £5,788. 18.13

20 KINGSTON 24 24 £1,968. 65 £5,569. 10.83

21 REGENT ST.NEW 21 21 £1,774. 84 £7,202. 16.00

22 BROADGATE 29 29 £2,110. 29 £2,481. 4.00

23 SHAMBLES 37 37 £2,928. 105 £8,953. 11.35

24 CANARY WHARF 29 29 £2,149. 51 £4,269. 7.03

25 GUILDFORD 23 23 £1,974. 67 £5,703. 11.65

26 BRENT CROSS 38 38 £3,103. 89 £7,633. 9.37

27 BIRM BULLRING 17 17 £1,336. 64 £5,426. 15.06

28 COVENT GARDEN 41 41 £3,337. 121 £10,331. 11.80

29 LEADENHALL 33 33 £2,683. 70 £5,952. 8.48

30 KENSINGTON 8 8 £591. 61 £5,243. 30.50

34 NEW HAMPSTEAD 26 26 £2,143. 53 £4,497. 8.15

35 RICHMOND 17 17 £1,303. 69 £5,931. 16.24

36 SOUTH MOLTON STREET 31 31 £2,494. 62 £5,232. 8.00

37 EDINBURGH 26 26 £2,014. 69 £5,899. 10.62

38 BRISTOL 8 8 £682. 60 £5,120. 30.00

39 VIGO STREET 23 23 £1,878. 71 £6,041. 12.35

40 BROMPTON ROAD 32 32 £2,587. 85 £7,267. 10.63

41 ISLINGTON 46 46 £3,904. 72 £6,134. 6.26

42 HEATHROW TERMINAL 3 43 43 £3,133. 38 £3,204. 3.53

43 BATH 23 23 £1,907. 51 £4,339. 8.87

44 WIMBLEDON 29 29 £2,416. 42 £3,576. 5.79

46 NOTTING HILL 16 16 £1,319. 51 £4,343. 12.75

48 READING 19 19 £1,639. 73 £6,227. 15.37

49 OXFORD 13 13 £1,085. 49 £4,165. 15.08

60 BARRATT STREET 99 101 £7,653. 174 £14,862. 7.03

62 YORK 12 12 £961. 65 £5,565. 21.67

68 EXETER 31 31 £2,523. 77 £6,559. 9.94

73 CHELTENHAM 28 28 £2,146. 49 £4,147. 7.00

Sum: 1,348 1,350 ######### 3,290 £280,418.


EXTERNAL


Total Unit Sales

1971 Sales Val

1971 Stock


738 FENWICKS TUNBRIDGE 20 20 £1,680. 46 £3,904. 9.20

739 BENTALLS KINGSTON 9 9 £753. 45 £3,795. 20.00

740 FENWICK NEWCASTLE 27 27 £2,232. 63 £5,397. 9.33

748 JOHN LEWIS CARDIFF 4 4 £332. 44 £3,752. 44.00

749 JOHN LEWIS LIVERPOOL 11 11 £903. 45 £3,761. 16.36

750 JOHN LEWIS CAMBRIDGE 9 9 £747. 48 £4,008. 21.33

751 JOHN LEWIS CHEADLE 25 25 £2,087. 46 £3,846. 7.36

752 PETER JONES 23 23 £1,917. 43 £3,593. 7.48

753 JL CRIBBS CAUSEWAY 20 20 £1,686. 45 £3,757. 9.00

754 JOHN LEWIS BLUEWATER 12 12 £1,004. 62 £5,238. 20.67

755 JL OXFORD CIRCUS 21 21 £1,777. 55 £4,651. 10.48

756 JOHN LEWIS EDINBURGH 13 13 £1,095. 43 £3,599. 13.23

757 JL MILTON KEYNES 17 17 £1,409. 45 £3,799. 10.59

758 JOHN LEWIS SOLIHULL 14 14 £1,174. 46 £3,842. 13.14

759 JL SOUTHAMPTON 6 6 £504. 49 £4,105. 32.67

760 GALLERIES LAFAYETTE 8 8 £995. 52 £6,625. 26.00

786 SELFRIDGES BIRM 10 10 £854. 50 £4,246. 20.00

787 SELFRIDGES TRAFFORD 10 10 £798. 56 £4,770. 22.40

789 SELFRIDGES 205 205 £17,495. 232 £19,842. 4.53

795 HARVEY NICHOLLS 17 17 £1,443. 65 £5,525. 15.29

Sum: 481 481 £40,884.51 1,180 £102,055.

NON-CORE


Total Unit Sales

1971 Sales Val

1971 Stock


61 ST.ALBANS 22 22 £1,813. 57 £4,805. 10.36

63 HEATHROW T5 51 51 £3,686. 78 £6,686. 6.12

70 WHITE CITY 79 79 £6,413. 120 £10,216. 6.08

71 LEICESTER 22 22 £1,651. 72 £6,208. 13.09

72 QUAKER FRIAR BRISTOL 16 16 £1,248. 64 £5,476. 16.00

74 BELFAST 24 24 £1,912. 71 £6,063. 11.83

75 STANSTED 51 51 £3,619. 59 £5,011. 4.63

78 CANARY WHARF ACCESSO 22 22 £1,674. 58 £4,922. 10.55

400 DUBLIN 46 46 £4,258. 114 £11,349. 9.91

900 INTERNET BRANCH 20 20 £1,704. 6 £534. 1.20

Sum: 384 384 £30,213.10 895 £79,912.


DENIM OPTIONS FOR AW10 – plausible offer

- No. of Denim options, what is a plausible offer and how are we going to display it

e.g … # core, # fashion, # options


AW10 Phasing

After talking to UK stores, feedback from stores raised a main concern of how the 1971 range was sitting in November, towards the end of the

season. Managers showed concern to the lack of newness hitting their stores in the late half of the season. For AW09 46% of the buy was

Group 1 and 47% was Group 2, compared to 5% Group 3 and 3% (repeats) for Group 4. Subsequently, there were 2 new styles in Group 3 and

no new styles for Group 4. It was felt by store managers that 1971 was not being correctly represented in store, customers would not approach

the 1971 space as nothing was new to give it the lift it needed. Smaller stores had only slow sellers on the shopfloor, as best sellers in the

company were fragmented and they were instructed to these styles to the stores where their rate of sale was much higher. In the Fiscal Week 41

(end of November) stores average cover for 1971 is 0.8 weeks, this proves that stores do not have much stock to be turning on.

It would be a suggestion for AW10 to phase 1971 into Group 3 and 4, instead of just 1 and 2, to ensure constant newness of product throughout

the season. This is demonstrated in the table below (please see Appendices Figure 47 for detailed AW10 Option Plan).

GROUP 1 GROUP 2 GROUP 3 GROUP 4 TOTAL

AW09 AW10 MAIN AW09 AW10 MAIN AW09 AW10 MAIN AW09 AW10 MAIN AW09 AW10 MAIN AW10

ACT PLAN PLAN ACT PLAN PLAN ACT PLAN PLAN ACT PLAN PLAN ACT PLAN PLAN STYLES 20 30 70 27 25 61 2 16 48% 0 8 14 49 78 193

OPTIONS 36 39 110 37 32 95 4 21 77 2 9 22 79 101 304

% OPTIONS BY PHASE 46% 39% 36% 47% 32% 31% 5% 21% 25% 3% 9% 7%


Group 2 has been decreased by 15% and Group 3 now has a significant 21 options, compared

to LY 4 options. The 1971 total buy has also been increased by 22 options. The department

that has increased the most is Dresses, this department for AW10 is 17.8% of the mix vs LY

11.4%. It is recommended to increase this department by 6.4% for AW10 and to push this

area, as overall Dresses take the highest percentage of a stores mix with an average of 20.5%

mix of sales (see Appendices Figure 44). Day dresses also take 49.3% sales mix (see

Appendices Figure 43), with the 1971 range having a younger

casual aspect, this is an area to really grow and push sales. The

1971 Brandy dress (pictured right) hit stores as a repeat in a

new colour option in Group 4, this dress has sold 96 units in

one week and is forecasting 117 units sales next week. This is

a great example of the selling power of casual jersey dresses

and the fact that is can still sell this amount so late in the

season, 4 weeks away from sale.

By phasing 1971 products in throughout the whole season, this will keep customers interested

in the new brand, give stores the newness they need and push 1971 further with a bigger mix

of the total buy.

Brandy


Conclusion

Figure 9 1971 Windows in flagship store

In conclusion, the 1971 launch has been a new direction for the brand and has given the

company a fresh…to hold customer interest and new ones in must needed in the current

economic climate. The new sub-brand has made mainline stronger and more focused, other

retailers are looking to what Reiss will do next season. 1971 has made a step forward for the

company and AW09 has been a great trial season to see what really works for the range and

what the customer wants. This is really important when the company is designing and

planning for 1971 going forward.

For SS10, the 1971 total buy has increased to ……. The Reiss 1971 Spring Summer

collection is the more experimental, edgy and shows a more creative side of Reiss. It is not

exclusively denim, but instead a collection woven around denim with its own distinct,

evocative attitude and highly directional, contemporary style. It still aims to attract a more

youthful customer, willing to push the boundaries with bolder, sexy silhouettes and wear if

you dare, slightly risqué pieces for the fashionably initiated.


Recommendations

Figure 10 1971 Store Display

Through researching the 1971 customer base, marketing position, Reiss stores and sales

performance, this report has come to the following recommendations.

Options

It would be a recommendation to follow the in depth option planning shown in Appendices

Figure 41. The sales history from 1971 AW09 has enabled these decisions to be make

through individual store analysis, to maximise each Reiss store’s potential.

Stores

The 1971 label has the potential to have its own standalone stores and pop-up shops. The

suggested standalone stores as explained earlier in report are Bristol, Cabot Place, Islington

Accessories and Liverpool One. These 4 stores all have nearby stores and this would not


only differentiate stores but it would also give differentiation to the 1971 range and the Reiss

mainline range. Another suggestion would be to dedicate one floor of the Covent Garden

store to 1971 and take 1971 completely out of the smaller Long Acre store.

Another suggestion, after seeing how well the Selfridges store performed when they had the

1971 pop-up store would be to have a separate 1971 concession downstairs with the high

street fashion. The range would compete with the likes of All Saints and Topshop and other

denim brands. After seeing how well Selfridges performed with denim, this would help 1971

denim become an established denim brand and make more people aware of the denim range

at Reiss.

Improving retail formats to fit 1971 would develop clear range segmentation, creating a hype

and excitement around the brand, customers need this newness and this is the way to capture

the younger fashion shopper.

Phasing

For AW10 it is under recommendation that the 1971 range is phased into 3 & 4. General

feedback from stores, indicated that the range lacked newness towards the end of the season

and customers lost interest..


Appendices


References


Bibliography

BA(Hons) Fashion Merchandise Management€¦ · tailoring pieces, coats and leather jackets (see Appendices Figure 4). Prices are slightly cheaper than mainline. Branding The sub

Documents

BA(Hons) Fashion Merchandise Management€¦ · tailoring pieces, coats and leather jackets (see Appendices Figure 4). Prices are slightly cheaper than mainline. Branding The sub