Myer strategy: a sign of the times?

NATIONAL: A decision by Myer to leverage baby boomer and plus size womenswear is timely but only as part of a wider strategy, industry commentators have warned.
At a forum hosted by industry association Fashion Group International (FGI) earlier this month, Myer womenswear business manager Mark Bingemann revealed plans by the department store to put increased emphasis on the mature and larger size womenswear market.
Coming around six weeks after Myer's change of ownership on June 2, Bingemann noted that while former managing director Dawn Robertson had boosted the fashionability of Myer, she had "ignored strategically" the baby boomer and plus-size divisions of the business.
These sectors were now "certainly back on the radar," he said, adding Myer was also looking to add to its existing portfolio of Australian brands.
"We've got a whole new strategy that will address in particular the modern-classic consumer. I think the baby boomer is now 60 and started the fashion revolution in the 1960s and they're just as fashionable today as they were 40 years ago."
Bingemann said the larger size market was also a growth area, regardless of age, with the biggest potential lying in the contemporary segment.
"I've had the joy of working in [Myer] Melbourne on Saturdays and I can't tell you the number of 20-something [females] who are 16 to 18 in size but can't find fashion that fits, and there's another huge opportunity in that segment."
Lee Manfred, founder of a self-titled public relations firm - who attended the FGI forum and posed the initial question on the to"I think big girls or mature girls in executive positions are really crying out for fashionable clothes they can actually wear," she said.
Meanwhile Adelaide retail consultant Lorraine Thornton - once a management-level executive at Myer - said the move was timely.
"Nobody is catering as they should do for the more mature, 35-plus woman."
According to Feathers boutique - which targets mature women - founder Margaret Porritt, the shift towards that demographic was "a worldwide trend".
"Young fashion is so over-catered for in this country, the mature market is the real growth area," she said.
Speaking several days after Bingemann's comments, Myer's director of men's and women's apparel, footwear and accessories Bob Boutin confirmed the 'modern classic' business was "a major growth area", but sought to underplay the move.
He stressed it did not represent a dramatic change in strategy.
"Are we walking away from youth fashion? Absolutely not."
The Australian Centre for Retail Studies (ACRS) had its own take on the challenges ahead for Myer.
"I would move away from the whole generational classification of consumers. The focus should be on the mindset of consumers and the degree to which they relate to fashion. It's not about age," said ACRS executive director Amanda Young.
Myer would only shift its focus to leverage growth potential and not at the expense of other successful businesses, she said.
"The point about Myer is that it operates so much floor space and it needs to maximise the return on that investment, so it can't afford to be too specialised."
Myer also had a "tough job on its hands" competing with smaller, nimbler retailers that had nailed the fast fashion market, Young said.
"One way many department stores overseas get around this is by running concessions, essentially becoming a landlord for retailers who can get their stock in and out quickly."
Clearly, Myer's competitiveness was "not as simple as focusing on baby-boomers," she warned.
"The thing about customers now is that it's all about being an individual. Customers do want a certain amount of editing done for them, they want to be able to trust the store to give them pointers as to fashion, but they're also looking for something fresh and new. I'm not sure that customers really get the sense when they walk into Myer that they are really accessing what's hot in fashion."