High rents and overheads, geographic limitations, intense competition and major retail discounting sprees are all reducing the viability for smaller fashion retailers to open up and remain profitable. Turning to alternative lines of distribution, innovative retailers are embarking on leading edge solutions to combat the competition, writes Samantha Docherty.
In tune with the market trend of the consumer's thirst for the new, the pop-up store is a well established concept overseas, but still in its infancy in Australia. As the name suggests, these shops pop-up unannounced, do little advertising, a lot of business, then move on. Previously limited in Australia to small designer showcases and warehouse-type sales, the semi-permanent shops are gaining popularity as marketing tools with established brands such as Elle Macpherson Intimates. Incorporated with the lingerie brands 10-day promotional event in Sydney recently, 'The Body' herself opened the Elle Macpherson Intimates pop-up store on Oxford Street where the public perused and purchased the black-label Boudoir collection for two weeks. "We wanted to create a brand experience and present the launch of the 'Boudoir' collection to consumers in a unique way", says Evangelia Henderson, marketing general manager for Bendon. "The concept was to produce an innovative space full of creative energy. The front of the store was inconsFairly quick to set up, the pop-up store maximised impact for the brand. "We believe it was a successful venture. We received front page press on the store and good sales throughout, based on the short time period the store was open." All about the brand expression, Henderson adds Bendon accepted the costs - undisclosed but considered relatively high - as part of a marketing investment. "The primary reason for the store was for the novel and interesting brand experience and not about the product sale results." Inspired by the concept of pop-up stores across the globe, the pop-up concept was also used recently in Melbourne as part of the L'Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival (LMFF). 'Pop Up - Pop In - Pop Out' was a series of surprise fashion catwalk moments across the festival week to showcase Australia's leading brands. "It provided a non-traditional platform for fashion brands to promote their product in a unique and exciting environment," says Karen Webster, LMFF director. "The public discovered the daily 'POP UP - POP IN - POP OUT' location via promotion in the Herald Sun including daily 'special incentive' coupons in the newspaper that enabled customers to access value added indulgences from their favourite CBD fashion and lifestyle outlets aligned to the events." Kick starting the event, Levante and Jonathan Aston showcased the hottest leg looks at City Square, while Sportsgirl's new looks for winter popped up at Federation Square. QV Square staged lunchtime runway shows with the latest collections from designers including Christensen Copenhagen and Third Millennium, and Melbourne Museum Plaza hosted a rock and roll inspired CK Jeans show. Stephen Ogden-Barnes, program director at Monash University's Australian Centre for Retail Studies, says pop-up shops were popular as a fad a few years ago and they make a nice headline, but today there isn't much high demand for them. "They're a nice novelty for some of the established brands, but more of a marketing device rather than selling. One problem with pop-ups is you need the vacant property space and there isn't much in Australia, although we are seeing higher areas of vacancy in some shopping precincts in Melbourne due to designer factory outlets." Recognising that "people are definitely looking at different channels [of distribution]", Rob Hartman, managing director of management consultant company Stenton Capital, says there has been more of a demand for selling fashion on the internet. "Most companies now have websites and some of their sales online are significant, sometimes even equivalent to [the sales in] one or two stores. It's very different to five years ago. A lot of women are time poor so they're looking at shopping online." Fantastic for reaching both, niche and international markets, Australasian online stores are a well established alternative to the bricks and mortar of retail trading. With an increase in Australasian shoppers feeling more comfortable in making purchases online, recent analysis from web traffic research outfit Hitwise found 51 per cent of apparel and accessories sites visited are local. Surprisingly attracting 45 to 54-year-olds as the largest age bracket at 27.9 per cent, the online apparel/accessories industry is also proving more popular with men year on year. Constantly ranked by Hitwise as the number one apparel/accessories site visited by Australasians, New Zealand-based EziBuy (ezibuy.com.au) receives an average of 9,500 web hits per day and dispatches on average 9,000 parcels a day to Australasian shoppers. Recognising busy, time-poor consumers are increasingly seeking new ways to shop 24/7 anywhere, anytime, EziBuy marketing general manager Grant Jennings says the sweet spot for retailers is to deliver a multi-channel offer. "Often the online shop is inspired by a catalogue and enhanced through a web experience with special web functionality such as the ability to [enlarge] images and provide affinity mix and match fashion suggestions and so on. Online shopping linked to good search advertising strategies also provides a great opportunity to introduce new consumers to the brand through a much wider geographical spread." According to global trend forecaster, The Future Laboratory, the most exciting retail environments around the world are those that engage with the community beyond a pure transactional basis. Retail in the 21st century is less about buying products and more about the journey and the experience while doing so. Often billed as the fashion capital of Australia, Melbourne retailers are embarking on that journey, allocating floor space to environments that provide consumers with additional reasons for entering the retail space beyond just the desire to purchase. Part retail, part gallery, 'don't come' is the flagship of local label schwipe. Housed in Melbourne's oldest arcade, the Royal Arcade, 'don't come' ticks all the boxes of obscurity required to make it in Melbourne - no street signage or frontage in an out of the way space up two flights of stairs. "Rents are cheaper in harder to access locations, says Tim Everist, co-owner of 'don't come'. "In Melbourne there are lots of opportunities for people to open stores that aren't in a shopping strip, but it takes a certain type of store to succeed. We opened 'don't come' so we can have a store/gallery and our studio in the one spot. We sell schwipe, rockers (NYC), WE denim [clothing and] every month we have a new exhibition from local and international artists." Combining fashion with food, Verve Boutique on Little Collins Street has been trading for nine years offering local designer creations and Mediterranean cuisine. One of the first in Melbourne to combine clothing with a café, co-owner Samira Kara feels the two go hand-in-hand. "Our customers love the concept. We always get comments that the site is so well designed." Laid out over two floors, Kara says the café doesn't stop customers from shopping. "When customers come for a focaccia they sometimes also buy an outfit."
