The Boomer Apparel Opportunity

According to NPD, women's apparel rang up over $100 billion last year.  So who's buying this apparel?  According the the census bureau, there are over 105 million females in America between the ages of 20 and 75.  The Boomer portion of this population (born between 1945 and 1965) represent slightly over 40% of the total.  With an average age of 55, this is unquestionably the segment with the largest amount of disposable income.  Obviously a clear target of apparel manufacturers and retailers, right?  For 4-wall retailers in particular, this should be a prime demographic.

Really?

According to a recent survey by VibrantNation.com, a leading online community for successful women over 50, over 2/3 of the respondents stated that they are purchasing their apparel online, with 13% of them buying on-line exclusively.  The primary driver of this move - lousy service.  Over 84% found 4-wall sales associates to be "indifferent, inexperienced, invisible, or downright rude while 32% perceive an age bias from younger associates".  As Stephen Reily, CEO of VibrantNation says, "the irony is that these women are highly desirable clothing customers with not only great spending power but time".

Then there's the merchandise itself.  When you think about recent fashion trends - hip-hugger pencil leg denim, bare midriff tops, etc., it's hard to imagine that this the Boomer demographic was a prime consideration.  There's no question that the Boomer women are extraordinarily fit for their age, but hey, gravity always wins in the end.

At least one 4-wall retailer seems to recognize this opportunity, albeit coming from the other end of the spectrum.  Talbots, the Hingham, MA specialty retailer recently announced that it was reworking its merchandise assortment to focus on "women 35 and older".  It appears that it had conducted an internal survey of its over-65 customers who opined that the current assortment was for someone "older" (ouch).  Reaching out to a younger customer while retaining an existing customer is no small task, one that Talbots tried (unsuccessfully) once before.  The good news is that they are in solid financial shape and are now led by a well-respected veteran of the women's apparel market, Trudy Sullivan.  It will be interesting to see how this works out.

The reality is that, while the Boomer population is definitely spending less, they are still the largest market out there with the highest absolute disposable income.  This is a big opportunity in an otherwise grim environment.

PS:  This post got picked up at Retail Wire and evoked some interesting comments.  Take a look.

If you have enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment and/or subscribing to the RSS feed to have future posts delivered to your reader.

Subscribe

MerchandisingThe Boomer Apparel Opportunity The Womens apparel market was worth over $100B in 2009.  Women from the Boomer Generation (born 1945-19650) represent over 40% of the women clothing customer population, but have a disproportionate percentage of the disposable income.  They should be a primary target and consideration for the apparel industry. But are they?  Read More Back to the FutureWhat makes a Good Buyer There was an interesting post today on Retail Wire about what buyers expect from suppliers.  It's titled "FD Buyer: Want to Sell me something?".  The article Has three key points, which are: I need to know why your product will be wanted by my customer. I need to know how you are going to educate my customer about your product and get them to try it in my store. You need to know my customers.  I do. What about the other side of this equation?  In a recent post, I asked "Where are the Merchants?" which looks at this same question from the other end.  After all, retail success is almost entirely driven by the retailers, not the suppliers.  Here's some thoughts on what makes a great buyer from some senior merchants and  a highly respected product designer.  Read More Found One In a recent post, I asked the question "Where are the Merchants".  I'm happy to report that I found one.  He is Hans Sternberg, scion of a family that immigrated to this country in the 1930s and went on to build the largest family-owned department store in America.  Read his views on the keys to successful retailing and what he sees today. Read More Where are the Merchants Go into any regional mall.  Apparel and accessories are the dominant categories, in both square footage and inventory investment.  And yet the merchandise itself hasn't changed in years - same fabrics, same colors, same silhouettes.  It's the same as what's already in everybody's closet.  There's just less of it and it's cheaper this year.  One of the basic requirements in retail success is to offer the customer something that excites them enough to part with their money.  How do you excite a customer with merchandise that is the same as what's already in their closet at home?   Merchandise assortments belong to the merchants.  What makes a great merchant in today's environment and where are they?  Read More Holiday Checklist - Part 3 Stores This is the third, and final, post of the Holiday Checklist series.  The first dealt with Assortments and the second with Inventory and Receipt Flow.  Depending on your format, this may be the most critical.  After all, your sales floor is where your customers determine the ultimate success of all your hard work and preparation.  Take a look.  Read More Are You Ready? Holiday Checklist Back to School is essentially over.  Now is the time to re-assess your holiday plans.  This is the first of a series of posts on getting ready for the upcoming, all-important Holiday season.  The topic is too large to cover in one post, so there will be separate posts focusing on different topics over the next few weeks.  Part 1 - Merchandise Assortments  Read More How to Get Local Tough sales and a wary consumer have moved several big retailers to focus on "getting local".  Getting local is defined as providing an assortment and in-store experience that speaks specifically to an individual store's customers.  WalMart and Macy's have been in the news recently and are both investing time and money on this goal.  This is not just for national/international chains.  Every retailer with more than one location can benefit from this strategy.  Here are some admittedly high-level thoughts from someone who has actually been responsible for localizing assortments.  Read More Wheres Your Kindle Customer frugality is not only a reality, it's now considered the new "cool".  Obviously inventories need to be lowered to match a lower demand.  So the question is how do you make lower inventories exciting?  Read More Get Local - Build Sales Productivity                                     After decades of consolidation and acquisition, Macy's is implementing the "My Macy's" initiative, designated as a "customer-centric" initiative to drive sales. The question is whether this kind of initiative is worthwhile and what it takes to make it successful.  Read More