Wal-Mart's Fashion Fade
Two years ago, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. set out to do what was once unthinkable: get serious about fashion.
The world's largest retailer -- known for being cheap but never chic -- had bulked up its fledgling product-design team and dispatched buyers and designers to Europe for inspiration. Most importantly, Wal-Mart announced it would roll out the contemporary apparel line George, which already had enjoyed a decade of success in the United Kingdom.
Stateside, nervous fashion retailers bristled. With apparel sales already stalled, the industry worried it would be the next victim of the so-called Wal-Mart effect. The Bentonville, Ark., retailing chain is known for dominating nearly every consumer product category it sets its sights on -- from toilet paper to toys -- forcing down prices and flattening competition along the way. As the largest seller of clothing basics, such as jeans, sweats and underwear, Wal-Mart sales already accounted for roughly 25% of the U.S. apparel market.
Four seasons out, George, which is targeted to women 30 to 50 years old, is hardly the megahit industry denizens feared. Although Wal-Mart insists sales of the George line are ahead of plan this year, apparel suppliers, analysts and observers say sales have been far below what the fashion world was expecting.
"[George] is not flying off the shelves," says Marshal Cohen, senior analyst with NPD Group, a Port Washington, N.Y., market-research firm that tracks apparel sales.
Not that the merchandise is drab or costly. Sharply-priced George offers Chanel-inspired tweed jackets and flouncy floral skirts, with most items less than $20. The problem, rather, appears to be with Wal-Mart's execution. In-store displays are small and often hard to find. Some feel it has suffered from a lack of advertising in a heavily promotional industry. Others perceive George as less a fashion collection than a gaggle of basics in better colors and fabrics.
A typical store display. The company is adding brighter lighting and special signs.
"When you launch a fashion brand you should do it with 360-degree support in terms of how it is merchandised and placed in stores and you need to talk about it -- difficult issues for Wal-Mart," says Mandy Putnam, an analyst with Retail Forward, a marketing research and consulting firm based in Columbus, Ohio.
George's wobbly start raises the larger question of whether Wal-Mart's low-price, commodity approach is too restricting for a fashion brand. "Wal-Mart is really known for price," says Todd Slater, an analyst with Lazard, a New York investment bank. "But that is not the primary goal in buying fashion apparel."
Wal-Mart's late entry into fashion apparel follows the lead of other discount retailers, whose efforts have met with varying degrees of success. Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s 1993 foray into the softer side faltered, and it is trying again, this time with established brands such as Lands' End, whose preppy styles have seen mixed sales results. Target Corp., meanwhile, has become the style leader in the discount sector, relying on big-name designers such as Isaac Mizrahi and Liz Lange. Though not all Target's designer clothes have been hits, the company recently said apparel sales are improving.
Wal-Mart stresses that George sales were on plan last year -- a tough one for apparel in general -- and are ahead of expectations this year. "We're very pleased with our profit levels and George is growing," says Celia Clancy, Wal-Mart's general merchandise manager for women's apparel.
Apparel from Wal-Mart's George line.
Wal-Mart's vast size, with about 3,000 U.S. stores, appears to be a bigger obstacle to George than the company had expected. "There is an inherent conflict between creating a fashion item and doing it in on a mass scale," Mr. Slater says.
Wal-Mart's Ms. Clancy disagrees, but concedes that one of the retailer's biggest challenges has been editing the collection for the diverse demographics and extensive store base of the U.S. market. "The trends in the metro U.S., don't always cut it in more rural areas," explains Ms. Clancy. Among shoppers -- even loyalists -- Wal-Mart suffers from the nagging perception it sells only commodity clothing.
Shopping recently at a store in Riverhead, N.Y., Ilene Benison, a 65-year-old retired school secretary, noticed the George line out of a corner of her eye. Having already purchased some exercise clothes from Wal-Mart, she wasn't tempted by the dressier offerings. "I am not being snobby, but I'm not really looking to expand my wardrobe there," she says.
Orit Neustadt, a 29-year-old college student and mother of two young girls, said she would consider buying fashion looks at Wal-Mart. But shopping in Valley Stream, N.Y., she hasn't seen anything close to stylish. "I looked a couple times, but they only had basics," Ms. Neustadt says.
Created by George Davies, the former owner of a successful chain of British apparel stores, George was part of the Asda supermarket chain in the U.K. that Wal-Mart acquired in 1999. The sleek but inexpensive clothes for women and men helped bring Asda back from the brink of insolvency in the early 1990s. As it expanded into accessories, undergarments and trendier styles, it grew to become the second-biggest selling apparel brand in the U.K., behind only Marks & Spencer. To make George a successful global brand, as Wal-Mart intends, the company must adapt to a more demanding production cycle. Stores in the U.S. operate on longer lead times, since every step of the process, from manufacturing to store delivery, takes longer than in the U.K., where Wal-Mart has just 200 stores. New industry brainpower may help. Wal-Mart recently hired an outside consultancy to help tackle its fashion problems, including the George line. Wal-Mart also recently hired Sara LeeCorp.'s casualwear executive Karen Stuckey as vice president of product development in the U.S. She is seen as someone who will help the company address logistical issues and speed product into stores at the right time.
Acknowledging that looks really do matter, Wal-Mart is rolling out new apparel displays, with brighter lighting, wooden floors, and special signs designating each brand. Don't expect to see flashy TV ads for George or any of Wal-Mart's private-label apparel. Wal-Mart still spends less than 1% of sales on advertising, which rarely focuses on anything but price, compared with 3% for Target Corp. "We fortunately don't have the problem of having to drive customers to the stores," Ms. Clancy says. "What we have to do is hook them once they're inside."
时尚面前沃尔玛进退两难
两年前，沃尔玛(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)启动了一项当时看来匪夷所思的计划：销售时装。
作为全球最大的零售商，沃尔玛得以享誉全球的卖点就是价位低廉，而绝非新颖别致的商品。但根据这项新计划，沃尔玛组建了人员配备齐整的产品设计团队，将买手和设计师派往欧洲各地寻找灵感。最重要的是，沃尔玛宣布要将时尚服装系列George大量上市，这个品牌在英国已畅销十年。
此举激怒了本来就情绪紧张的美国时装零售商。美国的服装销售势头已经是步履维艰，业内商家担心它们会成为所谓的“沃尔玛效应”的又一个牺牲品。沃尔玛的拿手好戏就是凭藉遍布各地的连锁店铺，主导著从卫生纸到玩具几乎所有它看中的消费品的销售，迫使商品价格下调，使业内竞争销声匿迹。作为牛仔裤，汗衫和内衣等基本服饰的第一大销售商，沃尔玛的销售额已占到全美服装市场的25%左右。
George的目标客户是年龄在30-50岁之间的女性，但已经连续4季表现平平。虽然沃尔玛坚称George今年的销售额好于预期，但服装供应商、分析师和观察家们都认为它远远低于时装界的预期。
追踪服装销售的市场研究公司NPD Group的高级分析师科恩(Marshal Cohen)说，George并不畅销。
原因并不是商品陈列单调乏味，或者成本高昂。George系列的灵感取自香奈尔(Chanel)，产品包括斜纹软呢夹克衫和镶花边的衬衣，但价格极为低廉，多数产品的售价都不到20美元。真正的问题似乎在于沃尔玛的执行。店内陈列空间狭小，而且也不容易找到。有人认为在服装零售这个需要大量促销的行业，沃尔玛为George品牌投入的广告力度不够；有人觉得George系列不够时尚，只不过是材质色泽稍好的几种基本服装类别而已。
俄亥俄州哥伦布的市场研究和顾问公司Retail Forward的分析师普特南(Mandy Putnam)说，推出一个时装品牌需要提供全方位的支持，从促销到店内陈列一样也少不得，还要让它不停地曝光，而这正是沃尔玛的弱项。
看到George开局欠佳，人们心头的问号也越划越大：沃尔玛的低价策略对一个时装品牌来说是否限制太大？纽约投资银行Lazard的分析师史莱特(Todd Slater)说，沃尔玛以廉价知名，但这并非人们购买时尚服装的主要目的。
沃尔玛进军时尚服装之举是效仿了业内其他折扣零售商的做法，这些零售商都取得了不同程度的成功。西尔斯(Sears, Roebuck & Co.)1993年初尝败绩并不气馁，这次著手建立了学生风格的Lands' End等一系列服装品牌，销售额表现不一。Target Corp.则凭藉Isaac Mizrahi和Liz Lange等大牌设计师的作品，建立了自己在零售业中时尚倡导者的地位。当然并非Target所有的时装都能畅销，Target最近还是表示公司服装销售势头有所改善。
沃尔玛则强调George品牌去年的销售实现了预定目标，这对多数服装品牌来说都不容易，而且今年的销售还好于预期。沃尔玛女装商品总经理克兰西(Celia Clancy)说，公司对目前的利润水平非常满意，George品牌的销售正在增长。
沃尔玛在全美各地经营著大约3,000家店铺，这样的超大规模对George品牌的负面影响似乎也超过了公司的预计。史莱特说，新创一项时尚商品和进行大规模销售这两者之间天生就有冲突。
沃尔玛的克兰西却不这么看。她认为最大的挑战在于调整商品构成，来满足美国市场上不同的客户群体和超大规模店面陈列的需要。她解释说，都市流行时尚并不一定和乡村的时尚趋势合拍。即使是最忠诚的客户也觉得沃尔玛卖的只不过是普通服装。
65岁的退休学校秘书本尼森(Ilene Benison)最近到纽约州Riverhead的一家沃尔玛购物，不经意间发现了George系列。因为已经在沃尔玛买了几件健身服，她对眼前这些更时尚一些的服装不为所动。她说，“我只是不想让衣橱变得更拥挤而已。”
29岁的大学生纽斯塔特(Orit Neustadt)是两个女儿的母亲，她说她会考虑在沃尔玛买一些看中的时装，可是在纽约州Valley Stream的沃尔玛购物时，根本看不到什么称得上时尚的服装。她说，“我去过好几次了，但那里只有一些基本服饰。”
George品牌由乔治?戴维斯(George Davies)首创，他曾拥有经营成功的某英国服装连锁店。George这个品牌原属英国Asda连锁超市，沃尔玛于1999年收购了这家超市。这个物美价廉的时装品牌曾使90年代初濒于破产的Asda起死回生。George起初只有男装和女装，然后逐步扩充到配饰、内衣和时装，成为英国仅次于马莎百货(Marks & Spencer Group PLC, MKS.LN)的第二大畅销服装品牌。
要使George成长全球畅销品牌，沃尔玛必须落实一套更严格的生产周期。美国商店的交货周期较长，因为从生产到运抵店铺的时间都要比英国长，那里只有200家沃尔玛。延聘业内人士可能会有所帮助。沃尔玛最近聘请了一位外部顾问，来帮助处理解决George品牌在内的时装方面的问题。沃尔玛最近还聘请了Sara Lee Corp.的休闲服装主管斯塔基(Karen Stuckey)担任美国产品开发部门副总裁，希望她能够处理物流问题，改善商品运输情况，促使商品及时运抵店铺。
沃尔玛也意识到外观和陈列的作用，计划推出一系列新的服装陈列方案，用明亮的灯光和木质地板为衬托，针对每个品牌设计不同的陈列方案。不过，你也别指望看到抢眼的George品牌电视广告，或者沃尔玛任何一个自有品牌服装的电视广告。沃尔玛现在的广告支出仍然不到销售额的1%；而且除了价格，沃尔玛的广告也很少突出其他卖点。 与之相比，Target Corp.的广告支出占销售额的3%。克兰西说，沃尔玛的优势在于无需下力气吸引客户到店购物，只需当他们进入沃尔玛时留住他们而已。
