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Shopping Centers Today -> May 2001
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LANE BRYANT ALTERATION TARGETS YOUNGER WOMEN
By Kimberly Pfaff
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Lane
Bryant gave itself a makeover and shifted its focus from aging
baby boomers to younger women.
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When it comes to apparel, plus sizes mean big business. The plus-size category is growing faster than any other segment of women’s apparel, accounting for $26 billion in retail sales in 1999, up from $23 billion in 1998, according to The NPD Group, a consulting firm based in Port Washington, N.Y.
Increasingly, younger, trendy customers are helping to fuel that demand, and retailers are responding by offering them hip, fashionable apparel choices.
“The plus-size customer wants to be treated just like the average-size customer, and there’s an opportunity to sell her fashion,” said Maura Byrne, a retail analyst with Salomon Smith Barney. “That’s the lightbulb that’s been turned on for so many companies. This customer doesn’t want different clothes; she wants to wear the same things as her friends.”
Nowhere is the change in plus-size attitude more apparent than at Lane Bryant, owned by The Limited Inc. About four years ago, the venerable chain realized that its brand — and its apparel offerings — had grown too mature: The majority of its customer base consisted of aging baby boomers and older women, while 18- to 29-year-olds, a key growth segment in the plus-size market, accounted for only 10%.
Wanting to attract additional younger women, Lane Bryant gave itself a makeover. Spicing up its merchandise mix with trendy looks, the firm began holding plus-size fashion and lingerie shows with all the sizzle of a Victoria’s Secret event, and Webcasting them on its Web site. At the same time, the retailer courted younger women by hiring celebrity spokeswomen such as Mia Tyler and Queen Latifah.
A star-studded lingerie show earlier this year at Manhattan’s Studio 54 featured the firm’s “sexy jeans girl,” Anna-Nicole Smith, and a performance by Aretha Franklin. Most recently, Lane Bryant added its first male celebrity to its advertising campaign, signing on Chris Noth of HBO’s “Sex and the City” fame.
Lane Bryant doesn’t sell online yet, but with 500,000 new visitors per month, its Web site is attracting quite a following.
“The Web has been probably the single greatest tool we’ve brought in,” said Chris Hansen, executive vice president of marketing for the retailer. “We’ve tried to make it interactive and exciting, with lots of sound and animation.”
In addition to browsing the latest in-store offerings, visitors to the site can take part in a “Chick Chat” session on fashion, beauty and body types; get advice on outfits; or view a Webcast Lane Bryant fashion show. The firm has also launched a voter registration program and held a $5,000 wardrobe giveaway.
The approach has clearly paid off: Today, women under 29 represent more than 30% of Lane Bryant’s sales.
“Fashion-wise, these girls want to look like their friends,” said Hansen, noting that recent best-sellers have been trendy styles showing lots of skin, from backless tops and sleeveless blouses to short skirts. “They’re not interested in looking different; they want to look the same. They’re extraordinarily confident.”
Still, as with any brand repositioning, the growing pains can take a little time. Lane Bryant’s sales for 2000 were $930.4 million, up 2% over 1999, with same-store sales up 2%. Fourth-quarter sales were at $262.6 million, with same-store sales down by -1%. Comp store sales for for the full year were -2%.
“It hasn’t been an easy year for them — not for anybody,” noted Byrne of Salomon Smith Barney. “They’re struggling with changing the identity of the business. They’ve probably lost more of their older customer base than they’ve gained of the new younger customers. There are tremendous opportunities in the plus-size arena, and particularly for the younger customer. But I think it takes a while to alter customer shopping habits.”
The issue for Lane Bryant, added Byrne, is one of time.
“Their Web site, and their use of household names to market the brand, has been brilliant,” she said. “But the name Lane Bryant is a very old, established brand name. And they’ve basically shifted what that brand stands for, but they haven’t done a tremendous amount of advertising.”
More than 600 of the retailer’s 669 stores are in local and regional malls, with 45 stores in strip center locations, and 15 in street or specialty locations. The firm’s future strategy features three components: steadily opening 20 to 25 locations each year, primarily in new retail projects; renovating top-performing stores; and closing underperforming stores.
“Very clearly we will remain a mall-based retailer, but our intent is to serve customers out of the very best retail venues in the markets we’re going into,” said Scott Glaser, director of financial reporting and analysis for Lane Bryant. “That might mean a new strip center, or a new outdoor retail and entertainment destination. And as populations and demographic shifts occur, we know there are growth markets we need to be in to stay competitive.”
Much of that growth area will be in Arizona, Texas and other southern states, he said, although he added that the firm will also open new stores in regions such as Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia.
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Stores average about 5,000 square feet of selling space; Glaser noted that the firm is downsizing some of the larger format locations to that size as they move forward.
The firm is also moving to redesign existing stores with its new interior, which features upscale fixturing, comfortable sitting areas and poster-size displays of the firm’s runway shows.
Mall developers remain confident about the firm’s new direction.
“There are certain stores that I think should be in every center, and Lane Bryant is one of them,” said Jim Napoli, executive vice president of leasing for Simon Property Group, Indianapolis, which has more than 100 of the chain’s stores.
“They’re appealing to a lot younger group of shoppers now, and I think that’s reflected in the fact that their sales in our centers have increased,” he added, noting that certain stores perform more than $500 per square foot.
“They’ve done a great job over the last two to three years, repositioning themselves,” said Robert Michaels, president and COO of General Growth Properties. The Chicago-based REIT has about 90 Lane Bryant locations at its centers. “They really are the only national plus-size store out there, and they’re taking advantage of that leverage and trying to broaden their customer base. It’s a marketing approach that’s working extremely well.”
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