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We hit three of the hottest retailers in Paris
to give you a snapshot of some of the movers and shakers from
that side of the world. C & A has gone through many changes
throughout Europe but the Parisians still get to shop for bargains
and hot looks at this historic store. H and M has been a fixture
for years in Europe and since their arrival stateside they have
grown in bottom line and in profit at an alarming rate. Zara,
for their part, are a smaller Spanish chain that represent the
height of fashion and quality and continue to do well on both
side of the Atlantic. So what does all of that mean to those of
us in search of trend news? These retailers each have an edge
that they employ throughout. At C & A you'll find some very
American names and faces like the Disney, Pooh and Powerpuff Girl
characters. At H and M, the edge is sharp fashions with an older
look at rock bottom prices. At Zara the edge is about catering
to the stylish young family with discerning taste for themselves
and their progeny. Take a closer look at how each of those approaches
translates into selling merchandise!
| C&A |
| The winning licensed outerwear jacket
here was the ruffled Pooh parka with the chest embroidery.
While we are on the subject of licenses, take a closer look
at the Minnie treatment both on the shaker sweater and on
the screened jersey long sleeved tee...The license is downplayed
on an excellent stand alone item. The result? Plenty of trips
to the register! The hottest selling generic outerwear piece
was the puffy parka with fur trimmed hood, wrists and hem.
Striped chenille sweaters also were a hot ticket here we are
told with both the turtle neck and the rolled crew selling
well. Barbie's floral and butterfly top was doing well while
the newly arrived generic mixed media top was getting a good
early response. The embroidered polar set was moving well
but take a closer look at the Asian doll tee and pant on the
display as well as the handkerchief hem tee and detailed pant
photos. This is how the Europeans like their sets; related
but not forcibly together! The embroidered denim was a new
arrival but was already getting a good response. |
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| H&M |
| A couple of core concepts are moving here;
warm fuzzy tops, value added basic tops and denim separates.
The floral polar zip front has been stellar for them we are
told while any basic top that had that little 'Je ne sais
quoi' blew right out. Denim overall dresses and zip front
shifts as well as 'Pretty cargos sold very well. The second
colorway for some of the denim pieces was a delicious tomato
red and those items did well too but the denim was better.
The plaid scooter was a new arrival for the holiday season
but it was getting a nice early reaction. |
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| Zara |
| Merchandising 101; display outfits on
the end of each arm display and see sales increase! Every
endcap was a display and behind each display a shopper could
find the particular items in that display. Needless to say
that these endcaps generated the best and quickest sellers.
Generally speaking here, shearling jackets and the reshaped
puffy coat were doing very well. Sweater sellers included
the crepe knit, striped and floral embroidered cardies. The
best dresses included zip front and asymmetrically pleated
twill, embroidered corduroy and puffy, lined, toggle hemmed
styles. The key tops here always included nifty appliqués
that tied in florals or animals and bugs. The ethnic embroidered
dress was selling fairly but it was the fuzzy trimmed vest
that was a blowout seller! |
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