Scoping Out The Big Retailers

Someone asked me recently why I just don't sell to the Bay. To them it seemed so obvious, which is why we must. To me, it was humorous because they Bay has grown a little more complicated over the centuries... I quickly learned you can't just show up with a stack of pelts anymore

In the interest of learning about those larger retailers that we look to grow to, I checked out Canada's original retailer...

So I spent a good amount of time cruising around the Bay at Market Mall in Calgary today. It's going to be important to move to nationally based retailers eventually, to reach efficient margins. From what I've learned so far, to get in to see their buyers you need a couple things. Referrals from our original retailers is one, a selling history, and a great sales pitch to round it out.

I wanted to get a feel for the store, as we've recently received some interest from one of our contacts at the store. I don't know if you've ever looked at a department store without paying a lot of attention to the individual products. It's big, really big. They've got it all broken down into sections based on the label. I'd say the Polo by Ralph was the nicest put together. They've got the whole line set up there, along with some display touches such as some vintage trophies and leather football helmets.

It's definitely not exciting, and for a while I was wondering if it was even the environment we wanted to be in. But they have a lot of quality items, and after a while I enjoyed the peacefulness. I can only take so much "help" from an inexperienced sales guy at some stores.

Considering the massive selection, I can't help but assume the bay moves a lot of menswear through it. But that's gotta be obvious. The questions I have now are about whether the guys that hit this store regularly are in our target demographic, and whether the "pull" strategies employed by the established brands like CK are what brings 'em in. Considering there are almost nothing for pocket squares available, and some cheaper cuff links made by the Bay's own Hudson North, there definitely is some space for us... Whether anyone will be paying attention in the store is the crucial component.

Note: Nautica display used some cool colorful squares in their suits, which were subsequently unavailable for purchase after at least 5 minutes of searching the area... But they must recognize their value...

The way I figure it, if we sold even 20 squares to every Bay across Canada, we'd be in great shape.

Creating an Image: The Photo Shoot

So a major piece in completing our professional image pie is our photo shoot that we just wrapped up. These photos will be used in the website and many of our publications.

Strong help came from our consultant Domingo (characterizedimage.com) who connected us with the key contacts to bring the shoot together. The whole thing went off without a hitch, and we're finding things usually do when you're making a straight cash for services deal.

Our new friend Libertee from Pure Form (pureformonline.com) has a great studio down on 12th ave here in Calgary. They did the photography with their in house photographer, and once the day started all we had to do was sit back and watch it all unfold.

We picked out our guys from Christal with Artists Within and the girl was an old high school friend

Domingo has some strong connections with Thomas Jeffrey, a respected menswear store here in Calgary. Domingo borrowed some clothing on the premise we would also shoot some material for them to use (i.e. a new cufflink line they were promoting). He put together six looks and we spent the afternoon trying different square folds and looks. The end result was some great shots we'll be able to use over the next season.

Check 'em out