Merchandise Mix
Opening Ceremony is a Specialty store that carries limited merchandise categories and deep assortment, offers a high level of sales associate expertise, and targets a homogenous group of customers. This specific type of retailer is divided into various major departments including; women’s wear, men’s wear, accessories, shoes and children’s collections. The kid’s collection is suited for children at the age of one year and of all genders. Differently toys and bags are equally put in this department. This strategy is meant to influence the perception of shoppers interested in children’s clothes, which nicely arranged in different shelves. Each shelve is unique to each designer for ease of recognition and product selection.
The clothes in women and men’s wear departments are of varying colours, fabric, and style to suit different environmental conditions; thus appealing to different customer desires. The T-shirts, for instance, bear bright colours and are expected to favour warm weather conditions, whereas the heavy cloth suit for cold weather (Van-Rompay and Ad 601). The female wear department exhibits a mixture of clothing, footwear, jewellery, and handbags for adult females. The mixed merchandise are accommodating of the varying environmental conditions, with the shoes ranging from open to closed and cold weather wear. Heavy clothing is also made available together with handbags of varied sizes. The shelves containing women’s clothes have more attractive decorations and space that those containing the clothes for men. The attractive decorations are meant to create the picture of an ideal environment in the minds of women and men visiting the shop.
There is another department which is stocked with mixed merchandise and accessories for the male gender. This section is characteristically meant to target men of different ages and retails men’s clothing, shoes and bags for different occasions, ranging from official to casual wear, all of different sizes and colour. In addition, the top five best-selling brands among the 80 plus designer brands that the store carries are Opening Ceremony, Kenzo, Alexander Wang, Moschino, and Acne. Opening Ceremony is also the private label of the store, which constantly does exclusive collaboration with other talented designers. For this season, the private label has worked with renowned brands like New Era, Adidas, and Neal Feay Studio among others. Due to the fact that the owners of Opening Ceremony are also the creative director of Kenzo, these two brands are always displayed together in a main corner of the store.
In terms of the merchandise quantity, the children’s department does not have much on sale, perhaps giving a reflection of the low figures of customers expected for the commodity. Considering that clothing and toys are meant for babies at very small ages, it is sensible that the quantity of the merchandise is small. Besides, the low quantity in this department could be related to the low number of potential customers interested in buying baby clothes which are restricted to the age of one year. However, the female department is characterized by a large quantity of merchandise in varying designs and quality. Women are characteristically more likely to shop for their wears compared to children and men, and they also have a wider variety of merchandise to choose from than any other groups. Women have an active shopping habit and are the fastest adopters of fashion. Since dressing is part of the culture of this group, it is rational for the store to have more space and variety for this customer segment (Van-Rompay and Ad 601). The male department has a lesser quantity of merchandise compared to the women’s department, perhaps due to the characteristic low purchasing frequency for men compared to that of women. Besides, men do not have a hyperactive fashion style or lifestyle of frequent shopping. This forms the rationale for smaller spaces and a lesser variety of apparel targeting the male adult customer segment.
Due to the seasonal influence, Opening ceremony carries a deep assortment of female’s outwear from various designers. There are interesting colour, fur and pattern assortments for the merchandise on display. The arrangement patterns portray wears in multiple weather-sensitive variations, beginning from the heavy and warm coats, with dark colours, to the light casual jackets, in a variety of bright colours. Selection of different style of outwear is based on the general preference nature of the female gender, particularly those in their early to mid-adult ages. Also, the varying colours of the merchandise, especially the light coloured wears are a definite target for the female customers.
Visual Presentation
In general, various merchandise in different departments have been classified by their style and brand. For instance, shoes have been arranged in styles reflecting their respective purposes and occasions for which they are best suited. The presentation of the merchandise also bears a definite style that is reflective of the targeted population and nature of the merchandise. In addition, merchandise from same designer is arranged together on display shelves or racks, so that they can be best spotted by the customers at a quick glance. The merchandise is also presented in a manner which displays them in the expected nature and posture while in use. For instance, the female handbags are suspended in order to give a real display when held by the customers. Similarly, the children wear is hung so that they display the full length appearance when worn by the baby.
Specifically, the clothing mechanize for the three customer segments is displayed besides wide glass walls to improve on the visual impact on shopping behaviours among the customers. For instance, the female merchandise is located in the ground floor, which is characterized by wide glass walls, ambient lighting, and flamboyant finishes to add the element of high class shopping. Between each merchandise stand, there are spacious corridors which minimize any distraction in the eyes of a potential shopper. The colours are also perfectly balanced to create a warm shopping environment that is receptive to the male and female gender. In the female department, the colours used are lighter and warmer than those in the male apparel department.
The presentation of the children’s clothes gives a stronger visual impact, since the customer is capable of having a better inference of the merchandise without necessarily touching or testing them. For instance, the clothes are hung so that the customer can visually compare and judge their size. The texture and material from which the cloths are made can also be determined with ease, and this enables the customer to make informed choices of the merchandise to be purchased. There are also unique and modern installation placed throughout the store, including a pizza couch, glass box that contains jewelleries placed on the back of fake animals like sheep and horse, and smiley faced rug.
Customers are able to shop in the animal-themed space with giraffe printed carpets and walls all around the store, which tell more about the holiday season and party moods. The majority of bright colour mode exhibited by the merchandise and furniture in the store is symbolic of the sunny weather conditions in California and casual nature of activities witnessed at the moment. All children’s apparel has these colours, as well as male and female accessories and wears.
Works Cited
Van-Rompay, Thomas, and Pruyn, Ad. “When Visual Product Features Speak the Same Language: Effects of Shape-Typeface Congruence on Brand Perception and Price Expectations.” Journal of Product Innovation Management, 28.4 (2011): 599-610. Print.