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Liz
The recent sad and premature passing of Liz Claiborne brings back memories of working as a sales manager for Macy's in 1986. Immediately after undergrad I went through Macy's Executive Training Program, which back then was considered "The Harvard of Retailing." Macy's was still public and set the standard for merchandising and retail operations.
After the training program I was hired on by a suburban Macy's store to run a "better" sportswear business that included the Liz Claiborne department. At the time Liz Claiborne was among the hottest up-and coming labels in women's wear.
There are numerous lessons from working at Macy's that are still invaluable today. Among the most relevant to loyalty and relationship marketing, however, came from running the Liz Claiborne business: that customers can have intense relationships with brands.
The Liz lines -- Liz Claiborne, LizSport and LizWear -- were much more extensive and included specific named groups or collections within them, each designed to mix and match. It was Garanimals meets high style, all at an accessible price point that allowed women with modest budgets to build a versatile wardrobe all within a single brand.
Each of the lines were clearly defined, from the collections to the hang tags, which were color-coded by size to make them easy (and quick) to shop. The hang tags also usually had the name of the particular group on them.
The clothes attracted a loyal customer following. These customers came into the store more frequently than most other customers, both looking for new collections and for new pieces to add to their existing wardrobe. They made a beeline for the Liz floor and, while they shopped elsewhere, the majority of their time was spent looking through Liz merchandise.
This made the Liz business a lot of fun to manage, as these customers were very passionate about "Liz" and creating a lasting lesson in the power of brands - especially apparel ones.
Post script questions:
Why are there not any apparel brands today as engaging as Liz was in this period? It's not hard to imagine what Liz Claiborne could have done with the relationship marketing tools and capabilities that exist today...
Also, why don't any apparel lines use hang tags as devices to engage customers, get them to visit landing pages and identify themselves? Apparel designers and manufacturers have the same challenges that so many other brands do in identifying their customers -- the hang tags should be as natural as a promotional offer on a cereal box.
