Retail's Smack-Upside-the-Head Marketing

Numbers show that customers are gaining confidence, but still holding tight to their purse strings when it comes to spending on fashion.  Retailers are attempting to coax out their pennies in a blaze of relentless marketing blitzes

Used to be, the biggest offense to a shopper's senses was the overbearing salesperson.  That was before the Great Recession shooed buyers out of the malls and stores to reevaluate their finances and watch a whole lot of news coverage about where the economy stands- with hints it may be picking up, timid consumers are coming back out of their shells.  To retailers, this places them at the brink of wanting to shop again.  Maybe.  In efforts to apparently push them over the edge (in more ways than one), stores and designers on all ends of the spectrum are hawking their wares in ways ranging from creative to crazy.

Riding on the theory that sex sells, Hollister recruited bare-chested lifeguards to open their new NYC store, while formerly exclusive designers like Rachel Roy and Gucci have opened pop-up shops, the former working the floor at hers.  Collaborations have become de rigeur and New Balance even held a carnival in Beijing (which, in our opinion is totally rad).  The age-old free food concept holds true especially now, but since we're no marketing experts, we'd love to know - will it work? 

We are, however, expert shoppers and expert victims of the economic downturn, so might we suggest designers offering cheap tailoring and accompanying style advice to update the pieces we already have? Teach us how to store our shoes so they don't get ruined easily!  Mark things off by 90%? - that's our favorite.  Whatever you do, just know that we will be back, eventually, and we're picking our favorites now.

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