Arrive Magazine - September/October, 2009

Kmart—with private brands Basic Edition and Route 66—creates its own wardrobe, with most apparel created in-house by 200-plus designers hailing from Burberry, Club Monaco, Liz Claiborne and Old Navy.

“We came into this as the underdog after our bankruptcy six years ago,” says Lisa Schultz, executive vice president for apparel design at Sears and Kmart. “To differentiate ourselves, we had to do something dramatic.”

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If shoppers won’t come to you, go to them … online. Retailers see “e-tail” as the future.

“Everything you sell online makes you more profit,” says Mincarelli, who is also an industry consultant. “You have no overhead. Someone takes it off a shelf and mails it, which is cheaper than a Fifth Avenue showcase with salesclerks.”

Last year, the Internet provided Nordstrom its only revenue gains— 8. 4 percent, to $686.2 million for 2008—while overall sales dropped 6. 2 percent, reports trade pub Internet Retailer.

Twitter.com lets shoppers feel in the know without delay. Its audience boomed from 1. 1 million to 14 million unique visitors in one year, reports Internet Retailer. Those who “follow” a merchant see their 140-character “tweets.” That’s where Nordstrom, Kmart, Hot Topic and Louis Vuitton announce sales and dish about celebs wearing their garb. Louis Vuitton’s tweets alerted readers to handbag styles sold solely on its website, weeks before they hit stores.

Kmart also has been “socially aggressive,” tweeting and maintaining pages on MySpace, Facebook and You Tube. MyKMart.com posts shopper reviews and the chain’s own blog. Also, the site Kmartdesign.com video-profiles designers. “We’re capitalizing on the Project Runway trend,” Schultz says.

In such ways, the recession has let consumers peek behind retail’s curtain. What they find is that tough times can bring out the best in businesses and customers.

Greed has yielded to gratitude. With shoppers reining in reckless spending, “retailers, designers and fashion executives have a definite appreciation for small gains,” Foley says. “There’s a renewed realization that small accomplishments add up to big ones.”

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