Bloomingdales International Retailer

Retail Marketing Author Shweta Mohan Roll No. 33

Flow of contents Bloomingdales History & Expansion Bloomingdales- Owners Bloomingdales Country of Origin

Bloomingdales Positioning
Bloomingdales Uniqueness Bloomingdales Retail Format Bloomingdales Store Layout Bloomingdales Visual Merchandising Bloomingdales Promotions Bloomingdales Branding Bloomingdales Private Labels Bloomingdales Future Plans Bloomingdales Learnings References

History of Bloomingdale
1860 1879 A store is born

To think it all started with a 19th century fad - the hoop skirt. That was the first item that Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdale carried in their Ladies' Notions Shop in New York's Lower East Side. In the late 1800's, most fashion retailers specialized in just one type of garment. Not the brothers Bloomingdale - their East Side Bazaar, opened in 1872, sold a wide variety of European fashions. It was the beginning of what would become a "Department Store".

1880 1929

Moving up in the world

In 1886 came the visionary move uptown to 59th Street and Lexington Avenue. The store expanded steadily and by the 1920's, Bloomingdale's converted an entire city block

History of Bloomingdale
1900 - 1910 Read All About It

Flexing his marketing muscle, Lyman created splashy ad campaigns to bring people in the door. People started seeing the "All Cars Transfer to Bloomingdale's" slogan everywhere - on billboards, delivery wagons, and even ladies' beach umbrellas.

1940s

Lights Camera - Action

Print ads couldn't say it all. The store had to be experienced. So Bloomingdale's became the stage for gala events and fashion shows, including "Woman Of The Year, 1947." With music, lighting and sophistication, it was retailing as theater

History of Bloomingdale
1960s Its in the Bag

It's not just what you buy - it's what you take it home in, too. We've always looked for new ways to be creative. In 1961, the Bloomingdale's team came up with the first designer shopping bags. Since then, many have become collector's items

1970s

Not a Store, But a Destination

By the 70's, everyone was stopping by 59th Street and Lexington Avenue for a look - including Queen Elizabeth. People came to see and to be seen. Once there, they were dazzled by the cutting-edge fashion of designers like Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis and Norma Kamali, who got their first truly big opportunities at Bloomingdale's.

History of Bloomingdale
2000+ Looking Forward

Bloomingdale's is committed to once again lead the way with exclusive merchandise, customized services, and alternative shopping venues. Carrying on the Bloomingdale's brothers' dream, they are always finding ways to set our stores apart. That's both the legacy and the promise of Bloomingdale's

Bloomingdale Expansion
1872 1930 Bloomingdale brothers opened their first store at 938 Third Avenue, New York City Bloomingdale's moved to a new location off of Lexington

1886 Moved to its current location, Upper West Side

1940 Bloomingdale opened its first branch in Fresh Meadows, Queens Bloomingdales' joined Federated Departmental Store, now Macys, Inc. 1960 Bloomingdale's two branch stores opened in Garden City, NY & Jenkintown 1974 Bloomingdale opened a store at Newton, Massachusetts 1980s New stores opened at Florida & Texas 1992 15th store opened at Mall of America 1996 Four new stores at California 2003 Two new stores at Atlanta Converted Davisons/R. H. Macy & Co. properties in Lenox Square & Perimeter Mall 2006 Stores opened in San Francisco 2007 Stores opened in California 2008 Parent Company Macys announced to enter the Phoenix market by 2009 2010 Macys Inc. opened their 1st store at Potomac Mall, Virgina 2012 Announced closure of 4 stores (Mall of America, Illinois, Atlanta & Maryland) 2014 Replacing store at Palo Alto, CA with a new 120,000 sq. ft. store 2015 Opening of their 1st three-story 167,000 sq. ft. store at Hawaii

Bloomingdale Owners
Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdale were not the pioneers of the American department store concept Bloomingdale The concept of Bloomingdale was to sell a variety of womens fashion behind one faade The Brothers recognized Americas growing love of imported European goods and they quickly set up a buying office in Paris Bloomingdale Brothers joined the Federated Departmental Store, Inc. (now Macys) in the 1940s, which is now the parent company of Bloomingdale

Bloomingdale Country of Origin

Origin Headquarters Number of outlets Products NY, USA Third Avenue, NY, USA 100+ Bloomingdales stores across 45+ cities Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, housewares, optical, salon, portrait studio, cafe

Bloomingdale Store Positioning

Who who are you? Bloomingdale

What what business are you in? Fashion focused departmental store
For whom what people do you serve? Trend conscious, upper-middle class shoppers

What need What are the special needs of the people you serve? Looking for high-end products
Against whom With whom are you competing? Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys NY, Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom Whats different what makes you different from your competitors? Bloomindales provides unique merchandise in a Theatrical setting So, Whats the benefit what unique benefit does the client derive from your service? Makes shopping entertaining

Bloomingdale Store Positioning

Bloomingdales is separating itself from the mainstream & reinforcing its position as an authority for upscale, contemporary fashion They have established themselves as a reliable store, website & brand Bloomingdale customers know what they want and they know they can get it from Bloomingdale. They have created a lifestyle for their trend conscious, upper-middle class shoppers. Lifestyle meaning they can get everything they need for their day-to-day life, from shoes to pots & pans to luggage. With a reputation for quality, creativity and uniqueness, Bloomingdales has remained at the forefront of retailing worldwide. Bloomingdales speaks to its customers in a language they understand: service, selection and fashion, making Bloomingdales Like No Other Store in the World .

Bloomingdale Uniqueness
Focus on fun

Bloomingdales capitalizes on the Theatre Retailing concept which is the DNA of the brand. They believe that fashion shows, music & charity events, etc. are good ways to pulling the crowd. They use this as their crowd pulling strategy
Bloomingdale's serves as a stage for gala events and fashion shows, including "Woman Of The Year." With music, lighting and sophistication, it was retailing as theater

Bloomingdale Retail format

Bloomingdale follows the departmental store format

How is Bloomingdale classified as a departmental store?

As per definition, a departmental store is a retail establishment which offers a range of consumer goods such as clothing, housewares, furniture & appliances (60-70% of the merchandise falls under the non-food category). Also, the area covered by this retail establishment is approximately 10,000 20,000 sq. ft. Following the above mentioned definition, Bloomingdale merchandise consists of fashion & apparel for men, women & children (catering to the non-food category). Also, each retail outlet of Bloomingdale occupies a minimum space of 100,000 sq. ft. Since, both the above criteria's are satisfied, Bloomingdale can be classified as a departmental store.

Bloomingdale Store Layout

Bloomingdale Store Layout

As per the above slide, the store follows a combination of grid & free-flow layout

Floor space
The main floor is a black and white checkerboard of 18-inch squares of black granite and pure white marble. The white marble is repeated in a smaller grid of 6 inches by 6 inches to flow into the fashion accessories space on the main floor.

Architecture
Black is effective architecturally throughout the store. Lacquer frames of the portals tie the buildings together on every floor. Escalator landings are richly identified with black granite squares surrounded by a glistening black mosaic border. It all makes an inviting segue to the unstained original wood floors. The third and fourth floors glory in windows on all four sides

Bloomingdale Visual Merchandising

Lifestyle merchandising Cosmetics inside the Broadway entrance convey that it is a departmental store. Round center
islands are designed in white and pale pink. Elsewhere, cosmetic bars subtly give way to fresh white in the lighted top sections of each back island

Bloomingdales holiday window brings the stores display to life

Attractive window display conveying fashion & style

White & Black tiles giving the feel of a departmental store

Bloomingdale Visual Merchandising

3D virtual dressing room Fashion and technology combine to surprise customers and engage them in new ways at Bloomingdales flagship in New York City and other locations across the country. The department store retailer had deployed a 3D virtual dressing room, called Swivel, which is supported by Microsoft Corp.s Kinect for Windows motion. sensing technology. With Swivel, customers can try on clothes without having to go through the actual physical process. To use Swivel, the customer steps in front of the screen, chooses her preferred look with a wave of her hand, and then sees the look displayed on her image in real time on the HD flat screen. The customer can instantly share the image via email and social media channels that are built into the technology

Grid Layout for ease of customer

Standalone store which is 3 storied would follow a loop format as the exit exists only at the ground floor

Bloomingdale, China - Appearance to cater to the Asian market

Bloomingdale Promotions
Face Time with customers With the official opening of the store, the store hosts charity parties & organizes an in-store preview for select customers. Events like All-day Saturday with a makeup artist & shorter events like a three hour session with a designer (say Michael Cohen, designer of Michael Stars) who will sign T-shirts.

Virtual Reality experience Using an iPhone app called Goldrun, shoppers who stand in a certain spot in the store can snap photos of themselves and appear, through augmented reality, to be standing on a red carpet with stars like Ms. Applegate or Mr. Azaria. The company hopes that shoppers will share their photos on social networking sites; to encourage such behavior, the shoppers will be eligible to win a walk-on role on The Playboy Club, an NBC set visit, and $100 gift cards to Bloomingdales.

Bloomingdale Promotions
Mobile Technology Mobile barcodes can be found on just about every page of Bloomindales catalog so consumers can learn more about the styles featured

Synergy between retailer & network Bloomingdales catalogs feature actors from new NBC shows; shoppers are invited to try out that virtual reality app that inserts them onto the red carpet of an NBC premiere; and the networks Primetime Preview Show will be set partly in a Bloomingdales store

Bloomingdale Promotions
Retailing as Theatre The term was coined to describe Bloomingdales happenings. It was the era of pet rocks and glacial ice cubes, of visits by movie stars and royalty from Elizabeth Taylor to Queen Elizabeth II. Other events include food and music. Bringing in celebrity chefs for cooking demonstrations, and partnering with restaurants such as Le Bernardin and Park Avenue Caf, the demonstrations that are happening in cosmetics and makeovers, designer appearances, trunk shows, DJs, different parties and philanthropic events where we support the communities in which we do business. Idea is to engage the customer with things that are new & of the moment.

Tie-ins with movies Through the years, Bloomingdales has had successful tie-ins with movies including Evita, Phantom of the Opera and Moulin Rouge. For Moulin Rouge, the store brought in 20 cancan dancers, Nicole Kidman took the stage to unveil the Moulin Rouge-inspired windows, and the store created a boutique selling different products that were curated in the Moulin Rouge spirit.

Bloomingdale Promotion Campaigns

Light, Camera, Fashion Bloomingdales partnered with movie studios like Columbia, Fox Searchlight, Pixar Animation, Walt Disney, Universal and Warner Brothers for Lights, Camera, Fashion. Richard Gere and Hilary Swank appeared at the store; there were cinematic window displays; partnerships with film festivals around the country; in-store events; a screening partnership with Turner Classic Movies; film-themed catalogues and shopping bags; free movie tickets, and publicity for upcoming films. They sent 30,000 of their customers to the movies as part of this campaign. They worked with up-and-coming film producers and helped with five different independent films and showed them on bloomingdales.com, in our stores in movie lounges, as well as produced DVDs that were sent out to our best customers Lights, Camera, Fashion comprised in-store decor, printed materials, catalogues, taxi toppers, newspapers and outdoor advertising, as well as the Web site

Bloomingdale Promotion Campaigns

Color Yourself Contest

Bloomingdales Spring 2011 Campaign, Color Yourself Contest

Target: Men interested in color trends and the latest fashion available for Spring Strategies: Get target audience to: 1. View the promotional video 2. Engage and participate in Bloomingdales contest to win a $5,000 shopping spree at the 59th Street Flagship Store in NYC (hotel and limo ride included) by submitting a personal video or pic of ones own personal style 3. Shop online at the e-commerce Bloomingdales website Possible Goals for this campaign: 1. Increase website visits 2. Increase sales for Spring Line Increase awareness of new Spring Line Call To Action: 1. Visit a URL on the web to view the video 2. Text in code to receive a MMS message including a video 3. Scanning a QR code, arriving at a mobile landing page to view a video

Bloomingdale Promotion Campaigns

Pink Campaign With a focus on contemporary artists (Artrageous); the Pink Campaign, raised awareness and money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation Fashion Rocks Fashion Rocks, celebrating the fashion-music connection. Fashion Rocks, the longest-running campaign in Bloomingdales history, racked up more than 840 catalog pages, 800 newspaper and magazine impressions, 650 instore events, signage and e-mail blasts. The campaign was anchored with a partnership with Sony Music Group, which included more than 70 performances in Bloomingdales stores nationwide.

Bloomingdale Branding
Four key strategies to improve performance & innovation

Compelling Assortment of products

1. Editing assortment 2. Partnering with new brand names 3. Developing private labels (premium store brands as the brands are as charged at a premium without any compromise on quality)

Improved shopping experience 1. Reinvent Strategy 2. Remodeling 3. Technology

Bloomingdale Branding
Four key strategies to improve performance & innovation are as follows

Price Simplification
1. Create best value program 2. Eliminate coupons 3. Competitive pricing

Enhance marketing 1. Shifting advertising dollars 2. Focused newspaper advertisements 3. New marketing systems

Bloomingdale Private Labels

Bloomingdale: The Mens Store The store is hoping to attract customers with pricing thats drastically discounted as compared to that of the stores designer wares. Bloomingdales Mens will cost 30% to 40% less than its couture counterparts Bloomingdales: Aqua The Aqua brand offers very stylish clothing that it not inexpensive, similar to other national brands such as Alice & Olivia, Theory, and Marc by Marc Jacobs. The brand has become so strong that customers do not consider them lower quality or trade down. Bloomingdales: Aqua Rocks Aqua Rocks is an upscale collection to the already stunning Bloomingdales Aqua collection and they are guaranteed to fit all of your Fall fashion needs. The Aqua Rocks Collection has leather pieces, which is a big Fall trend this year, Skinny Jeans and eye catching jewel-toned colors

Bloomingdale Private Labels

Bloomingdales: Hudson Park Hudson Park is a private label bedding program that draws from the Hotel collection; the red hot private label home textiles line is sold at Federateds other retail divisions. The line extends
to bath, furniture, tabletop and table linens. The Hotel Collection is designed by Federated Merchandising Group, the product development arm of parent company Federated Departmental Stores. Based on the success of the Hotel line, which has expanded to tabletop and barware, Bloomingdale's has launched the line, giving it a new name. Bloomindales: Sky

Sky is Bloomingdales first full-scale mix & match bedding line. Including three collections "Summersweet," "Batik," and "Sundial" it's made of pure cotton and totally affordable. Its bohemian, feminine, and full of personality. Sky has a wide variety of throw pillows with girlish accents like scallop trim, rosettes, and colorful Middle East-inspired embroidery Bloomingdales: Cashmere Cashmere is the winter line of Bloomingdale; offering sweaters, cardigans, gloves, scarfs, etc. C by Bloomingdales Cashmere C is an upscale collection from the already stunning Bloomingdales Cashmere collection.

Bloomingdale Future Plans

Plan the opening of two new store in the year 2014 & 2015 respectively 1. Replacing store at Palo Alto, CA with a new 120,000 sq. ft. store 2. Opening of their first three-story 167,000 sq. ft. store at Hawaii

Bloomingdale's is committed to once again lead the way with exclusive merchandise, customized services, and alternative shopping venues. Carrying on the Bloomingdale's brothers' dream, they are always finding ways to set our stores apart.

Bloomingdale Learnings
Importance of face-to-face marketing Face-to-face marketing blitz might seem old school when compared with the current retail advertising trends of getting the word out via computers, cell phones and similar devices. But experts say there's a reason for the retro: Bloomingdale's target audience is women in their upper 20s to late 50s, a crowd that's not (yet) viewed as particularly techno-centric.

Customer engagement there are so many different ways to reach customers now, which can be both a positive and a challenge in such a fragmented market. The fact that consumers have so many choices today makes creating unique experiences to differentiate one outlet from the other. The customer has more information than they have ever had before. In many cases, they might know more than we do, and so its really important that we glean some of the intelligence from them in terms of what she wants, when she wants it, in the ways that she wants it. Hence, it becomes important to engage customers in things that are new & of the moment

Bloomingdale Learnings
Philanthropy CSR b.cause (because) it helps create a positive vibe amongst the audience and having charity events within the store would help display the Philanthropy philosophy. Also, customers would believe that the retailer cares for the well-being of the society at large and hence would gain further trust in the quality of products sold

Importance of Private Labels As product markets have matured and retailers growth strategies have increased their leverage, an increasing proportion of sales are accounted for by private labels in several categories. retailers are exploiting their growing market power by increasing their private label activity and the shelf-space they devote to their own store brands. Indeed, their own brands offer equal or, sometimes, superior value to national or global brands. The economic advantages of own brands are that they do not have to spend as much on product development or advertising, and the huge buying power of the retailer means they can secure very low prices from suppliers. This enables them to go to market at a price is that is often significantly lower typically by 10-20%: a very important difference in hard economic times.

References
http://www.wwd.com/media-news/marketing/bloomingdales-keeps-the-focus-on-fun-5410502 http://sandyshimiaie-bloomingdales.blogspot.in/2013/04/positioning.html http://www.crwgraphics.com/printing-blog/qr-codes-why-they-work-with-the-right-marketing-strategy/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomingdale's http://www1.bloomingdales.com http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/business/media/nbc-and-bloomingdales-in-a-promotion.html http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bloomingdale-8092-events-opening.html http://www.casasugar.com/Bloomingdale-Debuts-Sky-Bedding-8771233 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/BLOOMIE'S+LAUNCHES+HUDSON+PARK+BEDDING+LINE.-a0114871212

http://www.kelley.iu.edu/CERR/files/PartB.pdf
http://merchandisingmatters.com/in-store-media/bloomingdale%E2%80%99s-holiday-windows-bringstore%E2%80%99s-shopping-bags-to-life/