Toronto’s The Bay Gets A New Room
Holding true to her promise, The Bay CEO, Bonnie Brooks has turned back the clock of time and has reintroduced an old department store favorite: The Room. Its predecessor, The St. Regis Room, was a high profiled destination for top end luxury designer brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, Courreges and Oscar de la Renta. Today, Toronto’s Flagship store had a $5 million makeover of it’s 3rd floor to introduce The Room, which will have designer brands that can’t be found elsewhere in Canada.
Given the luxe profile Toronto’s flagship got, we can only hope Montreal’s can be just as nice. There is no word yet on revamping the Montreal flagship though.
Image credits: The Globe and Mail
HBC Owner Optimistic With Future Plans
After months of silence since The Bay laid off 1000 workers earlier in March, HBC owner Richard Baker finally talks of progress and plans for the future of Canada’s oldest department store.
Baker explained that he had made cuts where expenses were not relevant to the core business of the department store, by expanding well-performing sections and reducing underperforming ones.
The Bay dropped 700 underperforming brands among its 1,200 labels in all, and instead added 150 new ones, such as Juicy Couture, Theory and Hugo Boss. It is scaling back inventory in the stores by 20 per cent, and making more room for growing departments, while reducing space for home items and men’s and children’s wear. - The Globe and Mail
Baker is said to be so optimistic that he plans to put the company public once again on TSX as early as 2011.
Wow, that early? Will people be willing to buy shares into The Bay? I personally have noticed some chances in the downtown Bay flagship, but there was nothing significant enough that I would deem it stock market worthy.
The Bay’s Posts 12-Page Ad for September Issues
This weekend I picked up both September issues for Flare and Fashion Magazine, perhaps the two most prominent Canadian fashion magazines in, well, the country. It’s a rare thing that I actually outright buy fashion magazines, I tend to stay away from them since in the end I usually throw them out.
Anyway, the thing that stood out the most in both issues was The Bay’s fall 12-page spread, in which they must’ve paid a pretty penny to insert such a monstrous ad. Fashion’s version is full page (probably cheaper since their issues was about 30% smaller than Flare’s) while Flare’s version were 3/4 pages. The ad is so big it takes up nearly all the length of my bed! Bonnie Brooks sure knows how to take advantage of the recession.
The Bay has been in the works of revamping itself to appeal back to its shoppers by creating a new look, and in their fall ad, they promise to introduce new brands as well. The ad is indeed, a chic looking one, all in black with white fonts and graphically sound. Unfortunately, some brands are only sold exclusively at the Bloor and Yorkdale stores, like L.A.M.B. and Juicy Couture, and a few others like Pink Tartan and Barbie by David Dixon are only available in “select stores.” I’m guessing that downtown Montreal’s location won’t be reaping much of the new crops for fall.
I think part of the problem lies in the shopping experience itself. The Montreal department store has an odd warehouse like feeling when shopping around, while men’s section is the opposite - buried in the metro level where the ceilings are much lower, giving an uncomfortable closed up feeling. They could benefit from revamping the space design and make it more attractive to shoppers, though that alone won’t be enough to bring them back. They need some heavy artillery marketing to lure people back to The Bay.
Sears.ca Looks To Be Promising
Of course, not many of us consider Sears Canada to be much of a contender in the retail world these days. Last month, the company said it will cut down 200 workers from its Canadian headquarters in Toronto amid the recession crunch. However, Sears is one of the few leading retailers that caters to the 35+ Canadian consumer online, there aren’t many Canadian department stores that do that.
Last week, Sears Canada released their 2008 annual report, in which, despite overall revenues falling to $5.733 billion from $5.845 billion in 2007, the company saw an 18% jump in online sales from sears.ca. This is actually quite surprising as I wasn’t aware that they actually had an online shopping site. It turns out they were one of the first department stores to fully launch online in 1998. Since then, they’ve had repeated reports of positive growth over the years. They also clearly have a very good grasp of the e-retailing, so much so that their email subscribers count over 600,000. Also, this interview with the Canadian Marketing Association drives the point home that Sears Canada’s National Manager of e-Commerce, Mike Duggan, knows what he’s talking about, as opposed to The Bay’s Jeff Smith (who barely says two sentences).
What are the biggest obstacles facing Canadian retailers once they go online?
It is critical in an Internet environment to continuously ensure that usability matches customer expectations, as well as their online capabilities. The behaviour profile and level of experience of the user base should dictate how sophisticated your website should be from a technology and functionality standpoint. If customers are not interested, or worse, unable to navigate through your site, conversion rates and repeat traffic will suffer. It is important to develop processes to regularly take the pulse of your customer base.
Sears Canada’s online site is a one-up on The Bay, who is still in the midst of restructuring (at least we hope) itself through new management by Bonnie Brooks. That department store could definitely benefit from an online site to drive up sales if done correctly.
Whatever formula Sears is using, it’s working. Hell, it’s got me convinced to peruse through its digital archives for goods. Their outerwear selection is actually quite nice, especially with the double-breasted coats they have. If Sears can just work on getting better name brands, polish up their fashion inventory, and of course have excellent customer service, it could still stand a chance to survive in this tough retail market.
And what of Holt Renfrew? The Bay? Ogilvy? Canadians are waiting for you online. Especially this one.
The Bay Slashes 1,000 jobs, Looks For Olympic Saviour
Only a day after reporting that Hudson Bay Company owner, Richard Baker, was in hot waters with his flailing retail purchases, The Bay announced a cut back of 1,000 jobs. This cut is part of a restructuring The Bay is undergoing, claiming it will refocus the department store. I’m not quite sure how you can offer better service if department staff are taking the axe though.
Today, the Globe and Mail reports that The Bay is relying heavily on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games to boost sales. The Bay is the official company who will be dressing the Canadian Olympic team and will reveal their corporate logo for the Winter Games next week.
Exactly how patriotic will Canadians be about the Winter Games of 2010? The Bay had released official Olympic products for the Beijing Games last year, and failed to make any significant retail waves. Jeff Sherman, HBC’s CEO, acknowledged the shortcomings of last year’s fashion flop and promised to “not make those mistakes again.” They’re apparently working on “sought-after designs” that should have better retail longevity.
What HBC really hopes to accomplish is to reproduce Roots’ Olympic success. According to the Globe and Mail back in Oct:
The Olympics work had helped put Roots on the world map after its poor boy cap created a sensation - and a selling frenzy - at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games.
Since then, Roots had been the official outfitter for the U.S. Olympic team until last year when famed American designer Ralph Lauren designed the team’s jackets. The collaboration also proved fruitful as sales were still strong on the retail floor even after the Beijing Games were done.
Were HBC have made a collaboration with a Canadian fashion brands like Pink Tartan or DSquared, as Adidas made with Stella McCartney, that could help boost visibility for The Bay with their exclusive Olympic line.
Last year’s fashion flop - Who would actually wear these?
Another problem are the numerous licensees who are developing other Olympic products as listed by Vancouver Sun in February 2008. The list of products also include clothing apparel, which could place it in direct competition with The Bay’s designs. Although, Olympic Canadian fashion doesn’t really whip up my style senses into a frenzy.
With the news of the global recession, the implementation of Lord & Taylor into the Canadian market has been scraped for now. It will be a slow and painful process for Richard Baker to turn around two department store chains in 2 different countries.
Image credits: HBC, official Vancouver2010.com muk muk plush
