Retailers who target baby boomers may make many mistakes before getting it right. Reitmans Canada, the country’s largest specialty women’s wear merchant, announced yesterday that they had failed with their Cassis stores and are in the process of revamping the chain. Last fall, Cassis was launched to cater specifically to 45- to 60-year-old women by offering bigger sizes at higher prices. This concept failed because boomer women still want youthful styles while defying the ageing process, and are also not ready to pay too steep a price for them.
The new Cassis outlets will offer new merchandise that are more stylish, higher quality, better fitting and not as expensive. Reitmans hopes to appeal to boomer women who want to look smart and elegant, but still follow the fashions of the day.
U.S. retail giant Gap Inc. encountered similar difficulties in attracting baby boomers. They closed its struggling Forth and Towne chain in the U.S. after failing to find the right fit for female boomers.
The truth of the matter is boomers may not really want to shop at separate stores. Older women do not want to dress like an older woman. The 50-year-old woman thinks she’s 40, and the 40-year-old woman thinks she’s 30. Everyone thinks they are younger than they are and to be seen shopping at a store for ‘older’ women is not good for their self esteem. Perhaps retailers should first master the shopping psychology of boomers before opening separate stores for boomers.
As a 46 year-old fashion loving woman who speaks to and writes about Canadian Boomer women every day (not to mention being a Reitman’s shareholder), I have a vested interest in seeing Reitman’s Cassis stores succeed.
The 40-year-old woman may think she’s 30 but as women move farther into their middle years, I think this rings less true. We don’t want to be younger. And we don’t want to dress like our daughters But we do want to look good.
Many Boomer women throw up their hands in despair, wondering “How am I supposed to dress now?” While previously we may have asked, “Does this make me look fat?”, now we’re wondering, “Does this make me look too young?”
We’re looking for someone to show us a fresh, new interpretation on the fashion trends. I believe older women would embrace a store that was just for them if a savvy retailer gets the mix of merchandising and marketing right.
For what it’s worth, I’ll offer the good folks at Reitman’s my two cents worth.
Expert in-store sales service will go a long way. I’m not talking about basic customer service, something which goes without saying. I’m talking having staff that are in their 40’s and 50’s and understand what it’s like to walk in our shoes. I’m talking about people who love fashion and are knowledgeable about the trends. And I’m talking about people who have been trained to take it one step further and help customers interpret the trends to suit their self-image and their lifestyle.
The best advice I’ve ever received about how to dress well at this stage comes from a stylist friend of mine. She acknowledges that some women will be fashionistas forever. For them, she advises they tone it down just a little at mid-life or they’ll end up looking like a party girl past her prime. On the other hand, if a woman has been a conservative dresser most of her life, she needs to “funk it up” a bit to avoid looking dowdy and frumpy.
I’m one Boomer woman who is eagerly waiting to see what the re-vampled Cassis has to offer. And if I like what I see, I’ll defintely be spreading the word.
Well said! I couldn’t agree more. I don’t necessarily want to visit separate stores or sections targetted for “mature women” when I go shopping. That makes me feel old before I even buy anything! I just want to find good clothes in my size on the same rack.
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the layout of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two pictures. Maybe you could space it out better?