Comparison Between Macy's And Polo Specialty Store - Essay Example

Comparisons and contrasts between Macy’s Departmental Store and Polo Specialty Store History Children wear is a highly marketable commodity for quite a number of parent or guardians who have children under their care. Clothing for children, despite being a basic right all over the world, is essential to make them feel loved and cared for. In the cold season, warm children wear helps children to feel warm and prevent them from catching flu or fever. Fashion has made it possible for children wear manufacturers to produce and distribute trendy and fashionable clothes to distributors and retailers who in turn sell them. Children wear’s history roll back to the early 1900’s when they were first produced. As at then children laws stipulated that it was illegal for children to work in the night and they could only work for up to sixty six hours in a week. Even then, children, given the tenderness of their age should not be allowed to work under any circumstances. But in regions were pervert is rife, the labour policies and laws were legislated, and subsequently the number of hours children could work was limited. These laws not only protect children from the harsh working conditions, but also from employers who might want to use them to achieve personal gain. In the early 1900, or 1909 to be precise, a major milestone in children wear was achieved when a doctor called Denton invented the pajamas. The person who invents these pajamas, then called ‘sleepytimes’ solidifies the importance of children’s wear in protecting children’s health. This particular doctor observed that children would sleep better in pajamas, and this would enhance both their physical and mental health. Even in the world today, pajamas are widely used by almost everyone who wishes to have a comfortable and long sleep without any interruption. 1921 was yet another year, which saw a greater achievement launched towards children’s wear production. A company by the name Health Tex Children Company was founded. The name of this company still has a bag message in discussing the health of children wear and their health. The founders of the company unquestionably had the health of children in their mind hence opening a company that would help to make their lives better by improving their health through manufacturing clothes for them. A popular historical figure, Shirley Temple, was also remarkably iconic and made a significant influence in the children’s wear industry. She used her dresses that were short and extremely short hair as her signatures or the ultimate image that she could easily be identified or associated with. The same trend has continued today, as there are several celebrities who have their own customized dresses used as representatives of their images. However, it could make much more sense to the children if these celebrities pumped a small percentage of their efforts towards the production of children’s wear. This will be a show of humanity and support for the young kids. Other famous inventions helped to spread and advertise children’s wear all over the world. The invention of the black and white television in 1949 gave a substantial boost to the children wear industry. Children wear shows become popular programs and their licensing made quite a substantial amount of money for the children wear manufactures. This money was in return re-invested back into the industry thereby enlarging and making it bigger. 1958 and 1959 were also noteworthy years for the fashion industry as the Hush Puppies shoes, and the Barbie Doll were invented respectively. The puppies’ shoes were necessary in protecting the feet of the children as walking or working without shoes was not only stressful but also painful and full of discomfort. The invention spirit did not stop as several other new trends in children wear continued to be invented. During the entire 1960’s, a whole lot of a variety of colors, patterns and prints were produced. Some of these colors were light blue, light pink and light green. 1n 1970, various textiles including polyester were invented. Since the invention of the sewing machine, the discovery and subsequent use of manufactured fiber in apparel was another enormous development in the children wear industry. By this time, children wear was also beginning to look like adult wear. In 1980, a crucial shift occurred from manufactured fiber to more natural fiber such as cotton and linen among others. Naturals fibers were of immense preference over the manufactured fibers were either cheap, readily available or simply made better children’s clothes. As these magnificent developments wore on, national brands like Calvin Klein, famously known as CK, and Ralph Lauren were introduced to help in marketing the produced clothes easily. In the same light, specialty stores were also introduced. Some of the specialty stores introduced was Children’s place and Toys R Us. 1990 was the year that saw the introduction of school uniform and recession. This development made many parents, especially the mothers to think about the value that they got out of shopping for children wear. It is because of this thought they unanimously resolved to do their children wear shopping mainly in giant stores like Target and Wall-Mart. In the present day, there are actually slightly over one thousand companies, all of them in the business of making children’s clothes. Just to name a few examples of such firms gives names like Health Tex, Gerber and Oshkosh among many others. It is also necessary to note that majority of this companies are family owned, and they owe their success to the inventions that started rolling out as early as 1900 (Sonnet 7). Sales Volume Today Unlike in the past when the sales volume was not so impressive owing to the economy situations then, today the sales are exceptionally high and children ware is indeed a hugely profitable business to run. The sales volume has grown and increase by almost one hundred percent. This increase in the sales volume can be attributed to the advancement in world technology, thus improving the type of machinery and equipment that is used in manufacturing these clothes. The success in the increase in volume is also made possible by the fact that there are over on thousand firms producing clothes, and on top of that are numerous distributors, chain stores and retailers who are truly willing to sell the children wear. The Children population today can also not be compared to that in the past. This means that there are more consumers of children’s clothes who are willing to buy as compare in the past. This predisposing makes the clothes available to a wide number of customers thus improving the volume of the sales made today. Besides the theory, there are figures available from market reports that show the improving in sales volume today. These market reports show that sales worth $29.4 billion have been made up to date. Mass merchandisers are shown to be the ones that are most benefitting, thus making them the most profitable, with a net value of 29.7% of the children’s apparel sales market. Following closely are specialty retailers making up 22.4% of the total sales. The same market statistics continue to show that skirts, sweaters and blouses are the most popular apparel styles among children at $29.37 million and followed by pants and others at $23.61 million. The spending power of different households varies and there a uniform sales volume cannot be analyzed accurately, but on average the figures can run from as low as 25 dollars to thousands of dollars a month. A general trend shows that several households spend much more on girls clothing as compared to boys clothing. Key Retailers Some of the key retailers of children’s wear include JC Penny, Polo, Macy’s and Children’s place among many others. Macy’s Department Store This particular departmental store is located in Herald Square, 34th and 35th Broadway, New York. It is an American departmental store established in around 1970. This departmental store sells men, children and women’s apparel, cosmetics, bedding and as well as other house furnishings. List of price ranges Tops: $19-$170 Jackets: $59-$415 Dresses: $35-$495 Shoes: $29-$110 Just like any other departmental store, Macy’s has a bright lighting which is particularly essential in helping the customers move within the store without any difficult and easily locate the clothes easily. The children’s section is remarkably spacious which allows for ample space for a huge number of customers buy or view the clothes at the same time without creating any congestion. Labels of different brands offered in the store are displayed in a colorful manner to catch the attention of a buyer and actually inform him or her that the type of cloth he or she is searching for is available. There are selling representatives located at the strategic points in the departmental store to help the customers who may be having any particular question regarding any of the clothes they are currently offering or whether there may be a particular size of any clothe the customer is willing to buy. There is music playing from the speakers situated in strategic positions where the music can easily be hard all across the store. The music helps to give the customers a relaxing, which they certainly need as they move around the store doing their shopping. In my view, these selling environment is more likely to attract more customers that if it were without this environment. With all the relaxed mood, music playing, bright lighting, and exceedingly helpful representatives, the store is going to receive even more customers and clients buying childrens wear than it did in the previous month. The shelving of the merchandise is what particularly impresses me most. With this kind of shelving of the merchandise, it is quite easy for any customer to navigate around and find whatever it is they want to buy. Polo specialty store This specialty store is located in 447 Great Mall Dr Ste. 552 Milpitas. California. Unlike the other departmental store discussed above, Polo was founded far back in the past. It was actually opened in 1890 and was initially located in Sears. Today, Polo has opened over five hundred leading specialty stores. List of price ranges Tops: $16.50-$49.50 Jackets: $45-$279 Dresses: $39.50-$268 Shoes: $16.50-$198 Swimwear: $34.50-$98 Polo specialty store has the perfect selling environment that calls of a specialty store. It has a playing area with chairs for kids that keep the children busy as their parents or guardians engage themselves in buying clothes for them. Polo store is complete with story books and coloring tables that make a perfect match for a child’s fantasy memories. It also has bright lighting and the best shelving just like any other departmental store. Music too is inevitable in this store as it keeps both the children and their parents upbeat and well entertained. (Sonnet 6) This selling environment gives the children’s parents and guardians an ample time as they hover around the store purchasing clothes for their children. The customer service in this spatiality store is actually much better than that in Macy’s departmental Store. Contrast and Comparison of both Stores It is intriguing to state that the customer base of these two stores is actually of around the same age though I observed more women in Macy’s departmental store as compared to Polo specialty stores. Macy’s, being a departmental store, had a vast collection of brands, but the t-shirts were almost similar with the same design and make. I predict that the shirts will scale up the market sales in the coming seasons as most people shopping could be seen buying them. The selling environment in both stores is captivating and helps to attract further customers into buying from the stores. Working as a retail consultant in any of these two stores will obviously give me a head start in my career and most importantly make the most critical changes that will help make both the departmental and specialty store make massive profits than they are currently doing. In Macy departmental store, I will improve the quality of the customer service as I noticed it is not as effective as the customer service in Polo specialty store. In polo specialty store, I will try to initiate contracts with other brands that are not currently offered in polo but are offered in Macy’s departmental store. Reference Stanfill, Sonnet. New York Fashion. London, Victoria & Albert Museum. 2007 Read More