Selasa, 08 Maret 2016

Pro Hockey Life: The Destination To Become Your Dream

Hockey goes back over 100 years into Canada's history. It has become engrained into our society to the point that those that play hockey are believed to have ice in their veins. Children, including myself, have grown up dreaming of lifting Lord Stanley's mug, and emulating our favourite players. From Wayne Gretzky to Connor McDavid, amateur players needed to be like the pros. 



Hockey equipment has existed in stores for a while, such as United Cycle and SportChek, but none of them have truly captured the feel of becoming a hockey player like Pro Hockey Life has. It was one thing to be able to go in and see the hockey equipment you wanted, play with it for a bit and then make your decision, but Pro Hockey Life changed how players shop for their equipment.

To start, the large depth and breadth of each category far outweighed their competitors. This is a dedicated hockey store, not just a sports store that has hockey equipment amongst many other sports. Their walls are lined with goalie pads, sticks, skates and helmets. The product assortment was almost overwhelming, with shelves filled with all the hockey brands. As well, when you are on your way out of the store, you would run into the fan section, where there is so much variety that the ultimate fan could find anything they wanted, from jerseys to memorabilia.



However, that isn’t the only thing that makes Pro Hockey Life the best destination for hockey players. Their engagement amplifies the experience, so you know exactly what you are buying, where all employees have knowledge in hockey and equipment. There are places to practice your power and accuracy in their RapidShot target training system and a spot to model how your equipment will look on you even in a simulated hockey environment. They reinvented the try before you buy model and made it more interactive.



The experience doesn't end there, certain parts of the store make you feel like you are on the ice. The floor is lined with white tiles, simulating the ice and the walls have puck marks and decals to look like the boards. Not only is this a hockey store, but you feel like you are actually in an arena too. As well, unlike other retailers where music is usually played, the voices of famous broadcasts in hockey history can be heard throughout the whole store and TVs are hanging playing games of old and new to create the ultimate hockey shopping experience.


Pro Hockey life continued to deliver experience outside of the store. Across Canada they would host events where hockey stars, like Alex Ovechkin, come in and interact with fans, including playing games of road hockey and showing off the latest products. Pro Hockey life isn’t just any sports store, but a hockey store that can turn a regular shopping experience into a hockey memory.

References:
http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/160/files/2011/09/Pro-Hockey-Life.png
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/cms/binary/1890705.jpg?size=640x420
http://www.rapidshot.com/rapidshot/Images/photo2.jpg
http://www.prohockeylife.com

Seeing Clearly Now: The Future of the Eyewear Industry


The traditional process for buying glasses includes visiting an optometrist, receiving a new prescription and entering a store where one would proceed to try on various shapes and sizes of glasses and pick a pair that suits them best. Although the process is straightforward, it’s not frequent among individuals who wear glasses. This is largely due to exorbitant price tags that come alongside designer eyewear found in stores like LensCrafters or Pearl Vision. Thanks to the licensing policies of Luxottica, customers pay between CAD$300-500 for a pair of glasses. However, in the last few years, various online retailers have emerged, such as Warby Parker, Clearly, and EyeBuyDirect, that offer affordable, stylish eyewear options. With more consumers turning to the online realm, will the future of the industry turn from brick to click?


Warby Parker's Online Site
                  
First, let’s look at the benefits of buying eyewear online. The biggest advantage, as stated above, is that online retailers are bending the cost curve down. They deploy vertical integration in their business models, meaning they design, manufacture and outfit the glasses themselves. A typical pair of glasses with lenses from Warby Parker retail at CAD$130 and with EyeBuyDirect’s basic lens option, glasses can cost as little as CAD$20. By shopping online, consumers are able to bypass the 20x mark-up that became normalized by Luxottica. Eyewear is a medical market where the majority of users pay out of pocket, which makes consumers price sensitive. Even if an individual has vision coverage, the option for buying discounted glasses online is cheaper than maintaining a coverage plan. Shoppers can frequent online sites for new glasses multiple times per year, something that was previously not accessible for the vast majority of the market.

Promoting Choice with EyeBuyDirect's Affordable Pricing Strategy

Cost aside, there are some drawbacks to purchasing eyewear online. The most obvious disadvantage being the risks that the customer takes on during the buying process. Finding the perfect pair of glasses is a non-standardized process that is dependent on face shape, personal preference and prescription needs. Buying glasses online requires some bravery from the consumer as they are not able to test and try on various pairs before making their final decision. Warby Parker has tried to mitigate this issue by offering a try-at-home program, but this option has yet to land in Canada. Even more risk is added as the customer takes on the role of a trained optical dispenser when making critical decisions about measurements, lens type and material selection.

Warby Parker NYC Showroom

So what’s the future for the eyewear market? The trend is moving towards omni-channel offerings that provide consumers with multi touch-points of accessibility. The once solely e-commerce based Warby Parker now has over twenty physical store locations. Co-founder Neil Blumenthal has stated that physical stores provide the company with another way of bringing customers into the world of Warby Parker. Since 73% of consumers want to try on or touch merchandise before making a purchase (Retail Insider), this strategy is not surprising. Omni-channel offerings, like that implemented by Warby Parker, increase profitability by allowing retailers to serve both traditional and emerging segments while simultaneously increasing their retail footprint. Cost friendly online retailers are not replacing traditional eyewear establishments, but as they expand into the brick and mortar realm they will be giving the retail powerhouses, like Luxottica, a run for their money.

References:

The Fall of Target


Zellers. Remember that store? For years my family had been going there, particularly for the relatively affordable prices, browsing for socks, kitchen products, electronics – you name it. They carried a fairly wide selection and variety of goods.

But then came Target.

The excitement and media buzz of the American company opening their first Canadian stores was creeping towards us in the north. Even I, a person who normally wouldn’t be interested in the opening of a new store like Target, became intrigued. What kind of store was this? Would they have affordable deals and an assortment of apparel I prefer? What sort of products do they even sell? These are the types of questions I asked myself when I went to work at West Edmonton Mall every weekend, seeing the construction of Target on 87th Avenue.

When the store finally did open, I remembered walking in… and I wasn’t too impressed. The feel and look was similar to a Zellers, but upgraded to a more modern day style. The stores color scheme was mostly red and white, resembling its bold and recognisable red Trademark. Like Zellers, it offered staples such as toilet paper, toothpaste and detergent – in line with its plan to lure customers away from Shoppers Drug Mart and Loblaw’s.              

But perhaps the most unsettling observation was the lack of product on the shelves. I remember walking into the home furnishing section, where an employee had attempted to construct a visual display. It was for a bedroom, where the product on display was a sectioned closet hanger for items like shoes or socks. The carpet under the display was dirty and poorly taped to the ground, and the hanger itself – made out of cloth – was ripped in certain areas. In general, it wasn’t a very luring advertisement, and definitely did not entice me to buy the product. Shelving around the display held almost no product, and other items that were offered had very little variety.   

Back at the company, everyone knew that the company launch was a disaster, but no one wanted to be the one to say it. There was also an element of helplessness. The deal made by CEO Greg Steinhafel, where he bought all of Zellers real estate, forced the company to open stores as fast as they could, to avoid paying rent on stores that weren’t operational. The leases made Target trudge forward, even though internally, everyone knew it was a bad idea.

It doesn’t take much to realize when something’s going wrong, whether it was the employees of Target or an average Joe like myself. Well before Target decided to pull out of Canada, I could see the state of the company by taking a walk through their store. Not long after that, Target left Canada.  






Forever 21: location and the cost to succeed

Forever 21 is one of the most popular American fashion retail chains that offers a wide range of current fashion apparels, accessories, beauty products for girls, women, and men at an economic price. In 2012, Forever 21 launched its first flagship store in the most crowed area of Hong Kong, Causeway Bay. Forever 21 is reportedly paying approximately CAD$2.0 million in rent per month for its prime location in Hong Kong, which is the highest rent paid by the California-based company. The location was originally leased to a local retailer, Giordano, for a rent of CAD$1.0 million per month. 

Why would Forever 21 be willing to pay close to double the rent?

A great location is an excellent way to build a strong brand. The convenient location contributed tremendously to Forever 21’s retailing success in Hong Kong by driving higher foot traffic volume and brand awareness for the store. The area of Causeway Bay contain a high percentage of segment that Forever 21 is primarily targeting, for instances, young women and men who are seeking to keep up with the latest fashion trend at an affordable price. In 2011, retail sale in Hong Kong grew by 25% where majority of the annual sale were driven by a new generation of wealthy mainland Chinese tourists. Hong Kong became their shopping paradise, and with no surprise, the newly opened Forever 21 benefited greatly from the boosted tourism. As the store is conveniently located on a pedestrian-friendly district across the busiest intersection in Causeway Bay, it allow Forever 21 to take up presence in a new market almost immediately. However, such central location require a burdensome amount of rental expense, which explain why the store is open till 1:00 AM every day of the week. The former CFO of Forever 21, Larry Meyer, explained that the intention of having a mega store in Hong Kong was to build a strong brand image and ultimately “serve as a gateway to China”. In my opinion, the store format and layout was also designed in way that cater to the local target segments. To compete with other fast-fashion retail competitors, design aids in the store’ relaxed feeling so customers can enjoy the clean, well-organized and easy to move venue. The store was filled with bold, bright colors and flirty materials. Although there is an overwhelming number of product options, the interior always focus on displaying the latest updated item.


Although Hong Kong Forever 21 flagship store helped elevate shopping experience to a new level and created buzz for its brand, I personally think the risks associated with this flagship are still significant. It seems to me that the primary purpose of the store was to build brand rather than solely to generate profit, considering the massive amount of resources invested in the location selection process. In my opinion, the HK flagship store might face several challenges in the near future as retail sale witnessed a slowdown in 2015 due to the “Umbrella Revolution” that deterred Chinese tourists from coming to Hong Kong. As consumers begin to embrace the new convenience ways of online shopping and showrooming, retailers face further pressure in developing an ultra-efficient operating model that fulfill both omni-channel and in-store operational needs. However, I still believe flagship store is a strategic way for Forever 21 to enter into a foreign market, to announce its presence and to enhance business within an international market.

references:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/hong-kong-retail-slows-as-mainland-tourists-stay-away-1451368824

http://www.hongkonghustle.com/fashion/3342/forever-21-hong-kong-flagship-store-address-causeway-bay-hk-forever21-jardines-bazaar-cwb-apple-store-hysan-place-sogo-department-store-times-square-dfs/
http://www.realdealhk.com/2012/06/retail-review-forever-21.html