Fashion Retail Embraces Food Service to Drive Sales

15/01/2016
Fashion retailers across the board are adding in-store food services as a means of replacing lost business in their brick-and-mortar stores. Target, Kohl’s, Urban Outfitters, Armani, and Burberry are just some of the fashion industry retailers adding Coffee Shops, Café’s, Bristro’s, Bakeries, Upscale Restaurants and even Bars to the shopping experience.

Why? To Drive Traffic, Increase Dwell Time & Gain Share of Course
Offering food and beverage options to shoppers creates an experiential, convenient, and immersive customer experience that boosts foot traffic, increases dwell time in the store and enhances the brand experience. All of which are important goals for any segment within the retail vertical, including fashion.
The idea is simple. If shoppers are content- not hungry or thirsty, they’ll shop longer, thus buy more. The concept offers shoppers the convenience of providing two social activities rolled into one. This strategy also gives shoppers an experience they can’t get online, which could combat some of the in-store traffic loss to online shopping.
An article featured in Retail Dive posted in October on this subject highlighted how some specific fashion retailers are wooing shoppers with food:
Target. In an effort to position itself as a destination for healthy food, Target is replacing the ballpark food options (hotdogs and nachos) available in their current cafes with a more upscale health-food chain called “Freshii” in 9 of its store locations. The test sites are aimed at capitalizing on America’s growing wellness trend by offering salads and pressed juices.
Kohl’s is also testing “Kohl’s Cafés” within two of its stores in Wisconsin to increase traffic and stimulate sales. The small cafes offer coffee and grab-and-go snacks like granola bars and chips to tide shoppers over and allow them to enjoy shopping.
Urban Outfitters. As part of this fashion retailer’s goal to transform its store locations into “lifestyle experience stores” Urban Outfitter’s launched “Space Ninety 8” in 2014 to attract “foodies” and gain share from less-pricey chains H&M and Forever 21, according to the Retail Dive article. The new concept store in Brooklyn, New York, features Gorbals Restaurant and Bar from Ilan Hall of Top Chef fame. Another location called “Space 24 Twenty” opened in Austin featuring two restaurants catering to the foodie craze. In 2016, there are plans to open another lifestyle center in Devon, Pennsylvania that will include a boutique hotel, and an exercise studio in addition to restaurants.
Another article posted in the Business of Fashion (BOF) highlighted how some of the world’s luxury fashion brands are also staging food experiences in their stores:
Burberry opened one of the hottest destinations in London last spring, a café called “Thomas’s on Regent Street (named after Burberry’s founder). Shoppers at the flagship store can enjoy afternoon tea or a glass of champagne.
Ralph Lauren opened “Ralph’s Coffee” at its Polo flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York last September.
Armani has opened 13 food service locations in America, Asia and Europe. Founder, Giorgio Armani says “I believe that cafés and restaurants are a destination after a day’s shopping; a space where you can enjoy a smart and relaxed atmosphere. I’ve always wanted to create a complete Armani lifestyle that reflects my ideas and can be applied to different areas, not just fashion. Restaurants and Cafés seemed a logical expansion,” he continues.
Other Factors: Dining Out, Coffee and the Millennials
Like Giorgio said, pairing shopping and dining experiences together seems logical. But, there’s more behind it. Americans spent $482 billion dining out in 2014, according to Mintel, and is expected to have grown in 2015. It’s well known that the Millennial generation’s love to eat out has played a big part in this upward growth. According to Restaurant Marketing Labs, Millennials spend $174 per month eating out compared to about $153 for other populations.
Add to this fact America’s love for coffee. In 2014, Coffee Shops in the U.S. reported $19.1 billion in sales according to Euromonitor. In our related KDM Blog article: Retailers are Cashing in on America’s Love for Coffee we revealed that 61% of Americans drink coffee every day. Millennials have a huge impact on the coffee industry, mostly due to their sheer size in numbers as well as their love for coffee. This generation of 18-34 year olds spends significantly more money on coffee compared to any other population before them. They spend $25 a week on average to support their coffee habits, drinking coffee at home and on the go.
Summary
Lorna Hall summarized the motivation behind this growing trend in the fashion retail industry in the BOF article. She is the head of market intelligence at WGSN, a trend forecasting agency. She says “the key motivation behind retailers opening up their space to restaurants, cafés and bars, is to create excitement and give customers another reason to visit, at a time when customers are increasingly shopping online. “Retailers need to create something other than product,” says Hall. “Product is not enough; they have to create a destination and keep customers with them. They need to increase dwell time and give them a reason to come.”
Retailers that capitalize on a population that loves to shop, eat out (and eat healthy), and drink coffee by giving them a convenient and experiential shopping experience ought to hit it out of the park.

Fonte:http://www.kdmpop.com/2016/01/Fashion-Retail-Embraces-Food-Service-to-Drive-Sales.cfm#.Vq4eqCHTNsc.linkedin

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