The rhythm of the seasons, production stops, delays in delivery, clearance sales and unforeseeable factors such as strikes must be integrated into the decision-making process of buyers. In short: shopping involves risk. FashionUnited spoke to six experts from the French market about their different strategies.
Florent Tamisier, Director at Mars Branding.
Julie Le Gall, Director at Mars Branding.
The finance gurus: many brands, limited choice
Accounts are well managed at Aboudabibazar, a French multi-brand women’s clothing retailer in Paris. Patrick Aboukrat explains: “Sometimes I go to a showroom and only buy one product, if possible. I can’t stand the talk about minimum quantities. When I sell something to an end customer, I don’t say: Madam, but there is a minimum!”.
To avoid surprises at the end of the season, his tactic is to narrow down and calculate everything – the most important brands cannot make up more than seven percent of his portfolio. The less important brands are limited to a share of 1.5 percent. In this way, Aboukrat avoids being dependent on suppliers in the event of delivery failures.
However, his approach doesn’t prevent him from keeping his budget ready for off-season shopping – depending on what he likes at the moment or whether he wants to follow certain trends. He often starts the season with 60 tokens and ends with 100.
The specialists: niche products and exceptional brands
For some buyers, the success of the business lies in the ability to offer highly specialized niche brands. This is also how Règis Pennel from L’Exception sees it – the buyer registers peak values of up to 550 brands per year.
L’Exception, a Parisian concept store with an e-commerce site, offers 200 brands that account for about 85 percent of sales, as well as 300 lesser-known brands that make it possible to create a unique customer experience. “For example, we have about 20 brands of cosmetics or a brand that only sells straws for cocktails. Sometimes we record a brand for three products.”
The Loyal: Long-term collaboration with brands
Buyer Elisabeth Dreyfus works by feel. Her multi-brand shop for women’s clothing Elisa by Elisa in Angoulême has around 30 designers with whom she has been working faithfully for several years. Since she has a manageable sales area and a regular clientele, she knows the taste of her customers very well and manages to put together her range and merchandising when shopping from the head.
“I never have an Excel spreadsheet or a computer with me when I write the order. I do everything by feel and without calculation. It’s completely natural, I always have a balanced budget.”
The ones with heart: brands that make customers happy
Caroline Lumbroso, manager of the three ‘Blush’ concept stores in Lyon, uses a different strategy: her approach is based on a strategy of “buy to your heart’s content” that breaks the rhythm of the seasons. Lumbroso wants to be always and everywhere in order not to miss anything – that’s why every season it renews up to 50 percent of its selection and works for the other brands with an exclusive distribution.
“When I tell you I shop all the time, I mean mostly new brands,” she tells us. “If I discover a new brand in March, I don’t wait for the new collection in September. If you “You spot a brand you like in March, then you order it in March and sell it in April. I’ve always tried to do what the big guys do. When I look at Zara, they have something new every week. That’s has become a leitmotif at Blush: there must be constant innovation”.
The trend hunters: International trends and exclusivity
This buyer profile is rather rare. They buy little, but exceptionally, because the selection should be special. Rarity, quality and exclusivity make an item desirable and make it easier to buy digitally, even from a foreign customer. Philippe Sultana, of menswear concept store Summer in Lyon, has made it a habit to travel from New York to Tokyo to scout brands that he will be the only one to sell in France. “What has made us known is what the brands we write offer. It’s pretty pointy, with brands that are hard to find. So many foreign customers who had trouble finding these brands put us on their radar.”
The responsible ones: shopping that promotes timelessness
Marie Nguyen, the co-founder of We Dress Fair, is driven by a desire to transform the way fashion is consumed. In order to achieve her goal in the long term, she developed a strategy that allowed her to combine new brands with brands that already had a certain level of recognition. As a specialist in the eco-responsible sector, Marie prefers to buy from brands that make their collections timeless.
“Our brands offer both women’s and men’s clothing, with a large proportion of NOS goods – which is very important to us,” she explains. “These are brands where part of the collection is seasonal, but the rest is seasonal are permanent items. This is fully in line with the ethical fashion approach today, as it is an approach of timelessness”.
A return of a market that should interest many young brands, especially those interested in wholesale but who disregard the rhythm of the seasons by offering novelties annually or monthly. It no longer seems imperative to wait for trade show times to sell – the more important it becomes to be perceived as a favourite, something that only the brands themselves can influence.
Wholesale Is Not Dead is a podcast dedicated to business developments in the fashion market. The principle is simple: independent retailers, franchisees, department stores and concept stores are invited to share their experiences.
This podcast is a creation of digital communications agency Mars Branding, led by Julie Le Gall and Florent Tamisier.
This translated post previously appeared on FashionUnited.fr. Translation and editing: Karenita Haalck