Talbots seems to have ignored the obvious--there's a tsunami of customers coming its way!

Has Talbots figured out why its in trouble?

Last week, Talbots announced that it plans to overhaul its image and start attracting younger customers--that's a huge deal for a brand that's made its success on selling style and fashion to not-so-young, mature women.  The Wall Street Jounal ran an article [Talbots politely shows granny the door] that reported a modest come-back to profitability for Talbots, after a over a year of quarterly losses.  

I was surprised by the news, for I'm familiar with Talbots--I've warmed many an easy chair while my wife--who, by the way, is not a granny--has shopped in many of its fine stores.  For all I can tell, there's a fine line of goods, tastefully showcased, and reasonably priced.  What I found unexpected about the announcement was that Talbots has decided that to stop the red ink it will now abandon its prime prospects in favor of a new, younger audience, women who already shop at a host of competing places--Ann Taylor, Ann Taylor Loft, Banana Republic, American Eagle Outfitters, The Gap, Coldwater Creek, and others.  

Why chase the same customer as everyone else?

Why would a retail brand want to walk away from a perfectly sound--and relatively uncrowded--market space, to join the fray in a jammed, highly congested one?  Why would a firm want to compete for an audience that's arguably well-to-over-served when it presides over one that it's worked so hard to become known for and won the allegiance of?

Here's my logic: There are a lot of marketing variables to business success--having the right customer target is just one of many.  Other factors include pricing, promotion, brand imaging, advertising, store experience--we're talking here about a potentially long list of buttons to consider and feasibly "push."  When Talbots starts to abandon it's current target, it, in effect, is saying that it would prefer to make the solution to it's success problem more difficult, not easier.  The reason I conclude this is that in the pursuit of a new, young, more-hip customers Talbots will have to "un-sell" its prevailing brand image, then cultivate an new, younger brand image--all of this while everybody else is fight for mind-space in a very crowded field of vendors.  

The trick is to capitalize on external forces that are in your favor.

Half of any success formula in the financial and commercial world is being able to capitalize on the trends that are beyond your own, direct control that are evident in the greater environment.  The stunning thing to me is that that is exactly what Talbots presently has in its favor:  The U.S. is on the verge of a huge--I mean enormous--tsunami of upper-middle class baby boomer women headed fast and furious into the very category of shoppers and buyers that Talbots says it now wants to deflect in search of younger ones.  Shouldn't someone do Talbots a favor and mail them a copy of the Statistical Handbook of the United States?  

Tablots, there's a huge wave of women coming your way...

Don't step our of the way!  In the next 20 years, 100 million baby boomers, from the USA and Canada, are going to have more time to shop and more money to spend that 35 year olds will have for another 15 years--more than half of them will be women!  Five million baby boomers turn age 60 each year--that's not even close to the number of those turning 35!  That means that today there are even greater numbers of 40 years olds, 45 year olds, 50 year olds, and so on--many with money enough as well as the interest to dress well and fashionably.  It isn't for lack of a sizable, attractive target market that Talbots may be foundering and, thus, must go hunting for a different customer set.  

College professors of marketing have all had this experience:  Ask a freshman or sophomore what he or she wants to sell when they start their careers--and most of them will tell you they want to be in business of selling beer--it's a very predictable [and sorry] answer to anticipate.  And, as a college professor with more perspective and experience, I want to tell them that they're being so short-sighted to think that's the only or even the best way to make a living, selling beer; I want to tell them that there's a lot of money, likely more money, to be made in other--and at least for them--more ordinary things.  

So now you might understand why I want to shout at Talbots' corporate strategists:  Don't be a freshman about this--there's so much more to success than pursuing the same besieged--younger--customer that everyone else is!  Indeed, there's a lot of money to be made in selling to the tsunami of baby boomers walking around malls today and headed your way for the next 20 years! 
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Comments

[Kathy]

You are so RIGHT! What is Talbots decision makers drinking? I have been more and more frustrated when I shop at Talbots as I feel they are already trying to appeal to the way younger set. Enough of the low rise cut that shows the butt. Enough of the skin tight fit. They can still keep it fresh and somewhat in the current style without going to the other end of the spectrum. They will never compete with Anthropologie and some of the other companies you mentioned. I thought their other store, J Jill, was their answer to attracting the "younger set". They are making a huge mistake. Just my opinion however.

[Anne Chambers]

Hi Keith,
I couldn't agree more with your comments regarding Talbots and the "new image" they want the brand to represent. Are they kidding? Who's doing their market research?
I've discussed this strategy with a friend who was formerly a designer for Talbots (18 years and recently laid off). The word came down from the new, young execs at the top that designs have to be youthful, edgy, tight, low cut, short, etc. Just what you think of when you hear the "Talbots" right? Consumers make buying decisions based on brand perception and an emotional attachment. If Talbot execs think they can change this well established perception overnight, good luck. They'd better be prepared to spend millions chasing after a younger market that wouldn't even consider browsing in one of their stores. And, the millions they'll have to spend will come from the profits they've earned from their loyal Talbot customer base. Once they turn the corner, Talbots will never get these loyal customers back in their stores again. For what it's worth, Talbots needs to stay true to their mission and not play Russian Roulette with their brand.