Venturing with accessories - Venture Stores Inc - Special Supplement: AM

Discount Store News, August 3, 1992

Venture Stores, O'Fallen, Mo., is riding the big wave of accessories. The booming category has been given expanded space at new Venture prototype stores while updated fixturing in older stores are used to make the department more attractive and efficient.

The move toward a more fashionable accessory area is part of a strategy Venture hopes will keep it competitive in a discount store world that at times appears to be dominated by Wal-Mart. As retailers watch the Bentonville, Ark., giant grow, Venture has been one of a group of regional chains that are fighting back of differentiating themselves on their own terms.

So far Venture's moves appear successful. Through updated merchandising and a new prototype format, the chain had successfully increased sales and profits. In 1991, sales for the 84-store chain increased 7.1 percent to $1.5 billion.

The apparel area is one of the biggest benefactors. Within it, accessories has become a market star for Venture, as it has in the industry as a whole. Apparel sales, which include the whole range of accessories, at the chain are estimated at about $609 million.

Venture's executive vice president Maxine Clark credits the success of the accessory department, especially in the prototype stores such as Springfield, Ill., to the better displays and to its ability to stay on top of quickly changing trends.

"The new prototype stores expand the accessory space and make the whole accessory presentation more dramatic," she says.

In the new prototypes, Clark reported that space for accessories increased as much as 15 percent.

According to Clark, these units feature new fixturing, such as more attractive four-way displays; better adjacencies that bring related items (handbags and wallets, for instance) together; and make better use of wall space as both a decorative backdrop and a display area.

Though these physical changes improve the look of the department, the ultimate success of the accessories area relies on having the right product. In older stores where renovation has not yet taken place, the emphasis on the correct merchandise mix is even more important. As in all fashion categories, the best selling accessory categories change with a shoppers' whim.

"We always ebb and flow to meet the demand of the business," Clark explains. "This year hats and hair goods have been incredibly strong so we have shifted more inventory and space to those categories from lesser categories."

In ranking how the various accessory areas were doing, Clark gives hair goods and hats, particularly caps, a "wow" rating.

Currently, sunglasses, both costume earrings and fine earrings, totes and backpacks plus brand name hosiery are also doing well in the accessory area, rating two stars, according to Clark. Watches, jewelry and cosmetics are all at or above plan, she notes.

Belts, however, have been flat. Clark notes that Venture has downplayed that category as oversized tops worn outside bottoms and leggings have come on strong.

A real strength for Venture has been in being able to take advantage of multiple sales, both within the department and with adjacent departments. This is an overflow of the trend in apparel, where coordinates are the core of the business these days. In accessories, it can sometimes be a matter of placing things together.

In accessories at Venture, small leather goods are placed near handbags; socks are placed near matching bodywear, which at Venture is considered part of the accessories department.

With a seasonal item, such as sunglasses, outposts for the product are sometimes set up in other departments for cross-merchandising opportunities or at checkout. However, most goods remain in the parent department.

Multiple sales are also occurring through multi-pack purchases and added-value offers--trends that will continue, according to Clark.

"Multi-packs are very strong," she says. The best examples at Venture include six-pack sets of socks, three-pack sets of hair bows, caps that come with a T-shirt and handbags that come with a coin purse. The driving force, Clark notes, is "any way the customer can get more for her money."

Opening price points on accessories vary ($1.99 for belts, $6.99 for handbags). Private label products such as socks, sheer hosiery, hair goods, caps and warmwear are usually the "strongest" value on the floor," she says.

According to Clark, it is difficult to quantify the brand vs. private label mix in accessories as a whole, because it varies in the subcategories.

"Brand level is hard to measure since in some categories, 14K jewelry, for example, there are no recognizable brands. But in warmwear--a category that includes things like gloves, hats, scarves and tights--Hanes Her Way, Sheer Energy and Gitano are very strong," she says.

In both the private label and branded goods, Venture merchandises a complete style story, using the retailer's designated color palette for the season. All the private label items totally coordinate with the store's apparel colors.

In fact, Clark reports that color is the main fashion issue at retail.