Building intimate relations - intimate apparel - Special Supplement: Apparel Merchandising

Discount Store News, Oct 19, 1992

Consumers have an unprecedented number of intimate options, not only in terms of styles, but also outlets. Women can make a vast variety of intimate apparel purchases at numerous stores.

One specialty store alone, Victoria|s Secret, has, as anyone familiar with the business knows, created a huge following for its romantic, boutique-style of retailing. Department stores are also placing greater emphasis on intimates.

So why are discounters posting double-digit intimate apparel increases? How are these stores, which have a long history of assorting cramped intimate areas with basic, stodgy garments attracting customers in droves?

Here's a hint: Fashion, quality, brand names, low prices and even to a certain extent ambience.

The discount store intimate apparel business has come of age. Merchants at this tier of distribution have learned from their upstairs cousins and tempered this knowledge with a healthy dose of mass merchant reality. The result? Discount stores are posting double-digit increases in all three major intimate categories--foundations, panties and daywear. And merchants say intimate apparel is among the best soft lines businesses at their stores.

"The business," says Venture's executive vice president Maxine Clark, "is unquestionably trending upward." In one category, bras, Venture's year-to-date sales are up more than a third.

Discounters' strong position in the field is confirmed by The NPD Group, which tracks consumer purchasing. According to a study conducted by the Port Washington, N.Y.-based research company for Apparel Merchandising, discount stores commanded a 27 percent market share in intimate apparel for the yearly period of July 1991 through June 1992.

The strongest category for discounters is panties, where they commanded more than 37 percent of sales for the period. Department and specialty stores combined generated a 32 percent share of the panties business.

Foundations constitute discounters' next strongest classification, according to the study. In that area the Kmarts, Wal-Marts, Jamesways and ShopKos of the world corner about a quarter, 24.2 percent, of the market. Deparment and specialty operations scooped up 37.7 percent of sales.

It is in daywear that discounters have the longest road to travel. In this softly constructed classification discount stores garner a meager 14.9 percent of the market. Department/specialty stores still have a huge chunk of the business, generating 44.6 percent of the volume.

However, that may not be the case in the future. At least one discounter, Braintree, Mass.-based Bradlees, is showing significant increases in the area.

"Our biggest intimate apparel percentage increases are coming in daywear rather than panties or bras," says divisional merchandise manager Leslie James. "That's not to say that daywear has has become our biggest area, but rather that the other business have already been very developed."

Bralets, often constructed of puckered fabric combined with lace, and cotton knit camisoles at $6.99 are among the best performers in the fashion segment of daywear at Bradlees. These tops are often part of a multi-purchase presentation that includes $2.99 bikini and boxer bottoms.

Bradlees' basic daywear business merchandised with an every-day low-price strategy is also performing admirably. It consisting of slips, half-slips and camisoles that sell in the $4.99 to $7.99 range.

The infusion of brand names in intimate apparel continues to be an important spur to discount store sales. It should be noted, however, that it isn't the labels alone that are prompting consumers to open their wallets. Industry players believe it is the attention to quality and styling that manufacturers--most often with businesses founded on the department store level--bring to the discount floor that stimulates customers spending.

"The leaders in the industry are now paying attention to the mass market, and it is their combination of merchandising, marketing and systems/-EDI skills that are giving the business a boost," says Venture's Clark.

Clark is making sure that her customers are getting the branded message with

new updated signs and displays that make a statement. "In some cases, we're merchandising by brand name rather than by classification," Clark says.

Vassarette, the Vanity Fair division, is among the producers that have taken a leadership role at the mass market level. The label, launched last year at Wal-Mart, is now posting huge sales increases throughout the discounting tier. According to industry sources close to the company, retail sales of Vassarette product will exceed $100 million for the year.

"We're growing by leaps and bound, and, at the rick of sounding immodest, becoming a mega-brand," says Vanity Fair president Peter Velardi.

An important reason for Vassarette's, and several other manufacturers success, is based on the companies' high developed replenishment system. By constantly shipping merchandise to the stores, intimate buyers can actually cut back on basics presentations because their selling areas no longer have to accommodate such large inventories of these ubiquitous styles. This equates to more space for fashion goods that attract consumers into the department.