Rag Trade 101: Its all in the details

With the economy in its current state, the retail trade has been riding a roller coaster that has resulted in cut backs, store closures, and a general sense of uneasiness all around. In these times, massive chain stores are grasping at straws to find magical cures as to why their customers are turning to lower price points or higher quality goods. They've brought in efficiency experts to stream line production and delivery, experts in retail planning to maximize square footage, and financial planners to cut costs, however they have completely ignored developing their first line of defense in the fight for your hard earned money, the sales associate.

Step into any store in your local mall and ask a sales associate at random questions about a garment's fabrication, construction, or styling and more importantly WHY these things matter in their products and see what they say. Speaking from several years of experience in the trenches, ie working in retail, I can  consistently say that sales associates at the moderate-to-better price points (read the average stores in your local malls) are not schooled on product knowledge unless they have been in retail for YEARS or have a background/love of fashion. In a healthy economy this lack of product knowledge at this price point doesn't matter, I mean $150 for a dress when times are booming isn't that big of a deal, however the second times get tough, the sales associate selling a $150 dress to a cash strapped middle-class soccer mom might as well be selling her a luxury item which requires an entirely different approach. Sellers at the bridge to designer price points (Bloomies to Neimans and beyond) can tell you that selling a pair of $500 slacks takes knowing what they are made of, where they came from, how they travel, how they fit into the customer's life and wardrobe, and where to get them altered. the difference between the approach at say Banana Republic, BCBG and Louis Vuitton has more to do with these details, and how each associate is armed with them, than anything that corporate is doing on the back end.

With retailers being at the mercy of their shoppers, arming the people who spend the most time with customers with the best possible tools is akin to making sure that every solider has ammunition. Arming your associates goes far beyond making sure that they greet each customer, take them to a fitting room, flatter them unnecessarily about each potential purchase, and thank them for shopping. Equipping sales associates means you teach them how to read the care symbols on a garment-many only have symbols these days-and most importantly how to communicate the value placed on every garment by those guys at corporate to every interested customer-not literally of course. Doing so may not make each and every customer buy but it will make for more return customers and help ensure that today's "Nothing worked" turns into tomorrow's big purchase.