Summer Sales: Clearing the decks

June is the month when the summer Sales kick in as retailers realise that summer’s lease is fast running out, if it has arrived at all, and there’s a mountain of early autumn stock making its way across the water towards stores and warehouses.

Winter has been longer than usual this year and although the last week or two have been characterised by warm and, in a few places, very warm weather, it looks as if once more there is a lot of work to be done.

The outcome is that the benchmark figure for a reduction is 50%. Or so it might appear, except that in most instances there is in fact very little that is at half price, with the great majority of the markdowns falling into that nebulous ‘Up to 50% off’ category.

A brisk trot around the West End revealed that the summer Sales 2010 are remarkable for the way in which retailers have gone for the obvious. Very few have done much more than put out the red bunting and, however small the quantity, slap up the ‘Up to 50% off’ sign.

The exceptions to this were Mango on Oxford Circus and the Tottenham Court Road Paperchase flagship, which had opted for ‘Up to 70% off’ and ‘Up to 75% off’ enticements respectively.

That said, in-store treatments did vary from retailer to retailer and what was noticeable was that those stores that were busy at full price tended to be those that were heaving at Sale price.

And there was an equal predictability about which retailer turned out to have the greatest pressure on its rails: Topshop, with John Lewis also looking very busy.

The former may have been benefitting from the high numbers of tourists that were making their way along Oxford, Carnaby and Regent Streets, where John Lewis seemed to have, as might be suspected, a home-grown audience for its bargain-hunting cohort.

Topshop and Topman

Topman Oxford Circus, in its current form, has only been up and running since September, making this its first summer Sale trading from two floors. The markdown action is actually

on the upper of the two levels and rather than scattering things around the various departments, all of the stock has been put in the area directly beneath the dome-like atrium on the top floor.

On the day of visiting, the selling modus operandi was very, very simple. Unlike many others, this was a true ‘half-price sale’ and it looked as if the message had been picked up by every under-25 male in the area. Equally, the difference between this store and most others was that there was a certain glamour imparted by

the many silver globes that had been strung together overhead and which changed colour constantly thanks to banks of changing lights set high up in the atrium.

And as far as presentation standards were concerned, it didn’t seem to matter that everything was crowded into a relatively modest space - this merely seemed to be adding to the feeding frenzy. It also meant that on the floor below, things were pristine, fashionable and full price.

Meanwhile, for female fashion fans in search of a bargain, it was down to the upper first of the two basements, where more or less the same pattern visible at the top of the shop was taking place. The difference here was that while all of the merchandise was also crammed onto mid-shop runner rails, much of the offer was displayed by price with garments grouped on rails stating ‘£15 or less’, ‘£20 or less’ and so on. By dint of concentrating all of the markdowns in one area, the impression was also given of there being a suitably bulky quantity of markdowns to be rifled through.

This is a real Sale, with signage that makes the whole thing clear and with an obvious separation between reduced and non-reduced merchandise.

WESC

In nearby Carnaby Street, WESC - the streetwear brand for “intellectual slackers” - has one of its two UK standalone stores and it is Sale time. This was the most obvious statement of Sale intent last week and probably involved the least cost.

The logic is simple. If you have a yellow shopfront, then dispense with the usual ‘red equals Sales’ strategy and opt instead to mirror the rest of the colour scheme. Not only does this mean things are more pleasing aesthetically, but WESC has managed to separate itself from the markdown herd. And it has done so in what must be the simplest manner possible: put in a couple of yellow blinds each bearing the single word ‘Sale’ and then make sure that nobody can see anything else in the window.

It is a little curious that in one of the side windows, not blanked out, a small sign bears information that in the shop there is a ‘40% off Sale’, but this is superseded by a blackboard A stand at the store entrance with the chalked legend ‘Sale up to 50% off’. If there were to be a criticism, it would have to be that this is a mite confusing in terms of communication, but this is only a minor quibble.

Urban Outfitters

The Urban Outfitters store on Oxford Street is one of the chain’s most established UK stores and shoppers are accustomed to its quirky way of doing things. This store is probably unique in the West End in advertising the fact that it is on Sale without actually stating that it is on Sale.

Instead, a cross-hatched percentage sign - the outcome, presumably, of work by a competent graphic artist - is all that is used to signal that there are reductions in-store. Multiple iterations of these are used across the windows in red with a larger yellow version hammering the message home.

Like WESC, this is simple but effective and the real plus about this kind of treatment is that it is a matter of minutes to revert to full price when the clearance is completed.

HMV

There was almost an air of celebration about the manner in which HMV had approached the season of goodies for all shoppers. As well as the many red cardboard signs plastered across the upper part of the fascia signalling that the store was on Sale, the interior was awash with red balloons.

Nothing wrong with this somewhat kid’s party line of attack as it proved hard not to look into the store when passing the store. This was one of the more fundamental Sale treatments, right down to the flip chart providing details of ‘Fantastic’ deals to be had in the store, located at the entrance. It was also one of the most predictable, although as an exercise in getting

people through the doors the job was being done.

Esprit

Internally, the casualwear retailer’s stance to the Sale period was not exciting and markdown areas were scattered within departments across the store. This was the antithesis of what was happening along the street in Topshop and the lack of a concentrated reduction area may perhaps have accounted for the obvious lack of shoppers in the shop.

In fairness, the window treatment was interesting, if a little opaque, consisting of mannequins that had been covered in red shrouds, intended, presumably, to indicate that there were bargains for the taking. If so, it was proving a little too subtle for passers-by.

H&M

The H&M store on Regent Street proved that there is still mileage to be had from an interior festooned with red. With all of the reductions just inside the front right hand side of the shop and with Sales signs hanging above the rails, this was one of the most classic Sale treatments in the whole area. And the simplicity of putting a single price over each of the rails of reduced stock gave this reduced offer a transparency that was signally lacking in many of the chain’s rivals.

A simple, well-executed call to action.