As JD Williams sharpens its focus on mid-life customers, N Brown group brand and creative controller Sam Walker speaks to Retail Week about his plan to find a place for customers who are “feeling invisible”.
The oldest brand within the N Brown group, JD Williams first came onto the scene in 1859 and was acquired by the fashion giant in 1986.
Having gone from strength to strength in the years since, JD Williams rebranded in 2018 to be deemed a “modern online department store” for women between the ages of 45 and 65 seeking both style and value.
Today, JD Williams offers a range of womenswear, accessories, beauty and homeware products, with womenswear sizes ranging from eight to 32. JD Williams also currently has the third-largest share of the UK lingerie market.
With just one in eight (13%) of people who have reached ‘mid-life’ and older saying that clothing retailers promote messaging that is “affirming for people like them”, according to N Brown’s latest research, JD Williams has recently named fashion guru Gok Wan as its newest brand ambassador and is determined to make its mark in the mid-life fashion space this autumn/winter.
N Brown’s group marketing and creative director Sam Walker sat down with Retail Week to discuss the JD Williams customer, what makes the brand stand out from the crowd, current fashion retail challenges and his hopes for the pending Christmas period.
What is the current focus for JD Williams?
“There are a couple of things that we are trying to do, we’re always thinking about both new and existing customers. We have to think about reaching new customers and how we attract more of them to try the brand. We do that by engaging people around products, the proposition, showing them how we have made things inclusively in the way we build the ranges to make sure we’re offering our existing customers the very best of that so that they keep coming back to us.
“We’ve absolutely got to do both. We’ve got to attract and welcome new customers into the brand and make sure we are doing the very best we can. The JD Williams way of doing things looks very different to how we serve the Simply Be customer or the Jacamo customer, it’s very much the same core thought within N Brown built around creating value for the customer and attracting people but then we tailor very firmly by brand.
“The market is very competitive so we absolutely have to work hard to earn those customers. What we’re very clear about is that we have to do that by showing how relevant we are to them. You need to find a way to make sure you’ve got that customer insight at the heart of what you do and the hook to engage shoppers, which for JD Williams is representing a customer who’s maybe feeling invisible and finding a place for them.”
Why is now the time to laser focus your strategy on mid-life customers?
“I think it’s a really interesting time for the JD Williams brand and customers. If we go back a few years, we’ve spent years building the brand around this customer and taking that insight. I think the the thing that’s potentially changed more recently is that you’ve got this greater awareness and consciousness that historically mid-life women have not felt represented before or served very well. Some of the earlier articulation of it was around starting to talk about menopause, which we’ve done, and it’s important to customers.
“What’s become really apparent recently is that there is a sense of greater invisibility, which is an injustice and it isn’t fair to that audience. It’s therefore become even more important to represent our customer very clearly, very boldly and challenge some of those stereotypes.”
What makes the JD Williams brand unique?
“I think when you look at the market, lots of brands do serve the same customer and we are seeing more of them reflect some of the things we are talking about. More brands are talking about menopause, which is great and we want them to do that because it’s the right thing to do and for the audience.
“What we don’t see is other brands focusing so exclusively on that customer. When you show up to the homepage or the website of JD Williams, every touchpoint we have with that customer allows us to be more single-minded in our focus.”
What challenges are you currently facing within the fashion space?
“What you see and hear from the customers is that they are rightly demanding more from brands. Whether that’s in how they’re represented or the product, customers want more. They expect to get great service and they don’t really care whether you’re an omnichannel business or a pureplay.
“Customers expect delivery to be quick, to have a good experience online, they expect it to be easy to shop and to find products that are going to make them feel great. If you are a customer that’s great because retailers are having to respond to it.”
What are your expectations for JD Williams this Christmas?
“I think Christmas is always an exciting time for any brand. Of our brands, it’s probably more exciting for JD Williams than any other because that customer really embraces Christmas and the excitement of the build-up.
“What’s brilliant about the JD Williams customer in particular is that there is no homogeneous mid-life woman. Some customers will still have children at home and others will be past that stage or in a different set-up. For us, it’s got two parts. We’ve got our fashion sector and the home piece, so we’re absolutely gearing up for both of those things to help our customer get behind Christmas. We’ll absolutely be going to town for Christmas because we know that’s what our customer wants.
“It’s very hard to forecast and you can look at all the stats and surveys and what’s happening to inflation and other things, but what you can’t predict is how that’s going to translate through to how customers feel. I certainly hope that customers are going to be feeling a bit more upbeat heading into this Christmas, but we will have to see.”
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