Cherchez la Femme

In “Dressing Up the Dressing Room” (August 2008 issue), Bryan Gailey of Fitch told our Lauren Mang, “Retailers had been looking at things through the lens of operations instead of through the lens of the customer.”

When retail concepts fail, is it because everyone wants to please the merchandisers, the operations chief and the cfo? As a result, do they often forget to stop and wonder what she – the shopper – would like?

Well, occasionally somebody does stop to wonder:

* In 2002, The Macerich Co. (Santa Monica, Calif.) presented its plans for developing SanTan Village, a 1.2-million-square-foot regional shopping center in Gilbert, Ariz., to about 90 women from the area, who told the company they wanted more restaurant space than originally envisioned and wider sidewalks (for strollers, families, kids).

* In 2004, Rick Caruso, president and ceo of Los Angeles-based development company Caruso Affiliated, heard a young mother complain about the lack of nursing stations in shopping centers. In turn, he told The New York Times, he made sure that Americana at Brand, the company’s mixed-use development in downtown Glendale, Calif., would have a large children’s playroom in the main lobby and private changing rooms fully stocked with diapers, two private nursing rooms and a small kitchen for heating baby bottles.

* In 2005, Trademark Property Co. (Fort Worth, Texas), a developer of shopping centers, invited two dozen women from the area – stay-at-home mothers, local politicians and businesswomen – to discuss its plans for a large mixed-use property near Dallas. According to The Times, the women weighed in on dozens of features. They wanted abundant landscaping, meandering pathways and more parking options. Instead of formal fountains and abstract outdoor art, they asked for “calming” water areas, interactive art that children could climb on and an abundance of outdoor restaurant seating.

In the 1990s, research told Sears that the vast majority of purchases were being made or influenced by women, even in such testosterone-driven centers as tools and automotive. The new insights and subsequent focus groups led to the successful “Softer Side of Sears” campaign that resurrected the foundering retailer’s fortunes. Sales of apparel jumped as stores were remodeled, hard lines were spun off into separate units and more space was allocated to soft lines.

By the end of the decade, however, Sears was back to focusing on value and cutting prices. Has anyone noticed how Sears has been doing since it dropped the softer side? To whom is it listening now?