Building Up Sports Sunwear
For your sport sunwear assortment to pop, it's gotta have some muscle behind it.
Here's how to get it
By Marcy Bruch
illustrations by Zachary Pullen

Most of the industry agrees that sport sunwear is the most unexplored area of eyewear and, therefore, holds the most potential for growth. Yet it can be daunting to make room for this category on frame boards.

One of the keys is to build a frame assortment that will entice the customer while yielding high turns. Here, frame buyers and manufacturers' reps explain how to give your sport frame assortment the muscle to generate profits.

Since Rouleau's location is 1,700 square feet, her frame boards hold 500 to 600 sunglasses. "My highest turning sport sunwear brands are Oakley, Maui Jim, Revo, and Bollé," she says. And in each brand, Rouleau carries a minimum of 36 to 50 pieces. "To properly represent a line, you have to offer a good selection, otherwise people would just as soon go to Sunglass Hut," she says.

Carol Canada, central frame buyer for Vision Care Specialists in Denver, says she shares Rouleau's opinion. "Colorado is the most sports-oriented state in the nation, which is why polarized lenses have become a real buzzword around here," she says.

"All six of our stores carry Maui Jim, Bucci, Revo, and Carrera, among others. I generally show 15 to 25 pieces within a brand," says Canada. "If you carry anything less than that, the brand gets lost. The exception is Oakley because the lines are so vast that you have to carry at least 50 pieces in order to represent the lines adequately."

In Sanibel Island, Fla., Heather Holt, optician for Doctor's Eyecare Center, has a different approach. "Because of space constraints, I can't showcase a deep assortment," says Holt.

"So I carry about 10 sport sunwear brands, with eight to 10 pieces in each brand. I increase my sport sunwear frame assortment by 20 percent in November because our busy season runs from December through April. And most of the tourists are here to golf, play tennis, or go boating." Holt says. Doctor's Eyecare Center's highest turning brands are Carrera, Maui Jim, Ray-Ban, Bollé, Costa Del Mar, and Vuarnet.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

So how does Holt go about choosing her assortments within each sport brand? "First I ask the rep what the four best-selling frames are in the collection and I buy those," Holt answers. "Then I pick four to six frames that are my personal favorites."

By contrast, Rouleau relies strictly on her own judgement. "Since I was once a frame designer, I rely on my own experience. I know my customers, and I don't care if the rep tells me something is a bestseller. I have a good sense of what will sell in my area," she says.

Yet manufacturers' reps argue that frame buyers would be wise to heed what the provided numbers say.

HEED THE NUMBERS

At Marchon, executive vice president David Chute says the firm has a selling history of both regional best-selling styles as well as the dispensary's own best-selling styles.

"By looking at our numbers that show regional bestsellers, a dispensary might become aware of a missed opportunity," maintains Chute. "For example, a neighboring dispensary might be doing well with a particular style in a color which that dispensary passed up on before. By becoming aware of what sells best in your region, you can further hone your assortment," Chute says.

"Sometimes it's a simple matter of changing the color of a style. We'll exchange a frame for a different shade and that's sometimes all it takes to get it to sell. Utilizing our selling records is a great working tool that can help us lower our return rates while helping the dispensers increase turns. Refusing to use the numbers to help make informed buying decisions is like working half blind, if you ask me."

Still, buying is not as simple as picking out all the best-selling frames from each brand and letting it go at that. "The sobering truth is, 20 percent of frame styles sell 80 percent of the time," says Steven Leeds, Northeast regional manager for Luxottica. "And they're usually in black or tortoise, which doesn't make for a very exciting presentation.

"Ironically, it's usually the colorful and funky styles that initially attract customers to the boards," he adds. "If you had one store that sold nothing but 200 best-selling styles and another store that had 180 best-selling styles with 20 wild and colorful styles added into the mix, I guarantee you the second store would do more business," Leeds says. "That's because the store with the funky pieces creates the impression that they offer a selection that is more fashion forward."

Canada of Vision Care Specialists says her decision to buy signature pieces is dependent upon the brand. "It's not necessary to buy a signature piece for Maui Jim because the name has been built upon polarized lenses. With Oakley however, you absolutely have to because that's what's advertised nationally and it's what spikes the consumer's interest," she says. "It's the signature piece that makes them look before they turn their attention to what they really want to buy," she adds.

According to Chute, the best way to balance your assortment is by including the signature piece within each sport sunwear group. "For example, when we sell our Nike line, we recommend frame buyers carry at least four pieces of the signature running frame, the Airelon, and carry the signature cross-training frame, the Interchange, in at least four colors," says Chute. "The second-tier models of these groups may sell better because they aren't as extreme, but the signature pieces are what draws the consumer's attention and get the line's point of view across."

USE PLANOGRAMS

Theresa Hudson, formerly a general manager for Pearle Vision, says the corporate chain has fine-tuned assortments to a science by giving each store planograms. "We got a diagram from corporate headquarters that illustrated exactly what brands to display and how many frames should be placed on boards," says Hudson. "The planograms were formed based on sell-through information and buying plans, so we followed them to the letter."

According to one of Hudson's planograms, there were 112 sunglasses carried, with Maui Jim and Bollé represented most prominently. "We usually had about 14 Maui Jim and eight Bollé frames on display," she says. "And, during the summer months, corporate had us beef up our sunglass selection by giving it more frame board space."

So whether you build up your sport sunwear business with three brands or 20, just remember to spice up the tried-and-true bestsellers with some kicky styles and funky colors. It's sure to pack more profit into your frame assortments.