FRAMEBUYER / MERCHANDISING STRATEGIES

GENDER BLENDER

5 novel ways to appeal to men and women with the right merchandising strategy

BY FRANCES NUELLE

We all know men and women shop differently—but how do these differences play out in today’s optical retailers? Gender generalizations that have long been taken for granted—that men don’t care about fashion or women are more likely to be swayed by a brand name—are no longer reliable, and the lines between how men and women shop for and buy eyewear are blurrier than ever.

How can optical retailers adapt to the changing gender landscape? Here are five tips:

1. THINK LIFESTYLE vs. GENDER

What used to be the industry norm—showcasing frames with distinct areas for men and women—is giving way to “lifestyle merchandising” that groups frames, collections, or brands that may or may not be gender-specific.

“We segment by brand,” says Edward Beiner, president of the 12-store Florida chain Edward Beiner Purveyor of Fine Eyewear. “It’s not about whether a frame is for a man or a woman; it’s about a lifestyle.”

Even in stores that do segment product by gender, lifestyle, or brand, signage is important.

“If you think about a store as a rectangle, we have men’s on one side and women’s on the other, but there is no actual signage saying, ‘This is men’s and women’s,’” says Sue Hopeman, chief merchandising officer at Visionworks, a San Antonio-based chain with more than 700 stores nationwide. Instead, point-of-purchase and in-store visuals—often tied to brand advertising—give cues to the customer about where to look for specific product categories.

“We break our assortment into three [lifestyle] categories: Trend, Core, and Traditional, and we group all product from one brand together” for maximum impact, Hopeman says.

Grouping by collection or lifestyle gives retailers maximum flexibility to sell any product to any customer, male or female.

If you do group by gender, however, be sure to put unisex product into the men’s section.

“There are a lot of hip, fun women out there who want an oversized or unisex frame,” Hopeman explains. “And they will shop in the men’s frame section. But men will never shop in the women’s section.”

An example of the merchandising strategy at Visionworks

2. MAKE INVENTORY DECISIONS BASED ON DATA

Should product decisions be based on gender? Yes, say retailers—but it’s only a small part of a larger picture.

The best retailers evaluate brand assortment (the brands or collections and the vendors they buy from) twice a year while product evaluations (specific frames, colors, and so forth) occur weekly or even daily. All inventory decisions should be based on hard data, not guesswork: who your customers are (percentage of men vs. women and other demographics), what they are buying (or not buying), and why.

“The three key drivers to our inventory decisions are store volume, store demographics, and a store’s space constraints,” says Hopeman. “We have robust data on what our customer looks like—psychographic, socioeconomic, behavioral—and make sure the persona of each brand matches up with the demographics of our own customers.”

Visionworks uses subtle cues rather than signage to indicate men’s and women’s collections

3. GO DEEP INTO YOUR COLLECTIONS

Once you have determined how many men’s and women’s collections to carry, commit to those brands to make an impact.

“We won’t carry a brand unless we can commit to carrying at least 25 pieces of from it,” says Beiner. “That much product in your store creates a statement. You are selling a lifestyle, and you need to make a statement to do that.”

Successful independent opticals take the same approach. “We might have 100 to 150 frames from one specific designer,” says David Salk, owner of Focal Point Opticians in Berkeley, CA. “You need to show enough of a cross section of the collection to see the design philosophy.”

4. CREATE A CURIOUS, KNOWLEDGEABLE SALES TEAM

Retailers say that men and women often have different priorities when they walk through the dispensary door.

“Men come in because their glasses broke, and they want to buy the same thing they had before,” says Lisa Trippi, licensed optician at Lux Eyewear in Palo Alto, CA. “Women come in because they want a change.”

How to manage both? Ask a lot of questions and be able to explain your product really well.

“You need to be as curious as possible with your customers,” says Salk. “What’s driving this person to come in?” He always talks lens options first, which in turn will drive frame selection and help solve the customer’s needs. “Do they have a blue light issue that needs to be addressed; do they need a nighttime solution, or a daytime solution? There are different approaches to all of these issues.”

Though men tend to be more function-oriented and women more features-oriented in their interests, it is imperative that optical staff have superb product knowledge—from where and how the frame is made to its special technologies—in order to convey the right information to all customers.

5. THINK OUTSIDE THE OPTICAL BOX

Look at how non-optical retailers market to both men and women and follow suit. Trunk shows, local sports sponsorships, fairs, gender-based promotions, Instagram and Twitter—use every marketing tool available to distinguish your optical business in the community and appeal to new customers of either gender.

“We are retailers, so we need to think like retailers,” says Beiner. “Go into non-optical stores and see how they merchandise, how they speak to their customers, how they succeed.”