Filed under: FASHION | Tags: Adam Bernhard, Amazon, Ben Fischman, Dolce & Gabbana, eBay, Gilt Groupe, Gilt Man, HauteLook, Ideeli, John Auerbach, Kenneth Cole, Lacoste, Lands' End, Macy's, Net-A-Porter, Rick Owens, Rue La La, Wal-Mart
Online flash fashion boutiques have been such a huge hit with women over the last three years that they are now setting their sights on men. Women may be acutely aware of shopping sites like Gilt Groupe, Rue La La, Ideeli, and HauteLook, but that is not the case for men.
Ray Smith of The Wall Street Journal (July 22, 2010) reports that women comprise 75% of Gilt’s 2.5 million members, and for the other flash fashion retailers the numbers are similarly skewed: women represent 90% of HauteLook’s 2.7 million members and 70% of the 1.8 million members of Rue La La. Overall, women’s spending online more than double’s men’s – $9.6 billion compared to $4.3 billion during the last 12 month period ending in April, according to NPD Group.
So why should these flash fashion sites make such an aggressive push to target men? Because, according to The Journal’s Mr. Smith, “when it comes to the upper income consumers that these sites target, men may buy less than women, but they spend more.” Unity Marketing reports that affluent men, those with income levels in the top 20% of U.S. households, spent an average of nearly $4,000 online during the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to $1,958 for women. And men spent on average 50% to 60% more per transaction than women year-over-year in April/May 2010, according to Ed Jay, senior vice president of American Express Business Insights.
Flash fashion sale sites have also discovered that men, akin to their behavior in actual stores, do not want to go through a women’s section to get to the men’s section. They want an online interactive experience that is made specifically for men. Notes Adam Bernhard, CEO of HauteLook: “the female customer doesn’t mind looking at the male products but the male customer just wants to see what’s for sale for men.” HauteLook’s internal research revealed that nearly every male respondent (94%) claims that they want sales events dedicated to men rather than sales campaigns that are marketed to both sexes.
Another challenge for online fashion sites is whether to market to the fashion-forward male shopper or target the more mainstream male consumer. “There are a lot of guys out there who may not be quite as high fashion and fashion-forward as we had seen before, so we wanted to make sure we had something for them but not quite as edgy,” says John Auerbach, general manager of Gilt Man, the retailer’s site for men. “There’s only so many high-fashion guys out there.” The revised approach to expand their male customer base seems to be working; Gilt says male membership has increased 130% since Gilt Man’s launch in October 2009.
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