Urban Outfitters seems to be a popular name in retailing, but it wasn't until last week that I discovered Anthropologie. If you haven't heard, seen, or been in an Anthropologie retail location, you are missing an experience, I kid you not.
After visiting the store, I dug up some numbers that surprised me. Here's one that really made an impact: the typical Anthropologie shopper spends eighty minutes in the store per visit. Eighty -- that's an hour and twenty minutes on each trip. Can you guess how much time the average customer spends with other retailers? Fifteen minutes. That's an amazing number that should describe a bit about the feel of the stores.
Anthropologie was founded to profit from patrons of the Urban Outfitters brand who outgrew UA's fashions. As such, the target consumer for Anthropologie clothing is a 30 to 40'ish professional woman with high disposable income. Not a bad niche to target!
Ask ten women what they think of Anthropologie and you'll likely get . . . one opinion! Almost unanimously, women love the store, but don't like the prices. Granted, they are steep, but there's a reason. Anthropologie is very selective and exclusive with their fashion lines, and just about all of the clothing you find in a store is limited edition. Heck, they even have some one-of-a-kind items!
These items tend to sell out very quickly, leaving oddball items here and there, but that leads to an opportunity for buyers: namely, sales racks. There are a bunch of discounted items if you're not averse digging, which I'm sure is responsible in part for the average length of stay.
What impresses me the most about Anthropologie clothes is the distinctive styling. Their fashions include a lot of flowery prints, appliques, and velvets, but look classy and sophisticated at the same time. The feeling that I get is that it's a clothing line for successful women who don't want to reveal half of their bodies to look sexy. Score, I'd say.
For anyone really looking for a deal, you can find discount Anthropologie clothing online – not through the official store, but through other retailers. I can't imagine that this stuff is wholesale, and with the high turnover in clothing, I would doubt it's made up of last season's items either, but the price is attractive!
Here's the bottom line: if you haven't yet shopped in an Anthropologie store, find out if there's one within driving distance. It really is a great shopping experience. But beware of the prices!
Smruti Evans runs the discount Gucci bags web store and maintains several popular weblogs, including the Discount Designer Clothing blog.
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