BRAND SNAPSHOT: Stein Mart, a boutique-style men’s and women’s department store chain based in Jacksonville, was founded in the early 1900s. Currently, there are more than 266 locations in 29 states, while the company reported $1.26B in sales for the current year.
DOING IT RIGHT: Several factors make Stein Mart unique in the retail sector — 1) A pricing strategy CEO Jay Stein references frequently: “What built this company was values every single day.” 2) A long-standing personal shopper program — “Boutique Ladies” — normally reserved for high-end retailers.
IN SHORT: Stein Mart goes beyond traditional customer service. This test campaign aims at leveraging those tenets.
SWEET SPOT: The “Boutique Ladies” concept is the absolute pinnacle of customer service. It’s white glove and it’s as post industrial as it gets. It connectsbrand to customer in a powerful way that is reflected in Stein Mart’s growth.
CROSSING THE STREAMS: Despite the huge value Stein Mart’s “Boutique Ladies” brings, two new ideas could generate remarkable lift.
One, while the core demographic of a Stein Mart shopper may skew older (45- 65), that customer — the one who wants designer clothes at affordable prices — is always keeping an eye on what the younger generation(s) are wearing. They may not shop at a Forever 21 or an H&M, but they pay attention to those fashions.
Secondly, there is an online world of personal shoppers — “Boutique Web Ladies” — who write voraciously about fashion in blogs and on social media. They show their followers how to shop while often getting free clothes from designers and manufactures in hopes of being featured.
CAMPAIGN FOCUS: Using a local fashion designer — Sally Ann — as a test, a “Boutique Ladies 2.0” campaign modernizes the customer/brand relationship that Jay Stein has masterfully built. This campaign resets a fresh and current approach to engage loyal Stein Mart shoppers while creating relevance for a new demographic.