2023/09 JW Anderson – FW23
Details:
JW Anderson
Fall-Winter 2023
Via San’tAndrea 16, Milan
Review:
by Peter Hamer
september 14, 2023
I admit, my initial instincts have proven to be accurate! But which ones? First and foremost, I never got around to reviewing the new JW Anderson boutique opening in Milan, although I did present it as a case study to my Visual Merchandising students when it first opened. In typical fashion, I provided them with a background on the boutique, which has seen more transformations than a cat, discussed the structural challenges it faced, its location, and its neighboring stores.
Following that, I delved into the store’s layout and elevation plan, its buying and merchandising strategies, its display capacity, and product priorities, as well as its window displays and the overall creative concept. I also covered key aspects of the brand itself, such as its core business, target audience, price points, communication strategy, history, and values. It was, in summary, a typical case study in my teaching style. After my classes, I often invite my students to visit the store discussed to see how well they can apply the theory to practice by examining the displays.
However, this review isn’t about my teaching methodology but rather about the new JW Anderson boutique.
I began this review by talking about that class as I recall a remark I made to my students, where I suggested they visit the store and take a photo because I believed the store’s current configuration wouldn’t last. My observation stemmed from the fact that nearly half of the store’s layout was dedicated to Leather Goods (LG), accounting for almost 40% of its display capacity. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with this, I found it to be a bold decision to allocate so much space to that specific category. Another factor contributing to my initial impression was the difficulty in determining whether the store was primarily catering to men or women. Once again, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with this, but sometimes retail benefits from clarity.
Now, fast forward four months since its opening. The left wall, previously adorned with 25 bags, has been transformed into a Ready-to-Wear (RtW) section for women, featuring 40 SKUs, with an additional 6 SKUs of LG displayed as cross-merchandising items on top. The right wall did not change structurally, but is now dedicated to men’s apparel in the same configuration as the women’s section. This has significantly increased the product offerings and has brought a noticeable change to the retail concept: clarity.
These are, of course, my personal observations and lack empirical evidence to prove whether these changes were driven by the store’s performance or were part of a modular concept. However, what I can affirm is that my initial instincts seem to have been correct: there were too many LG SKUs on display and not enough RtW SKUs, and the store’s target audience remained somewhat ambiguous. I firmly believe that retail operates in both the realms of emotion and science, and understanding the synergy between these two aspects is vital. In 2023, relying solely on trial-and-error strategies are no longer contemporary and too risky. How long will this store configuration last? We’ll see!
Previous Concept:
2023/05 JW Anderson – New Opening
