Transcription by - The Vision Council
The Vision Council
On the Road Sales Coach—What’s fashion have to do with it?
Sunglass and Reader Division
June 12, 2013
Rene Soltis-Shepherd: Hello everyone. My name is Rene Soltis-Shepherd and I am the Senior Director of Training and Education for The Vision Council. I’ll be facilitating today’s session.
On behalf of The Vision Council, I’d like to welcome you to the second in the series of On the Road Sales Coach for the Sunglass and Reader Division. We’re really, really excited to be able to deliver this group of topics over the next year that specifically address the unique opportunities and issues that you, as suppliers and distributors of sunglasses and readers, face.
We’re excited to be able to bring you this program and it was actually spun off of a highly successful On the Road Sales Coach general training session. I was mentioning that before we went live here. We have a series of general training that you’re welcome to join, as well. It is the hour after these calls so if you’re dialing in for a 10 a.m. Eastern Time there’s an
11 a.m. call using the same dial in and ID. That topic today will be Issues Management.
So if you have the time we’d like to encourage you to join those, as well.
We’ve definitely learned a lot in the last three years of delivering these programs. One of the things we’ve learned is we like to make sure that we have the best quality of call and in order to do that we mute all of the lines of our attendees, except for our coach.
We also record these calls and you will be able to find a copy of the audio and the transcript of the call in about two weeks on The Vision Council’s website. This all a free member service provided to you by The Vision Council.
The format today is pretty simple. You’ve already done the first part of it, which is dial in and listen. The second part is an opportunity to unmute your line by pressing star 6 and you will have the ability to ask any questions or make comments.
Our coach today is the renowned Tibor Gross. Tibor is just a delight to work with and my biggest challenge with Tibor is he knows so much and has such a wealth and a depth and breadth of information in this channel of distribution for sunglass and reader retail that it’s just phenomenal.
Tibor is a veteran in our business and serves as a consultant advising The Vision Council for the Sunglass and Reader Division.
With that being said, our topic for today’s conversation is: What’s fashion got to do with it? In the Sunglass and Reader channel distribution what role does fashion play?
So without hesitation, Tibor, I’m going to turn that question over to you. What’s fashion got to do with it?
Tibor Gross: Thank you, Rene, and thank you very much for your kind words. I hope I live up to your expectations. I’ve done it for many years and this format that you developed for these calls is really fantastic and allows us to share whatever we can with the members and thanks for having me. Let me join Rene in welcoming all of you on the call today.
There are some compelling reasons why we decided to discuss fashion and trends for eyewear during this, as Rene said, the second Sunglass and Reader Division of our On the Road Sales Coach presentation.
During our 40-plus years of being involved with creating and manufacturing and selling popular priced Plano fashion sunglass and reading glasses, we have seen many trends come and go and come and go again with all these new and fresh interpretations. Even though The Vision Council’s survey, there’s this function survey from 2011, determined that the functional attributes of eyewear are of the utmost importance in making purchasing decisions for eyewear, fashion is a well known and undeniable driver of our industry.
Rene Soltis-Shepherd: That’s a really good point, Tibor. So you referenced The Vision Council on survey and information. Another great member service that the Sunglass and Reader Division participants can have access to is The Vision Council research , data and surveys. You just go on the website and click on the members area..
From the Fashion Versus Function survey, it was determined that function definitely plays a role in the purchase of sunglasses by the consumer. But fashion, time and time again, is a huge driver in those purchasing decisions, and not only on the part of the consumer but it really starts with the buyer.
Tibor, let’s talk about that a little bit. In a retail, mass market channel of sales, you just dropped a statistic here. What do your customers expect from you? Do they expect this type of data, statistics, research? Is it information? Are they looking for business solutions? What exactly do they want from their vendors?
Tibor Gross: These are excellent questions, Rene, and there are really many, many answers so I’ll try to summarize what we felt that we needed to deal with and present.
For many years as we presented our case to the various retail buyers that a strong inventory investment, which is obviously a very important part of running any business—an inventory investment into eyewear is a very prudent financial decision as it is clear that the purchase of fashion eyewear, primarily by ladies, is a very low cost method of updating someone’s fashion look and wardrobe. With the purchase of a pair of sunglasses and some inexpensive fashion jewelry, a person’s entire look can be updated and made into an eye-catching fashion presentation.
We should not forget to mention the effects of lifestyle of clubbing and partying and some other social activities, many even indoors and at night, we will find ladies wearing their fashion sunglasses, ladies of any age, on top of their head making it part of their overall fashion statement presentation to the part of the world that actually (rocks).
During the last few years even the over-the-counter reading glass segment became an important driver of eyewear fashion and is creating more and more sales and profit opportunities for retailers. As we know, it’s all about profit and I’m referring to drug, ECPs, department stores, everybody.
Gone are the times, as we talk about readers, gone are the times that a plain black reader frame was doing well and that was end of the road. Ladies and also male reader shoppers nowadays are more and more concerned about the look of their readers. Many of them are requiring all kinds of treatments, colors, decorations, et cetera.
Men, as a matter of fact, are also becoming more and more interested in more youngish looking frames, as a mater of fact, following the lead of the fashion optical frame market. We are looking at getting dressed up in a somewhat more youthful fashion and eyewear is certainly part of our hope to look more hip and younger. Speaking for myself, as well, not to mention the competitive nature of our social and professional lives, where trying to look younger is kind of an issue for reading glass wearers, as well.
Rene Soltis-Shepherd: Tibor, you capture some very basic sentiments here and I don’t ever underestimate the value of going back to the basics. One of the key messages in selling the popular price for value sunwear and, also, readers into this channel is that this is a low cost entry into the fashion arena.
So whether it’s sunglasses or readers, it’s an opportunity for people to participate in a very visible fashion statement by purchasing popular priced sunglasses and/or readers.
This is a great selling point, not only for the end consumer, but definitely for the buyer in this channel because they need to understand that they may not be participating in selling eyewear but they need to address what their customers want and need and everybody wants to look great.
So the next piece of this that I really took away from that segment was
the whole evolution of reading glasses. I remember when everybody hit
around a certain age, 40 to 50 years old and you got a pair of the basic grandma-looking readers and that was the end of the day. Pretty depressing.
Nowadays with this whole kind of trend towards wellness and 50 is the new 30 or the whole makeover madness fashion (of youth), everybody’s grabbing for what can help them look and feel young and vital.
I think you make a really good point that there has been a true evolution of reading glasses. This is not your grandma’s reading glasses anymore.
Understanding and communicating fashion at every price point seems like it could be a task for a salesperson. So when you’re talking about this popular price category, what plays stronger to the buyer? Are they looking at that whole wellness—I mean, a lot of them are in the drug channel and are they looking at that whole wellness, vision protection, UV protection where people are able to see well with these products or are they really interested in that “look great” approach which is the fashion aspect of sunwear and readers?
Tibor Gross: Well, you’re right, Rene. It’s absolutely true. It’s a challenge. It’s a balancing act when you go in and try to present your case. It actually seems to be a combination of all these factors, when you think about it, and I guess it all depends on the type of retail customer. That’s how we looked at it. How much emphasis should be put on one or the other factors because they are also directing and then going after different customers for different reasons?
So you need to look at the balance between (see well) or fashion and look great.
The reasons for the importance of fashion are several, and we always try to communicate it and all of you out there try to do it when you make your presentations and it can be found in all areas. When anyone looks at us what do they see first and that is obvious, the answer, our face and looking into and at our eyes. Our eyewear, if we are wearing any, hence the initial recognition, social acceptance and certain aspects of opinion may be based on the style of the eyewear you are wearing.
So eyewear is undoubtedly always a fashion statement, wherever you buy them. Are you trendy? Are you old fashioned? Are you average? Are you classy? Or are you a trendsetter and, in certain ways, a leader?
Several studies of our industry confirmed that functionality, fit, fashion, brand and value are the major reasons behind an eyewear purchase. The level of importance for each of these varies depending on gender, age, household income, et cetera. But they are all there.
As a side note, the following is an interesting piece of data, actually, Rene, as we see from The Vision Council, again, and you mentioned the valuable market data and the tools that are available on the website, this is one of them.
It says for the (inaudible) ending period March 2013 approximately 56.8 percent of Plano sunglass unit purchases were made by females and 43.2 percent were made by men. For over-the-counter readers the percentages are 52.7 percent versus 47.3 percent by gender. These percentages are also reflected in other general fashion studies.
Rene Soltis-Shepherd: Tibor, I was kind of surprised by that. I really thought that it was going to be way more slanted towards the females in these purchases. What was your take on this data? What’s the story telling you?
Tibor Gross: Well, it’s that men also, and it’s like you mentioned before, 50 is the new 30 so obviously there is a lot of focus on fashion by both genders and that was, to some extent, also surprising to me. But even the sales data from the POS that we’ve been receiving throughout the years, and I guess many of you do, men’s sunglasses are also a very, very important major segment of the reading glass market.
Rene Soltis-Shepherd: That just definitely fits in if you look to consumer behaviors in other areas, too, there’s a lot of start-up businesses that are just focusing on products and services related to pampering and fashion for men. There are spas that take care of men, salons that are specific to the male consumer. So there’s a lot specificity directed to this customer base. I think that that’s a great piece of data that a salesperson can take into the retail buyer, as well.
I just want to recap and go back to that piece about how does fashion come into play in a popular priced good? Usually when you say I want to buy something that has high style, high fashion, most people may be accustomed to more of a higher price point. So what’s your take?
Tibor Gross: Well, these days not really, because regardless of the point of purchase, as we all found and even the studies are bearing it out, these are supermarket, fashion boutique, ECP or department store. The vast majority of us are concerned about fashion and we all want to look more fashionable and trendy.
Rene Soltis-Shepherd: So basically what you’re saying here is that fashion happens at every price point.
Tibor Gross: Exactly.
Soltis-Shepherd: Excellent. How do you, as a distributor with sunwear and readers, how do you asses and present and set trends? I would assume that your goal is to increase sales by being a trend expert and help reduce the risk and increase the confidence of the buyer? How do you establish yourself as an expert without threatening them and taking over?
Tibor Gross: Well, that’s a good point. Again, because it’s part of the balancing act and we will see that so many times during our presentations, we’re trying to share our knowledge and our research with them and to make sure that they don’t feel threatened and it is important to first understand how eyewear companies decide what the fashion of the next season will be. This is, of course, the big $64,000 question but, actually, it is somewhat easier than we think and we always try to communicate in various simple terms to the buyer.
There are more and more resources and sources to do research than the proverbial crystal ball and that was, again, something we communicated to the buyers. For example, one practical and very useful outside source we engaged when looking at the next fashion trends was when we engaged students from the various art and design schools for an out-of-the box trend input.
We always have fresh and innovative ideas and from a different viewpoint they looked at our business and we did, in fact, use some of them for colorings, color combinations, input into details, packaging and just general objective observations about our collections, a fresh new look which we were able to gather from these very talented young fashionistas who are looking at this as a profession in the future.
We also did subscribe to Vogue, Seventeen, People, GQ, Downbeat, Sports Illustrated and a few other various fashion magazines. As I mentioned before, some of them did get me into trouble at home but they were targeting all different age groups and genders and gave us directions.
Our team reviewed them from time to time, searching for the latest shades (inaudible). Many of these magazines, actually, all the publications do have global editions like European and Asian and they’re all presenting a local flavor which can also be used for a wider range of fashion interpretation and presentation.
When talking about eyewear fashion, another point to mention is that we created a fashion collection of sunglasses for a chain of grocery stores. We were quite successful at convincing the buyer to place our display into high traffic locations where they, in my opinion, had very valid reasoning that many of their shoppers would be thrilled to pick up a pair of our sunglasses because they have been styled to resemble designer trends regardless of their cost.
Many of the shoppers, regardless of the type of the store, would still want to look like superstars and celebrities, again, regardless of the fact that they may be popular priced especially if in those stores they are carrying just a small amount of extra money to spend on non-essential items.
It is also to be noted about the importance of fashion of eyewear at any price level that the most successful designers also do have their own collections at different price levels. In fact, many of them are using eyewear as their first attempt to capture their share of the fashion accessory market, even before they release purses, scarves, watches, under their brand.
Another aspect of considerations of creating fashion is to study and learn the target audience of your specific retail customers. That’s a lot of work but it’s crucial. The fashion for a collection which is to be presented to an H&M or Zara or Forever 21 will obviously have to be extremely trendy and cool, full of buzz, awesome, while creating a collection for a chain of (C) stores you will also need to be availed of that large main audience. But it would still be important to have a certain kind of coolness and excitement as most of the male shoppers would also want to look like they got their fashion act together.
Rene Soltis-Shepherd: I love that, Tibor. I like the whole “getting their fashion act together.” I like that phrase. You just have a great way of capturing those emotions.
A couple of things to take away from this, It sounds so easy and so simple but the whole approach of using art and design school students to get that outside, practical, gut check on where your collection’s at or what’s trendy or what works and what doesn’t work. You are creating an advisory panel or a brain trust and what a great way to get input from an audience that hopes to be doing this in the future. I think that’s just a brilliant idea.
Tibor Gross: It’s amazing how much good input you get from these young individuals who are outside the industry.
Rene Soltis-Shepherd: When you take a step away, and get that fresh perspective it can be powerful. , Sometimes we overcomplicate or over-think things.
Tibor Gross: Exactly.
Rene Soltis-Shepherd: Again, that outside perspective is a really great idea. I really like that.
The other thing that you mentioned that I thought was great was looking at magazines. Now, many of us we have a couple tried and true ones that we look at but if you really want to get in the game you’ve mentioned 10 to 15 different magazines, so I’m assuming it’s not your monthly copy of Vogue as a token attempt at assessing what’s going on in fashion. You really have to get some depth there so that you can gain and a variety of intel related to understanding the different demographics and looking at the colors and the shapes and the details. Is it fringe that’s hot? Is it stones? Is it studs? Is it lace? What are the trends and what trends are unique to each of these different demographics?
The third and last thing that I took from this was that you used the words “study your customer’s customer” and that is key because it alludes to the fact that it’s a little bit more than just looking at research. It’s really digging in and studying who your accounts’ customers’ are and how do they interact? What level of engagement do they have? How social are they? What are their fashion likes and dislikes? What are their must-haves and nice to haves?
Intimately understand your customers’ target market and, not only research them, but study that group. I think that that was really important.
You gave a lot of tips and resources for staying ahead of this fashion game and you covered a lot of ground so we always ask that you please summarize and give me just the three things that our listeners need to be doing in order to stay connected and ahead of that trend pipeline?
Tibor Gross: Well, thanks. Obviously, it’s very important that we focus on the major elements of this whole process and your question is great. The answer would be, number one, follow the trend forecast on the Internet, fashion magazines and wherever you can find your own little crystal ball when it comes to fashion.
The second would be walk the streets. Visit the cafes and the beaches and observe what kind of eyewear, what colors of clothing people are wearing.
Number three, pay attention to the eyewear, eyewear which celebrities, athletes and the fashionistas are wearing. These will be the three different points that, I guess, you were asking for.
Rene Soltis-Shepherd: Let’s just recap.
I t’s never too late to go back and review the basics and ask ourselves if we are really doing the best job in each of those three areas to gather our fashion connections and our fashion information and to really take advantage of that trend pipeline?
So that about wraps it up for today, Tibor. Closing thoughts that you’d like to share, please?
Tibor Gross: Yes. Again, just to make a comment on your good statement it’s study and work and as much fun as it is, nothing, obviously, comes easy. So as much fun as it is, you need to be organized and well focused and do the work.
Fashion is something that you create from a variety of subjective and objective components, as we know and as we just talked about. As they say, fashion is in the eye of the beholder so that’s when the two elements come in, subjective and objective.
But certain elements of it can be handled in a somewhat methodical and scientific way like the colors of the next season. We, as an example, subscribe to the Pantone Company’s Color Forecasting Service which helped us a great deal to be ahead of the curve when it came to next season’s colors.
As much as trendy and cutting edge the fashion of the moment can be and should be, we need not forget that, for example, the anatomy of the face does dictate certain “nos” for eyewear. There are elements of a frame which need to be crafted in a particular way for comfort and fit. For example, the opening of the nose bridge, the brow part of the frame, the drop and the angle off the frame on your face, et cetera.
One other noteworthy phenomenon is the periodic resurgence of the vintage and retro looks of eyewear which are being made into trendy silhouettes with updated colors, small and interesting up-to-date decorations using the latest manufacturing technologies. Some of them you mentioned before, Rene. For example, laser etching and 3D printing on the frames which is one of the newest developments. While maintaining the look of the retro era, also bringing back particular memories of times past because, obviously, fashion has a lot to do with sentiments and feelings.
Fashion is excitement. Fashion is a mirror of one’s personality and fashion is a certain kind of elixir to our everyday life and we are actually very thrilled that eyewear has become a most important fashion accessory which almost regardless of the retail price points and the age of the shoppers can be exciting for all of our members’ collections.
As a closing sentence I’d like to say never be afraid to step out within reason, of course. Making a well researched fashion statement can put you and your company on the map with many of the retail buyers, always looking for the latest and newest in products, as we know.
On that note, thank you so much for listening and thank you, Rene, for facilitating this fun and useful presentation and then discussion.
Rene Soltis-Shepherd: Tibor, thank you again. It’s just so great to be able to tap into your expertise and your insight and I’d just like to recap some of the things here that you mentioned.
I think number one was to be a fashion expert. Know the trends and, again, I use the word “study.” I like how you use that word. “Study your customer’s customer” and then guide your buyer. You want to reduce their risk, build their confidence and create that whole approach that somewhere in reader purchases can be fun and they’re fashion and they also fit into that wellness and protection category.
The key to this is stay relevant. Fashion evolves and fashion cycles so remember that you want to be that buyer’s trusted resource. You should always position yourself as the person that will bring them the latest or the breaking news in fashion in this category.
Tibor Gross: These are excellent points, yes.
Rene Soltis-Shepherd: So with that we are going to end the discussion between Tibor and myself and we would like to open up the lines. We can unmute by pressing star 6 on your phone and you can join is in the conversation. If you have anything to add or any questions for Tibor, you can unmute your line, please, by pressing star 6.
If we do not have any questions, at this point, please remember to go to the website and you will be able to access the audio recording of the call, as well as the transcript, within approximately two weeks.
Our next call is set for September 18th. Tibor would love to have your suggestions on topics to cover and we would definitely love to be able to cover what’s most interesting or challenging to you. So please do email Tibor or give him a call with any suggestions on things you’d like to be covered.
Again, Tibor, thank you so much for sharing your brilliance and we’ll talk to you soon. Good luck out there, everyone.
END OF AUDIO
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