Precise Buys at Cooper
As in past seasons, buyers at the Cooper Design Space shopped the building’s well-stocked showrooms for deals in Immediates through Fall. This time around, however, buyers arrived with a much more competitive game plan.
“Buyers know exactly what they need. In the past, maybe they didn’t pay as close attention or relied on us to help them make decisions. But with the state of the economy and budgets being so tight, they are paying much closer attention to what their customers buy and what they can sell,” said Lisa Elliot-Rosas, owner of the EM Productions showroom. “Buyers are being more efficient and have a much more defined point of view. They have to.” In some cases, buyers reported working with analysts to help divine the perfect buy, she said. Other buyers came in to shop with salespeople fresh off their sales floor or store managers. “That never used to happen, but it can be very efficient. Retailers have adopted much more of a team mentality—and they should. They need to know what exactly their customer wants, whereas in the past, they weren’t so concerned,” Elliot-Rosas said.
At the Bluebird Showroom the market was the slowest owner Aimee Moss said she has ever seen for Fall. “January was slow, but it wasn’t shocking. I think I expected the momentum we felt in Las Vegas and New York to continue through this market, but it didn’t,” Moss said. Still, she said, buyers wrote orders and took notes. To combat late orders, Moss said, she is encouraging her brands to take a risk and produce extra inventory. “There is an advantage to cutting extra and taking that risk. Orders will come in at some point. They always do,” she said. Moss also advises her brands to choose easy-to-sell colors that are seasonless—gray, black and red. “Buyers are choosing styles and colors that aren’t too Fall or too Spring. They want items that aren’t immediately perishable the second it hits their shelves,” she said. —Erin Barajas
