In 2017, we were all jumping for joy.
Jumpsuits were having a moment at that time.
I was the merch lead for Lauren, and we bought into many versions across all Fall deliveries.
We presented the collections during market and all the buyers were excited. Visual merchandising did a walk-through, and the team couldn’t wait for the styles to drop.
Before the season kicked off, sales associates and VM teams gathered in London while I walked them through the assortment on models, showing how I wanted the looks styled.
The jumpsuits were the most added style in the teams’ ‘uniform’ buy.
Two things happened:
1. There were no sales recorded in week one.
2. I went to the stores and couldn’t find the jumpsuits anywhere.
No jumping. No joy.
They were all stashed in the stockroom!
Why?
Because the fixtures were not tall enough to merchandise them.
I was shocked and disappointed that we didn’t catch this seemingly obvious miss.
Moving on to the next season….
We tested Lauren evening dresses for our major accounts.
They were merchandised with the department store’s dresses section and sold out within weeks.
So we bought five times as many dresses for the next delivery drop that were to be merchandised with the main collection in our shop-in-shop.
—> Dresses were delivered. —> No sales against them. —> Nowhere to be found on the shop floor.
Big surprise. We didn’t have the right fixtures. So the staff, understandably, stuffed them into the stockroom.
This is an example of the classic issue of corporate strategy being disconnected from frontline execution.
And it’s not just a retail thing. I could find examples of this disconnection in travel, hospitality, contact centers and almost any industry you want to focus on.
Moreover, if there is any type of dysfunction or misalignment in the corporate office, it will always manifest itself in front of the customer. No wonder we are forever going to pound the table on the topic of executives spending time on the front lines and shopping their businesses.
Now, getting back to the fixture related issue.
The question becomes what were (and likely still are) the root causes of this issues?
Well… Merchandising and store planning were operating in silos. The assortment evolved, but it did not consider store plans or fixture requirements. Store design worked off brand standards and moved on. Shop-in-shop fixtures were fixed.
Once the store planning team built out the shop-in-shop, they go to the next build. There is no owner for “floor readiness.” Store operators, visual merchants, and sales teams are reacting to the product when it hits the shop floor. There is a missing link between the buy and the delivery drop.
So, how would I avoid having this “surprise” happen to me if I was in charge?
I’d start with the following:
1. Add a “Store Readiness” milestone to concept-to-market. A quick cross-functional checkpoint after assortment lock and again after market.
Basically, a simple pass/fail review:
- Hanger requirements and quantities
- Fixture height and capacity constraints
- Fold versus hang assumptions
- Mannequin and outfitting needs
- Any new silhouettes or lengths that break standards
If something new is introduced, something else must change. That is the rule.
2. Turn fixture constraints into assortment guardrails. Create a one-page “fixture capability sheet” by department that merchandising can actually use:
- Max hang length by fixture type
- Acceptable garment weights for tables
- Approved hanger types by category
- Minimum presentation space required for hero silhouettes
Then require that new silhouettes are “mapped to fixtures” before they get adopted.
3. Create a tight feedback loop between merchants and store execution teams.
- Run a weekly huddle 2 weeks before each seasonal delivery drop and the first 2 weeks in stores.
- Include merchants, visual merchandising, store planning, and store operations
- Walk the shop floor in person (no excuses!)
- Identify what is not making it to the floor and why.
Get those three things in order and everyone from the shop floor to the corporate office will be jumping for joy.
Jumpsuits not required.
