From Niches To Communities To Tribes

Being a producer of a niche product to a niche market I am constantly seeking out new ways to capitalize on opportunities.  

Between "how can I gain an advantage?" to "there has to be a better way?" that pretty much encompasses the totality of my mind set.  

I realize that one of my current key problems is that while I am using terms such as "community," "social media," and or "consumer centric," the reality is that my concept of these terms is totally different than what is considered popular at the moment and I am missing the mark in the confusion.

I am gambling on the fact that the future belongs to those who go from creating a community to creating a tribe.  While a community is about sharing a tribe is about belonging and it involves participation and loyalty.

The reality is that the social network comes first and the sale of product is secondary.  Which involves totaling changing the way one thinks.  You create a platform that is attractive to your niche market, someplace where those that belong to the niche market feel comfortable and share; and you reward the sharing with discounts to products.

Tribes are about exclusion and exclusivity and brands that cater to niche markets have to create a sense of pride with their brand.  Ecommerce is becoming too much like traditional retail with endless promotions and advertising. The reality is that the internet has created an opportunity to create platforms where people congregate, socialize, hang out, and then you advertise and promote within the platform.      

Tribes are about belonging, and belonging should instill a sense of pride among the members of the tribe.  When your niche is big and tall and plus size then the pride has to come from exclusivity.  Thus, you promote the social, the music, the games, the interaction and you promote products that cater to the interests captured in the social and size availability becomes the gatekeeper.

Tribalism thus creates a pride of participation and belonging which in turn creates increased product sales.  Its not the brand that is promoted but rather the social that promotes the brand.

You have then created a sense of belonging with the statement "A Shirt For US!" A positive sentiment from a negative attribute; you have created a tribe from a shared physical attribute.  

Strategies Of Value: Consumers and Community

Henry Ford once said: “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants, so long as it is black.”

In 1923 GM redesigned its manufacturing line with the flexibility to produce a multitude of models and colors without compromising the inherent economies-of-scale of Ford’s assembly line innovation.

In the 1970's we had Burger King and the concept of "Have it your way...." and now today we have something called, "consumer centric" which entails not only how a company relates to consumers but also revolutionizes the organization; just as the assembly line changed our society in the early 20th century the concept, consumer centric, will do the same for the 21st century.

Of course it might require that companies quit off shoring customer service!  Or if you are going to call a consumer on the weekend and leave a call back number then please ensure that all the features work on weekends!  

Then that brings up the concept of ‘customization’ which is another buzz word being bantered around today by various apparel start up companies.

Its easy to champion a concept such as customization when one is selling pants for hundreds of dollars a pair, like Bonobos, or dresses for hundreds of dollars like Mod Cloth, or even polo shirts for 80 dollars or more, but the reality is your "community" is very small; you community is limited by income.

The whole purpose of mass production is to produce goods in mass quantities at prices the masses can afford.  If you take screen printed tees for example, at one time department stores were willing to pay $7.50 for a four color process back print with left chest logo which they would then retail for $26.99.  Now they will pay on average $5.00 for a screen printed tee which they retail for $17.99 and thus you find that the days for full color process are over and has been replaced with spot color of no more than three colors.

All of the sudden, anyone and their brother could sell screen printed tees via the internet and ship out of their garage:  With the cost of the shirt, art, and screen printing you have about $6.00 in a shirt that you are retailing  direct to the consumer for $15 to $20!  So we see the birth of consumer centric business models and the advent of the concept of customization!

The reality is the shirts are blanks and purchased from a distributor on an as needed basis and thus their are no inventory carrying costs.  The reality is the basic product, the tee shirt, is not customized, but rather it is embellished to a customers wishes.

The 'value' is that tees are novelties, they allow for self expression, whim, and impulse buying and thus communities can develop and grow, such as Threadless, Cafe Press, and Zazzle to name a few.  You can add the individualization that is offered by companies such as Custom Ink and Blue Cotton to the list also.

To take the concept of customization to other apparel classes beyond tee shirts then the term that should be used is "individually tailored."  The market for individually tailored goods is limited to individuals who are either young and or higher income.  To the vast majority, lets say 90% of Americans and an even higher percentage of the rest of the world, the idea of having apparel tailored for fit is not financially viable.

Yes, even the trade magazine, Internet Retailer has jumped on the customization bandwagon, imploring the like of The Gap, Macy's, Nordstrom, and American Eagle Outfitters to get started with 'personalization.'  That would be for an interesting board or management meeting; brick and mortar retailers discussing how they change their whole supply chain and retail structure to adapt to this new innovation. 

The idea of a consumer centric business is one that imparts a value added proposition to existing business activity.  The concept of personalization or customization is one that completely changes existing business activity; its a niche market at best.  It will never achieve the acceptance of jeans and or tee shirts as basic apparel choices for a vast majority of consumers.

Mass production led to the extinction of the artisan, and the craftsman.  The consumer saw no value to individualization.  I remember in the early 90's when the concept of a tee shirt with a double ringer around the neck was considered innovative and this in turn led to allowing the retailer to pick the color of their second ringer which we would then attach after screen printing.  That was a great idea but a bad reality because of costs of maintaining inventory of the second ringer and returns; one persons design creation is another ones idea of trash.

From Competition To Collaboration

The basic premise of competition is that the world has finite limits; whether that be the size of a market, the number of customers, or the number of opportunities that one can compete in or for.  If there is finite limits then of course it is understandable to see competition as a win-lose proposition.  If demand is infinite then viewing everything as win-lose is actually detrimental to success.  

If consumers spend only a finite amount of money a year and there are only a finite number of consumers available to you then obviously, Walmart will be viewed as a threat, as a competitor.  If there is a law that states that individuals can only join one social network then of course Google + can be seen as a threat to Facebook, just as one could claim that the success of Facebook caused the demise of Myspace;  but the reality was that the demise of Myspace was due to their inability to judge consumer demand and Facebook benefited; execution led to the demise of Myspace not competition.

I have yet to see, after 25 years, a company and or a product that was run out of business due to the external threat of competition; every single example I have, and there are numerous examples, are all of companies that ceased operations due to internal shortcomings.

One of the hardest things I have had to accomplish over the course of the last 6 months was a business plan.  I know that we will collaborate with other product manufacturers to offer their product in our market.  I realize that there are barriers to entry in my market and that we can provide a "bridge" over the "moat" to our market; six months ago I had no idea what the products were, but I have identified three now.  I also realize that at some point in the future we will have stores; but will they be actual brick and mortar stores, pop up shops, or stores within stores, I have no idea.  As far as when this occurs, again, it will occur when a compelling opportunity presents its self.  I do have a list of cities where we would initially begin thinking about establishing retail outlets, but that could change too!  I do realize, based upon internet sales, that we will most likely have a store in Moscow, Warsaw, and Amsterdam.

Being competitive, creates an "us against everyone else" mentality which becomes tunnel vision.  Tunnel vision is the one sure way to extinction.  Terms such as "consumer centric" and or "customization" are nothing more than new ways of saying that one collaborates with their consumers.  That collaboration can then be the basis of a whole new model for a retail product; retailers know what their consumers have bought but that should not be confused with what they are willing and or wanting to purchase.  I see this constantly when I review what retailers purchased in a particular geographic area and what consumers, in the same geographic area,  have purchased from our website.

The only real competition that exists, is that within ones self and or ones organization; the need to constantly improve and adapt is the key to success.  The only competition that matters is that between being and becoming; and in this competition smaller companies, companies that collaborate and reach out, companies that can be proactive rather than reactive will succeed; and thus the threat of competition is internal not external.

The Future of Big and Tall: The Little Guy!

I was always tall for my age; way taller than anyone else my age and because of this I have always been interested in the big and tall apparel market.  So, in 1990, when an opportunity presented its self to create a label I made sure that we also developed a line of big and tall tee shirts under the label, "Turner Originals."  Having now achieved 20 years of market success its time to focus on the next 20 years and there is no place better to seek out opportunities than to explore the bigger market;  the key to success in niche markets is to adapt a big trend to the specifics of your niche market.

Now, the plus sized apparel market as of 2008, represented approximately $29 billion dollars in annual sales and is projected to grow to over $42 billion dollars in annual sales by 2012; and overall, plus sizes represents the fastest growing niche within the apparel industry.  There are three major retailers in the big and tall menswear market, JC Penney, King Size, and Casual Male, and they are all aggressively attempting to increase their market share of this profitable niche market.  Casual Male has come up with "DXL" or "Destination XL" which represents a big and tall mega store and JC Penney, not to be outdone, has announced that they are opening up 300 big and tall retail stores under the banner, "The Foundry Big & Tall Supply Co." and the interiors of these concept stores are awesome as shown below: 

These stores are big at 6,000 sq. feet, and according to Myron Ullman, CEO and President of JC Penney:

“With big & tall customers making up over 50% of the male population and spending nearly $6 billion on apparel, footwear and accessories, we saw an opportunity to serve the fashionable and professional big & tall customer who is often frustrated by the lack of sizes and fits, availability of brands and the overall lack of customer service in their category.  Offering an upscale environment and extensive assortments of apparel, footwear and furnishings created with them in mind, The Foundry Big & Tall Supply Co. is positioned to address all of the needs of the big & tall customer -- one of the largest and fastest growing segments in the market place today.”

King Size Direct, a catalog company that I have been shopping from since the early 1980's, took to the internet, while Casual Male bought their retail competitors and developed a catalog/internet sales channel and JC Penney is finally stepping up its activities.  While a consumer may favor one over the other the reality is that their product lines are not all that much different; the labels are different but the product is the same.

What the plus sized consumer wants is variety and individualism;  the days of being "branded" by the clothes you wear are over and thus, Nautica, Dockers, and Timberland no longer have the drawing power because they are so readily available through numerous retail outlets. 

The future belongs to companies such as Mod Cloth and or Bonobos (I am not the only one who believes this considering that these two companies received a combined $21 million dollars in venture capital funding).  Its not about "what" you offer as it is "why" and "how" you market it.  In my niche  companies like Threadless and Cafe Press have led the way to a new consumer centric, Web 2.0 inspired business model.  I have been a fan of Threadless for a long time and I cheer them on every chance I get because you cannot help but admire the brilliance of the model!   Threadless continues to blaze new paths and has now expanded successfully into accessories, kids wear, and I am sure that they will continue to expand their retail stores and will continue to add product lines in the future.

From information garnered via the internet, by combining tee shirts and screen printing with a Web 2.0 business model you create a new sales channel with average net margins of 35% and annual sales increases of around 50%!


From consumer centric to sized centric! 

The plus sized consumer wants product that are specifically designed for their body types and trendsetting at the same time!  Its about capturing the energy and essence of lines like Affliction, Abercrombie and Fitch, and or Hollister; with designs specifically developed for a plus sized consumer on tee shirts that are truly big and tall.  This just isn't going to cut it anymore:

Its time to offer the big and tall consumer the same consumer centric options available to all consumers and to develop lines of product for retailers that are something more than just a mere license of what is available any where else.  Its obvious that the market is big enough, and growing bigger every day, for the plus sized consumer to have the same choices and variety, but choices and variety that are specifically tailored for the niche! 

By the niche for the niche: Or, size centric!