Macy’s, Marshall Field’s, Others Offer Luxury To Lure Shoppers

Macy’s mailed 20-page gift catalogs last month featuring all-cashmere bedding and clothing. Marshall Field’s is stocking Baccarat crystal starting at $100.The department-store chains are the latest retailers to offer more higher priced and faux-luxury items, such as coats with imitation animal fur collars, to bolster what’s been a lackluster start to holiday sales. The retailers are aiming to capture some of the demand for luxury goods that boosted comparable sales at competitors, such as the 8.4% November gain from a year ago at Neiman Marcus Group.“They have to get some marketing magic back to the department stores because they’ve lost so much to specialty stores,” said Marc Inboden, who helps manage about $400 million at Beese Fulmer Investment Management in Canton, Ohio, including May Department Stores shares. “This might help.”The Commerce Department reported yesterday that November retail sales rose 0.1% from October, led by purchases of building materials and electronic goods. Excluding automobiles, sales increased 0.5%, better than the average gain of 0.3% estimated in a survey of 61 economists.November sales at stores open at least a year fell 1.4% from a year earlier at Federated Department Stores, owner of Macy’s, and 7.9% at May. Holiday sales will rise as much as 3% from a year earlier, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, a New York-based trade group.Retailers are offering more luxury goods, some with higher profit margins, to keep shoppers in stores longer and get them to spend more, said the president of WSL Strategic Retail in New York, Wendy Liebmann.May’s Marshall Field’s chain in Au gust began selling Thomas Pink wovensilk men’s ties for $95 and Baccarat crystal items priced from $100 to $100,000 at its Chicago flagship store, said a spokeswoman, Jennifer McNamara.J.C. Penney expanded its fur apparel, one of the better-selling categories of the holiday season, including a rabbit fur poncho for $49.99.The retailer’s November comparable sales rose 12%.“J.C. Penney has had one of the best fur displays out there,” said Lori Wachs, who helps manage about $110 billion in assets at Delaware Investments in Philadelphia, including Federated shares. “It was merchandised really well. I don’t think it has to be a high-end store to sell these trends.”Department stores are reaching out to the “aspirational shopper,” said Ms. Liebmann. “Any of us working stiffs that have decided we deserve something good that might be viewed as out of our everyday purchase.”Shares of St. Louis-based May fell 42 cents to $28.26 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading and before yesterday had declined 1.3% this year. Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney fell 51 cents to $38.89 and had gained 50% this year.Tandy Brands Accessories Inc., which sells fashion accessories to stores including May and Federated, is producing men’s belts in Italian leather to meet growing demand for higher-price goods, the chief executive, J.S.B. “Britt” Jenkins, said in an interview in November. The Arlington, Texas-based maker of python-skin wallets and belts also began selling silk suspenders in the fall.“Sometimes the moderate customers want something, so they’ll save up and buy it,” Mr. Jenkins said.Department-store shoppers are also buying products with faux animal fur and imitation gem stones because they look luxurious but don’t carry the high cost.“Right now it’s all about the little details,” said Patricia Edwards, who helps manage about $5.3 billion in assets at Wentworth, Hauser, & Violich in Seattle, including Nordstrom shares. “It’s a richer-looking piece of clothing, not necessarily richer-costing clothing. Everyone wants to feel better.”Among the better-selling items at Sears, Roebuck & Compoany this holiday season are cardigan sweaters adorned with silver and rhinestone brooches for $44.“There’s a huge trend,” Juanita Fields, fashion director at Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears, said in an interview on December 10. “I call it bling-bling, but it’s all about embellishment. Every woman has a cardigan, but we now offered it with a brooch and pearl buttons.”Macy’s sells wristlet coin purses from apparel designer Michael Kors’s Michael line for $48. Dillard’s offers a $22.50 key ring by handbag designer Dooney & Bourke.Jewelry featuring Moissanite, a diamond-like stone that sells for less, has attracted shoppers who hadn’t bought jewelry at J.C. Penney before, said a spokesman, Tim Lyons.A 1-carat diamond pendant sells for as much as $1,799 through J.C. Penney’s Web site, compared with a 1-carat Moissanite necklace for $599.“We can’t push our customer too far higher in price because we’ll take them out of their price range,” Mr. Lyons said. “Our goal is to bring them luxury or luxury-type items at a price they can afford.”J.C. Penney is also benefiting from declining textile costs that enabled them to sell trendy merchandise at a lower price, Mr. Lyons said. The chain is selling leather handbags and offering men’s leather coats for as little as $100.Products made with imitation luxury goods have limited appeal and may drive shoppers to high-end retailers that carry genuine cashmere apparel, said a UBS analyst, Linda Kristiansen.“The customer doesn’t want faux cashmere,” Ms. Kristiansen said in an interview in November. “If you can provide the real thing, then people will reach a little bit.”Many shoppers on a limited budget are choosing to buy a single designer item to make them feel fashionable, said consultant Jane Hali at Ampersand, a division of fashion forecaster Here & There in New York.“A person could have a Hermes scarf for $200 and be part of the luxury world,” Ms. Hali said.

Macy’s, Marshall Field’s, Others Offer Luxury To Lure Shoppers

Macy’s, Marshall Field’s, Others Offer Luxury To Lure Shoppers

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