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Masterminding Men: Coach Goes After The Luxury Market
Submitted by Admin on 07/19/2010 – 5:10 AM2 Comments | 1,165 views
While sales are still going strong, American luxury retailer Coach has seen a decrease in the amount of handbag sales, and from 2005 onwards, the percentage of sales from handbags has gone down from 65% to 62%. Sales from Coach accessories — wallets, belts and so on — are increasing, however.
Coach’s tactics to increase their profits from accessories seem to be working, but it seems to be a slow and steady race. What might really give Coach that extra boost to make a big splash in accessories’ sales?
The answer: Men’s accessories.
Don’t worry, I’m not talking about man bags (although who knows, maybe Coach will one day specialize in man purses (they do have messenger bags, that really close). Men’s accessories include shoes, belts, eyewear, wallets and watches. A recent Forbes article reports that Coach currently has 3% of the share in men’s luxury market, and since men’s luxury markets in the US, UK, China and India are booming compared to women’s luxury, Coach could really benefit by targeting and tailoring products to men.
Coach hopes to get 14% of the share in men’s luxury in upcoming years. With the growth in men’s luxury all around the world, that percentage is achievable but not without some hard work. For one, men’s luxury is still a niche market and might only appeal to those in very big cities where style is paramount; men’s accessories might not have universal appeal, and Coach has to think hard about how to go about putting men’s accessories in stores.
Men’s luxury, moreover, mostly consists of eyewear and watches. Coach’s leather products are its most famous items, so if Coach makes male accessories in leather (wallets, belts, perhaps even the dreaded man bag), it might not be able to cash in on the male luxury boom.
It’s a tricky situation, but if Coach handles it right, the brand could reap huge successes.
Photo Credit: Coach
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that could honestly work. i never understood why they never made alot of products for men anyway.. once someon big starts wearing it.. everyone will. its the way of marketing.. and really the way of the world
Very interesting. To me, Coach's handbags do not offer a lot of variety. Its either a monogram handbag or a leather, but the design elements are not that appealing, hence the slight percentage decrease in handbag sales.
Off the top of my head, I cant seem to remember the last time I saw a Coach advertisement in a glossy, but I do and am seeing Coach heavily promote its new line of “Blogger” Poppy hand bags. This type of innovation and using “bloggers” as their celebrity could help increase brand affinity and handbag sales for women. I think they need to get more creative, like they are doing with Poppy to regain their sales numbers.
While going after the male luxury market is low hanging fruit, I think Coach needs to be very strategic about what products are produced and more importantly HOW those products are marketed to men.
Currently, almost every girl and her mom have a Coach bag (or so it seems), and the brand image could appear very feminine to the outside male. Coach will need to come up with a clear, concise, and convincing communication strategy to reach the right male audience.
I think “MrClosetStatus” below, is right. Coach may have to reach out to a celebrity spokesperson to have a male celebrity be the face of “Coach” man, and carve a chunk into the male luxury goods market.