The number of 12-month women’s apparel catalog buyers may be declining (see “Women’s apparel universe now on the wane,” January issue), but mixed-gender apparel books are gaining in popularity. According to New York-based media brokerage services firm ParadyszMatera, the names of about 16.5 million 12-month buyers from catalogs that sell clothing for men and for women are available for rental or exchange. That’s a year-over-year increase of nearly 6%. All told, mixed-gender apparel catalog buyers account for about 30% of all 12-month consumer apparel catalog buyers on the market.
The venerable L.L. Bean has the largest mixed-gender apparel file, with more than 4.3 million 12-month buyers as of the first quarter of the year. And surprisingly for a file so large, it has also seen outstanding growth — 14% — during the past year.
Among smaller catalogs that have grown their buyer files impressively during the past year is Boden. The U.K.-based mailer has been selling adult apparel in the U.S. for less than three years, but its 12-month buyer file already has 99,000 names, up 191% from last year. Upscale cataloger/retailer Mark Shale has seen strong growth too — 71% during the past year, to 19,000 12-month buyers.
Just as the overall universe of buyers from mixed-gender apparel catalogs has grown, so has the merchants’ use of incentives. Among the mailers tracked by ParadyszMatera, 35% offered some sort of promotion so far this year, up from 28% last year. Free shipping offers have been the most popular, with 24% using them so far this year compared with 17% last year. The percentage of mixed-gender apparel merchants offering discounts has held steady at 13%, however, while so far this year none have touted deferred payment, compared with 1% last year.
| 1Q 2003 |
2Q 2003 |
3Q 2003 |
4Q 2003 |
1Q 2004 |
2Q 2004 |
3Q 2004 |
4Q 2004 |
1Q 2005 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total universe | 14.4 | 14.5 | 14.7 | 15.5 | 15.6 | 15.6 | 15.5 | 15.7 | 16.5 |
| Rank | List name | 1Q 2005 house file universe | Average order |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L.L. Bean | 4,301,249 | $75 |
| 2 | Lands’ End | 2,006,099 | $85 |
| 3 | Eddie Bauer Catalog Buyers | 1,923,649 | $95 |
| 4 | J.Crew Masterfile | 1,100,542 | $150 |
| 5 | Blair Corp. | 764,763 | $60 |
| Source: ParadyszMatera | |||