Following on the heels of its BrylaneHome Kitchen spin-off, which launched in February 2002, New York-based multititle cataloger Brylane has introduced another spin-off, BrylaneHome Wishes.
The Website went live on Aug. 18, and the 76-page catalog mailed shortly thereafter. The book sells more than 350 gift items within a broad range of categories, including children’s, pets, decor, and holiday. While the company wouldn’t divulge circulation, the catalog was mailed to customers across Brylane’s various divisions, which included the misses division (the Chadwick’s of Boston, La Redoute, and Lerner titles), the special-sizes group (Lane Bryant, Jessica London, and Roaman’s), and the lifestyle division, which includes Brylane Home.
Home is not only where the heart is; Brylane has found that sales are there as well. A few years ago, Brylane’s home business was less than 3%, says chairman/CEO Russell Stravitz. But during the next few years, Brylane hopes to have 20%-25% of its business come from sales of home products, Stravitz says.
“There are many parts of the home that we are not in yet,” Stravitz says. “In order for us to enter a category, we need to be able to add something that the market doesn’t already have.” Which explains why there’s such an emphasis on developing proprietary products within the company.
“The lifestyle group has two things going for it,” Stravitz says. “There’s a lot of talent to develop goods. And we have an existing customer file so that we don’t have to start from scratch. We already have the customers.”