The Right Fit - Fleet Feet's Marketing Is In Tune With Women's Needs.

(Wednesday, March 15, 2006) - Some might say that statistics don't tell the whole story, but sometimes they do a pretty good job. Imagine this scenario: you are a retailer whose customer pool is 60 percent female. Sports bras have a "life" of six to 12 months, and statistics show that 80 percent of women wear the incorrect bra size.

Fleet Feet took a look at those numbers, and developed some savvy event marketing to utilize the sports bra category to better serve its female customers. As one of many specialty retailers who have taken shoe-fitting to another level, Fleet Feet is now looking to do the same with bras.

Danielle Sunderhaus, Fleet Feet's vendor program manager, says that focusing on selling sports bras has paid dividends. Nationwide, she reports that Fleet Feet's 66 stores are, on average, selling approximately one bra for every seven pairs of women's shoes sold. The best-performing store is approaching a one to two-and-ahalf ratio. And those aren't on markdowns, either.

There are big gross margins in this category," says Deana Wellborn, account manager at Moving Comfort. "Bras do not get marked down. The bra business has really grown, it is a huge part of our business, and it is getting bigger every day."

Moving Comfort is one of a few key vendors pushing the sports bra category to new heights. Along with Champion, Moving Comfort is taking part in Bralapalooza—an innovative "bra tour" set to hit more than a dozen of Fleet Feet's Northern California stores this Spring.

"Specialty running stores like Fleet Feet are in a very unique channel focusing on service and relationships," notes Susan Tregoning, marketing manager for Champion sports bras. "Creative events like Bralapalooza are excellent for Champion because they create excitement about sports bras and highlight our brand as an innovation leader.

The Bralapalooza initiative grew out of an event called "Diva Nights" that the Sacramento Fleet Feet store developed on its own. The concept was to attract women to stores by offering exclusive evenings to shower them with massages, chocolates and wines, all while showcasing products and building community. It was a huge success.

"It was about thanking women for being customers," says Sunderhaus, adding that some Diva Nights attracted hundreds of women to the stores. "Eventually, our other stores started putting them on."

Out of this success grew the idea for Bralapalooza. Champion and Moving Comfort are both involved as part of this Spring's promotion, which will include bra fittings. At the Bralapalooza "tour stops" women are invited into Fleet Feet locations for a night of pampering, which also allows the retailer and vendor reps to showcase products and stress the importance of the sports bra as more than just a garment, but also as vital piece of athletic equipment.

"The main focus of Bralapalooza is on sports bras, and on educating women," explains Sunderhaus. "We take over the store for two to three hours, and stay open until the last customer leaves. For the Diva Nights in Sacramento, the first one drew 150 women, and eventually they had to spread it out to two nights because we were getting more than 400 responses."

Bralapalooza's name is a take-off of the music festival Lollapalooza, and is being promoted creatively with instore signage and marketing materials, as well as with Fleet Feet staff "Bralapalooza Tour" T-shirts that resemble rock concert style Tshirts—replete with tour dates and nifty graphics. In other words, it's fun—which is not a word always associated with selling bras.

Selling bras is often a challenge at retail, but Fleet Feet totally understands the category," says Wellborn. "They are able to show how important it is to have a properly fitted sports bra. It goeshand-in-hand with shoes.

"Being involved with Bralapalooza gets our name out there, but it also gets the whole bra category and the importance of it out there," continues Wellborn. "At these events, they let customers know they are doing fittings, and we've been there [at Diva Nights] when 150 women show up. Fleet Feet really does a great job marketing it and reaching out to the community. Fleet Feet is very good at this bra fit process—they know it has the same importance as with shoes."

Sunderhaus, a former member of theU.S. women's national soccer team, asserts that the sports bra initiative is vitally important to Fleet Feet. "All of our associates are trained in bra fitting," she says.

Moreover, the program shows how vendors and retailers can work together to showcase an idea such as "proper bra fit" and turn it into a key marketing tool.

"One of the challenges within the sports bra category is addressing the needs of every woman and her many activities, but at Champion we see this as an enormous opportunity," says Tregoning.

For the vendors and the retailer, Bralapalooza is about more than just sales. "Bra fitting is similar to footwear fitting," says Sunderhaus. "It's not that we are trying to sell a particular product; we are trying to educate the consumer about proper fit.

The strategy is tied in with the belief that a sports bra can now legitimately be described as a piece of equipment. Whether the female consumer is a walker, a jogger or a runner, Sunderhaus says that the staff is trained to make recommendations for the products that best suit the individual.

Just as in a shoe-fitting, a salesperson interacts with the consumer. Fleet Feet's training takes into account the delicate nature of the product. The training includes specific scenarios for interactions between a male salesperson fitting a female customer, a female salesperson fitting a female customer, or a salesperson of either gender working with a customer who wishes to handle the fitting on her own.

"There are stores where guys are selling bras very well," notes Wellborn. "For a retailer, it is all about servicing the customer, soup to nuts. It's a great opportunity."

Wellborn's tips for retailers include showcasing bras in a similar fashion to the way shoes are highlighted. "Having a bra wall is like creating a shoe wall," she explains. "You can walk the customer through the product, carry different bras for different levels of activity, different impact levels. Feet are like breasts—no two are alike. It's an analogy back to shoes."

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