Fashions Night Out, Every Night & Day- The Sequel " Fool me twice, shame on me.

Sequels...What makes one? Why make one? Profitability, popularity, Nostaglia? If something doesn't work initially, why wage bets on a re-work of the original?

Fashion's Night Out is spawning a sequel, even though you won't see any ads or promotions labeling it as such. Retailers have swept it under the rug by conveying an idea that Fashions Night Out will occur every night and day!

New York Fashions Night Out, from 2009-2013 was marketed as a way to drum up sales for the NYC retail sector post-recession, which then led to numerous siblings in different cities. But in the case of New York, Valerya Safronova makes clear in the New York Times, Why Fashions Night Faltered, that the concept basically fell flat. Keeping 800 stores in the 5 boroughs open until 11pm was ill-conceived, especially when most people weren’t going to buy anything and were just staying for the venue. As highlighted by Alicia Glen, the deputy mayor for economic housing and development and liaison to the fashion industry,   "I've heard from people that it didn’t actually increase sales that dramatically," which is really the bottom line.

 So what’s different this time? How far will entertainment and theatrics, parades and charades take retailers? In WWD, Terry Lundgren states that " department stores must be a place for consumers to come out and get away from the everyday challenges of their life and be entertained where they shop," which in essence is very true. However, often times people leave more stressed because they can't find the size they want or the style that they had envisioned in their heads. So if you hold numerous events in the selling space, can you count on consumers having a buying mindset if there is nothing there to captivate them in the first place?

 Which leads me to what is often is left out of the discussion-the actual product. Thankfully, Robin Gavhin shed a particular spotlight in her article from the Washington Post. Which backs up what I heard recently "oh I really don’t like to go shopping because there are not any interesting clothes " from friends and associates. So why not forgo a pop-up or punk band, and make it a mission to have the best product around. Mark Lee from Barneys comes the closest to this recently. Additionally, it's commonly acknowledged that consumers aren’t as brand loyal as they once were, so there's an opening here.  

No matter the bells and whistles, you can't obscure bland product by the fog. Surely, all the confetti should be quantified by a surge in sales. Without some concrete words to fill up ones' pages, retailers run the risk of being shelved like an unsuccessful sequel. Why do the same thing, just bigger and fancier? A number or very interesting brands in the world are forging new paths with great products, but sadly most are under-acknowledged and under-represented in consumers minds to a degree. The rest should look to the words of one our past US Presidents and take note, " Fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again." I couldn't have said it better!