Electronics retailers are starting to take a step into fashion licensing by forging exclusive deals with designers and celebrities to raise their reputations when it comes to style.
Best Buy has highlighted two such ventures during the fourth quarter. It is exclusively carrying a line of 50 Kate Spade New York-licensed tech accessories, ranging from tablet and other device covers to portable chargers, as well as offering exclusive lines of phone cases and laptop sleeves through collaborations with Anna Sui, Nanette Lepore, and Isaac Mizrahi New York.
Best Buy’s current initiatives mirror a 2013 partnership between Carphone Warehouse, a U.K.-based mobile phone retailer, and model Kate Moss, which led to an exclusive collection of electronics cases. (In 2014, Carphone Warehouse merged with Dixons Retail, a large operator of consumer electronics stores with banners across Europe, to become Dixons Carphone.)
Electronics retailers collectively have been struggling to prosper for a number of years. Bankruptcies and business failures have reduced the number of players, and those that are still ongoing face strong and growing competition from other retail channels, including e-tailers and mass merchants. So any chance to bring in new customers is welcome.
Retailers such as Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse have not traditionally been known for their fashion connections. But the world is changing, with fashion an important aspect of not just electronics accessories (i.e., device cases and earbuds), but all kinds of emerging wearable technologies, from smart watches to fitness trackers to sensor-infused fabrics.
It therefore stands to reason that these and other electronics retailers will increasingly link their names with the world of fashion through more exclusive deals involving licensed tech products. The fact that designers are increasingly looking at tech and tech accessories as areas of growth for their businesses is also likely to hasten this trend.
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