Licensing has become a key marketing tool in the higher-end specialty store tier, even in shops that tend to focus mostly on private-label goods or products from established brands. Several such chains are currently demonstrating this fact by highlighting licensed collaborations, often devoting their front windows to these partnerships:
- J. Crew is touting its alliance with Michael de Feo, a street artist known for his flower-themed imagery. His graffiti on an outdoor J. Crew ad ultimately led to this venture.
- Ethan Allen is promoting its exclusive Disney furniture collection, which was introduced in November 2016.
- Coach is shining a spotlight on its Gary Baseman collaboration. A visual and performance artist whose licensing is managed by Epic Rights, Baseman has been partnering with the luxury brand for several years.
- Williams Sonoma has an Easter display of exclusive Peter Rabbit products on a table at the center of the store. The direct-licensed goods include bowls, aprons, spatulas, cookie kits, carrot cake mix, and more.
Meanwhile, other specialty chains highlighting licensed product displays at their storefronts, albeit not exclusives, range from Dylan’s Candy Bar to Learning Express.
Shoppers would not necessarily consider these sorts of chains a destination for licensed merchandise, as they would the mass retailers; licensed items remain a tiny portion of the stores’ overall assortments. But licensed collaborations serve as one method of offering merchandise that is desirable, unusual, and limited and can lure both new and existing customers into the store.
Note: We will be publishing our wrap-up of trends from the 2017 New York International Toy Fair later this week and will provide a link in the Thursday edition of RaugustReports.
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