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I’m Pretty Sure I’m in Love With Anthropologie Clothing Stores
Urban Outfitters is a prestigious brand in retailing, but it wasn’t until last week that I learned about Anthropologie. If you haven’t heard, seen, or been in an Anthropologie retail store, you are missing an experience, no kidding.
After visiting the store, I dug up some stats that surprised me. Here’s one that really made an impact: the average Anthropologie customer spends 80 minutes in the store per trip. Eighty — that’s an hour and twenty minutes on each visit. How much time do you think the typical shopper spends at other retailers? Fifteen minutes. That’s an amazing number that should convey loads about the feel of the stores.
Anthropologie was founded to profit from patrons of the Urban Outfitters store who outgrew UA’s fashions. As such, the target consumer for Anthropologie clothing is a 30 to 40′ish sophisticated woman with high discretionary income. Not a bad market to target!
Ask ten women what they think of Anthropologie and you’ll probably hear . . . one opinion! Almost unanimously, people love the store, but aren’t crazy about the prices. Granted, they are steep, but there’s a reason. Anthropologie is very selective and exclusive with their clothing lines, and just about all of the clothing you find in a store is limited edition. Heck, they even have some one-of-a-kind pieces!
These items tend to sell out very quickly, leaving mismatched items scattered about, but that leads to an opportunity for shoppers: namely, sales racks. There are quite a few discounted items if you’re not averse hunting, which I’m sure is responsible in part for the average length of stay.
What I like most about Anthropologie clothes is the distinctive styling. Their fashions include a lot of floral prints, appliques, and delicate details, but look classy and sexy at the same time. The impression that I get is that it’s a clothing line for beautiful women who aren’t compelled to reveal half of their bodies to look sexy. Home run, I’d say.
If you’re really looking for a bargain, you can find discount Anthropologie clothing online – not through the Anthropologie store, but through other outlets. I can’t imagine that this stuff is wholesale, and with the high turnover in clothing, I don’t think it’s made up of last season’s items either, but the price is attractive!
Bottom line: if you haven’t yet shopped in an Anthropologie store, find out if there’s one near you. It really is a great shopping experience. But beware of the prices!
Smruti Evans runs the discount Gucci bags web store and maintains several popular weblogs, including the Handbags Italian blog.
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