Men’s Warehouse George Zimmer founded Men’s Warehouse in 1971, by opening a brick and motor store in Houston Texas. In the 1970’s, he began advertising his retail clothing in TV Commercials. The commercials sounded like a car commercial with tag lines such as “Considerably more for considerably less,” “The only thing better than a friend in the business is a father in the business,” and “I guarantee it.” Men’s Warehouse expanded their business throughout the West coast to the east coast. By the year 2000, Men’s Warehouse enters into the Internet. This essay will introduce the reader to Men’s Warehouse’s main product, target marketing, global Marketing, web site and our opinions concerning the progress this company has or has not made and a comparison to the top three competitors competing against Men’s Warehouse.
1. What is the company’s main product or service? The main service Men’s Warehouse offers is a simplified shopping experience while supplying an extensive range of products. This enables the customer who does not have a lot of time to shop, find products needed in one stop. Men’s Warehouse brand also offers quality clothing at attractive low prices, while offering great customer service. Men’s Warehouse is also known for their rented tuxedos and designer brands such as Calvin Klein, Kenneth Cole, and Lauren by Ralph Lauren, Joseph Abboud and Pronto Uomo suits. They also offer a wide range of men’s casual wear, accessories, and “Big and tall” sizes for men. For the casual male customer, Men’s Warehouse offers casual sport coats, and blazers that can be combined with an assortment of casual jeans and shirts. Along with a wide variety of men’s wear, Men’s Warehouse offers services for custom tailoring to satisfy customer’s individual needs.
2. What product information is supplied at this site? The product information supplied by Men’s Warehouse is their offer of specialty services such as three hundred Italian fabrics to choose from, canvas constructed mold that gives a custom fit to the body, custom colors and cuffs, personal monograms, high quality breathable lining, and a soft shoulder, creating an elegant fit. For the active man, Men’s Warehouse also has a slim fit, modern fit, and classic fit, and pre-styled looks for the man who needs help matching an outfit together. They also offer free alterations such as pant hems, jacket sleeve hems, and free pressing. They also offer free expert style consultants by phone chat or in-store to promote their product. If the customer is not satisfied with the fit or quality, Men’s Warehouse will send a free replacement to the customer’s home or to the nearest store.
3. What is the target market that this site is trying to reach? What supports your answer? The target market for Men’s Warehouse is for men, seventeen and up. The company millennial customer has much more choice for everyday clothing rather than just for prom and graduation ceremonies. The younger men can expand their wardrobe from formal wear to workforce wear. The website presents photos of young men dressed in the most current up to date styles of “slim fit” or “extreme slim fit,” popular with millennial. This company has also expanded their product line by offering high-end designer choices such as Calvin Kline, Vera Wang, and Joseph Abboud; to satisfy the millennial needs.
4. Does the site appear to be effective? Why? Men’s Warehouse site is effective promoting their product through suggestive selling. By giving the customer examples of styles that work together, from casual jeans worn with dress shirts and blazer, to suites and formal wear. They also promote their sell by offering “buy one get one free,” “extra 50% off,” and designer suits starting at $279.99. There are related links to “recently viewed and related items,” as well as “best sellers” that gives the customer a quick link to most popular items. With the examples and suggestions of merchandise that Men’s warehouse offers, this website suggestive selling is effective in promoting their product.
5. Are they trying to reach the global market or focus on the domestic market? What supports your answer? Men’s Warehouse is trying to focus their advertising and marketing on the domestic as well as international market. I looked at their shipping rates that are posted on the website and they lists the prices within the United States and US territories only. They do not mention any shipping to any other country outside the US territories. They also have an international page and it describes how they are willing to take their currency with a program called border free. They offer the prices of any of their products in the customer’s own currency. The website allows customers to track their international orders. They have a list of countries they ship to on the bottom of their website. Customers can find out more information about it by clicking the flag located at the bottom of any of their webpage’s.
Currently, the company ships to over one hundred and fifty countries worldwide. Their effort to truly be global is amazing. I clicked on the name of my home country of Nicaragua, and a window pops up explaining the currency they are taken from that particular country and in that country’s language. Their innovation and adaptation to the global economy is impressive, however, the chat hours are listed does not offer twenty-four hour assistance. They list only the hours for US, Canadian, Great Britain and Australian customers. All other customers fall under “all others” category. This is a major concern if they really want to conquer the international market, as many countries have different time zones.
6. Is the site interactive? For example, are site visitors asked to provide information? The site is somehow interactive, once you click on it, there is a pop out window that will ask if the customer wants to get special deals and coupons by signing up to their mailing list, thus asking for the customer’s e-mail address. Also, there is a chat option, e-mail and their phone number where you can chat with a customer service, or sales representative. Other than that, there is no other interaction between the site and its customers. At the bottom of every page, there is a section where customers can either enter their e-mail address or phone numbers to get e-mails or text promotions.
7. Does the site offer activities for kids? If so what? The site does not offer any activities for kids. They do have some limited selection for kids, but only under their rental section. They mainly cater to the young professional market that is between mid twenties to late thirties. This is based on the model’s age and looks. There is no indication on their website that the company is targeting older middle age men. This used to be the case a few years back when they would advertise on television, where the television viewer would see mostly middle age men modeling their suits
8. If you were the marketing manager for this company, what would you do to improve the site? Why? If I was the marketing manager of Men’s Warehouse I would update and change the color palette for the website. Their color palette is mostly white space, black and gray. Men’s Warehouse is committed to attracting Millennial to buy their product. Their color palette should communicate to their potential customers a new and fresh look rather than an old, outdated look that is not attractive to the Millennial. Their website should have a well- defined purpose that is committed to their visitors. They also need a clear mission statement about their commitment to promote their product to Millennial. The one size fits all approach to websites does not work in today’s media outlets. Implementing a website that gives clarity and purpose to attract the younger generation will show visitors the diversity of their product and inform the customer that they should care.
While I was visiting their website, the search function did not work. Most Internet users are impatient, a non-functioning search engine will cause the user to leave the website. The navigation of Men’s Warehouse website is hard to read because the color pallet is defused black on gray. Another improvement that would attract Millennial to Men’s Warehouse products would be to appeal to this specific customer with real-life style images, rather than the classic style that attracts the older customer. Their message should match their purpose, which is to attract the younger generation. By changing their color, images, fonts, layout, and structure, this would attract Millennial. I recommend that Men’s warehouse test their website by using the customer’s perspective, namely the Millennial.
9. In what language is the information conveyed? Does this conflict with your answer for number 5? The language conveyed at Men’s warehouse website is in English only and does conflict with answer number five. They do offer currency exchange for foreign countries, but they do not offer websites in foreign languages. Offering their product in a foreign language would be a great improvement to their marketing program, the customer would be better informed about their product in foreign countries.
10. Overall, what is your opinion of the site? My opinion of Men’s Warehouse site is minimal; they are using a classic design that does not stand out among many clothing websites for men. They are trying to attract the younger generation by showing styles on models in a classic old style pose. The images do not show the customer what the clothing style will look like on real life customers. Some of the text on the website was defused black, making it hard to read. I did like their navigation, although I would change the color palette. The website was professional and well organized, although it was not memorable, and does not stand out amongst the rest. I did like the fact that Men’s Warehouse website is responsive. In today’s fast pace society it is important that a website is mobile for phone usage. I was disappointed in their search engine because it did not work, therefore I had to browse through every page to find what I needed, instead of just typing in what | needed, and having it pop-up in another screen.
11.What did you like best and least about the site? What I best liked about Men’s Warehouse website is their extensive product range, and quality clothing at low prices. Along with their customer service, return policy, and custom tailoring to satisfy customer’s needs. Men’s warehouse also has great suggestive selling techniques that are appealing to customers who have a hard time with style. Their suggestive selling goes from casual styles to formal wear, and they will ship to over one hundred and fifty countries worldwide. They also offer a free expert style consultant, available by phone and instore. Additionally, their return policy offers the customer free replacement at their brick and mortar stores and for on-line shoppers, who are not fully satisfied. What I did not like about Men’s Warehouse website is the minimal interactive activities for customers.
Customers are unable to correspond with each other concerning their experience with Men’s Warehouse. Another problem is their classic presentation of their website that is not attractive to the Millennial they are trying to attract to their company. It would be helpful to have a clear mission statement committed to the Millennial, without a one size fits all approach. Men’s Warehouse offers their customer the opportunity of currency exchange for foreign countries, but does not present websites in foreign languages to become a truly global company.