Retailers as Brands Major retailers of the past were usually sellers of other firm’s brands.

Grocery chains sold brands of products from Procter & Gamble and Kraft. Department stores sold fashion brands ranging from Levi’s to Tommy Hilfiger. Hardware stores sold Stanley tools and Kohler plumbing fixtures. That’s changing. To be culturally relevant today, the goal for retailers is to be not just a seller of branded products, but to be the brand in the minds of consumers. This is fueled partly by the fact that an increasing proportion of sales and margins is derived from store brands (”private brands”) at most retail chains.

More important, in an era of too many retailers chasing too few consumers, it’s fueled by the need to be positioned in consumers’ minds as the place that delivers the satisfaction of a Stones or KISS concert. It may not matter to consumers whether that satisfaction is derived from manufacturers’ brands, the store’s brands, or the right combination of both. In consumers’ minds, it’s the total experience that creates a retailer’s brand. Are the right products in stock? Are prices in the expected range? Are personnel knowledgeable and friendly? Do the location, atmospherics, and in store logistics invite consumers to the store, delighting them so well that they return and tell their friends? Some retail brands are succeeding, none so well as Wal Mart, as you’ll see in Chapter 4. No retailer has had faster growth in sales recently than Florida based Chico’s, the boomer oriented retailing champion in ability to relate to consumer lifestyles. Kohl’s, Container Store, and 99 cent stores are other big winners in understanding changing lifestyles and relating to them.