Celebrating Value

In recent years, we've seen a great increase and emphasis on brands that facilitate "masstige," a kind of accessible status.  As both marketers and consumers, we recognize that much of our lives are aspirational--some young girls start reading Seventeen as early as 11 years old, and many driving enthusiasts learn all they can about Aston Martin so as to feel as though they intimately know the car without having actually owned or driven one themselves. When we can't DO or OWN, we imagine and aspire.

Think about a few things you've splurged on--maybe a Coach purse or a great Ralph Lauren sports coat. These brands elicit a certain amount of status, but almost anyone can feasibly purchase these items with a little thought towards saving.  Brands like Coach, RL, Grey Goose, W Hotels, Anthropologie, and even Gourmet magazine are all part of the masstige market. Manolo and Jimmy Choo shoes are imitated by Nine West and Michael Kors to bring status to the relative masses. Having seen the success of these brands, this same idea began to trickle down to value stores. 

Target has long been the "upscale" value store--they've told their consumers to "expect more" and delivered on that promise with an emphasis on design. For many years, this has served them well. But the recent recession has really taken Target down a notch. Despite putting out new ads that focus on the "Pay less" part of their slogan, defensive couponing, and price gouging, Target reported massive fourth quarter losses, down about 41%.

Walmart, on the other hand, which has always stood for value and nothing but the best price, has defied the recession, citing strong Q4 growth in packaged media, flat-screen TVs, and video game systems. By growing their Blue-Ray section and leveraging their entertainment exclusives, Walmart is able to keep their brand essence of value for everyday Walmart shoppers and provide the impetus for Target shoppers to try something at Walmart that they might not get currently. While still ultimately down 7.5% in Q4, Walmart reported 2.8% increase in quarterly same-store sales and a year-end net revenue increase of 7.2%. 

So what we can other brands learn from this?

- See what's performing strongly and leverage the hell out of it! Once you've got them interacting with your brand, they'll recognize your other efforts to provide value. And remember, high quality goods aren't out of the question; consumers still desire great products--you just have to provide them in the context of value.

-  Take a leaf out of Walmart's book and act on the offensive: instead of releasing "$10 off your $50 electronics purchase" coupons that exclude most any brand you'd want to buy (Target, I'm looking at you), sell me on a product or category I can't resist, and make it affordable.

- Even if you price gouge, Coach will still stand for quality purses and Target will still be upscale, design-infused value--pre-emptively mitigate competitor poaching by finding what you can offer at an everyday value price that is unique to your brand.