Showroom Promotion Spurs Traffic

The June market in Los Angeles is typically slower than the larger markets in April and November, but a group of showrooms on the third floor of the California Mart have launched a floor-wide promotion to bring buyers to the floor—and keep them shopping there.

It began as a C-side-only promotion on the third floor of the Cal Mart during the June market last year and has blossomed into a floor-wide promotion with daily cash prizes, successfully stimulating buyer interest and traffic.

Bea Gorman, one of the organizers of the promotion and rep for the Tess showroom, said that while everyone seemed to be down about market being slow, the showrooms on the third floor decided to be proactive, creating a promotion to generate interest in its apparel.

“We wanted to do something exciting for our customers,” she said. “Each time they would visit a showroom, we gave them a slip. Our goal was to have them find everything they needed on the third floor.”

Everything the buyers need is a “mixture of contemporary, missy and bridge at all price points,” according to Margaret Cox of Margaret Cox & Associates.

“Our mantra is ’contemporary missy,’ which is a contemporary look that a woman with a baby or two can wear,” she said, adding “It can still fit a body up to size twelve.”

The promotion was C-side only last year, but after a meeting hosted by the Cal Mart, “the idea spread over the A, B, and C wings,” said Gorman. “We ended up with 95 percent participation overall.”

Gorman also said that the promotion involved nearly the entire floor and made the showrooms closer as neighbors. Gorman said the group would like to see a promotion involving the entire Cal Mart.

“We thought this would be a precedent to get other floors involved,” she said. “The customers liked it.” —Darryl James