If a retailer is selling the same product lines as e-commerce giants Amazon.com and Walmart, it will be hard to compete. Unique product lines and a custom shopping experience seem to be the way for retailers to thrive in the post e-commerce world. One store that has been successful using these strategies is Crate & Barrel. The Wall Street Journal interviewed Crate & Barrel Chief Executive Neela Montgomery (Crate & Barrel is owned by Otto Group). Here’s what she had to say about unique products.
WSJ: Setting retail prices has become more complex. What is Crate and Barrel doing to appeal to price-focused shoppers?
We have the advantage that 95% of our products are unique to Crate and Barrel. We’ve actually seen customers buy into our more expensive products over the last couple of years. When you offer them something unique in quality or design, they’re willing to pay more. Of course, we remain very competitive on some of our more comparable products, but what we’ve recognized is we really need to focus on differentiation and rewarding loyalty, rather than necessarily trying to outprice somebody else in the market.
Read more here.