A couple of weeks ago, I was at a Canadian Women in Communications event where JoAnn Langer from Winners was speaking. One of the questions that came up was around research -- how much did they do? Not much, it seems. They've built loyalty with their customer base entirely by being responsive to their customers and adjusting to how people are shopping.
Sarah Casselman interviewed Jenna Lyons of J.Crew in the September issue of Fashion magazine, about the new store opening at Yorkdale, their first in Canada. J.Crew is another strong brand that inspires a lot of customer loyalty and I was surprised to see Ms. Lyons say that they don't do a lot of market research either, preferring a more shopper-responsive approach.
Do both these successful brands feel that research isn't important because being in fashion retail, they are already in the trend business? Perhaps research is happening in different areas of the business, apart from merchandising. Just wondering.
