Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

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storewanderer
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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: April 24th, 2019, 10:10 pm I went into my local Fred Meyer tonight (which just completed a major remodel) and noticed that the Dip line is prominently displayed. However, I did notice that certain other areas of apparel have been scaled back. Across the board, they have gotten rid of a lot of big & tall sizes. I noticed that the Carhartt and Dickies work clothing still available is not offered in anything above a 2XL, and selection on Levi's and Lee jeans is much more limited. The limited selection could simply be due to the apparel department downsizing during the remodel, but it doesn't seem like the best idea to not offer larger sizes. I also noticed a general lack of customers making me wonder if this line is even having an impact. While I can't speak for the Kroger Marketplace stores with apparel, I will say that Fred Meyer is known to carry some name brand apparel. If you mess with the formula too much it will send people away.
My observation in a couple Fred Meyer Stores a couple weeks ago was this new Dip clothing program is a complete dog. It is not selling. They did seem to still have quite a bit of space dedicated to other brands of clothing and Dip nowhere in sight if you were shopping those areas of the clothing departments. Overall clothing was overstocked, clearance pricing seemed on the weak side, and the Dip items appear to be of poor quality (very thin materials) and perhaps better suited for a place like Arizona than the Pacific Northwest.

Fred Meyer was always known to have a better than average assortment of large size clothing, wide size athletic shoes, etc. As you point out it is not a good idea to mess with a long-term formula that has built up a customer base over the years. But lately it seems Kroger is willing to throw everything out the window to help support their "digital efforts." Actually a better integrated Kroger would cut these SKUs in store but then still offer the hard to find larger sizes online to at least pick up a little business that way. Yet they aren't doing that. Why not? Their digital efforts are just not good. Lots of talk, poor results. Money pit.
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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
My observation in a couple Fred Meyer Stores a couple weeks ago was this new Dip clothing program is a complete dog. It is not selling. They did seem to still have quite a bit of space dedicated to other brands of clothing and Dip nowhere in sight if you were shopping those areas of the clothing departments. Overall clothing was overstocked, clearance pricing seemed on the weak side, and the Dip items appear to be of poor quality (very thin materials) and perhaps better suited for a place like Arizona than the Pacific Northwest.

Fred Meyer was always known to have a better than average assortment of large size clothing, wide size athletic shoes, etc. As you point out it is not a good idea to mess with a long-term formula that has built up a customer base over the years. But lately it seems Kroger is willing to throw everything out the window to help support their "digital efforts." Actually a better integrated Kroger would cut these SKUs in store but then still offer the hard to find larger sizes online to at least pick up a little business that way. Yet they aren't doing that. Why not? Their digital efforts are just not good. Lots of talk, poor results. Money pit.
Fred Meyer needs a good private label clothing line to get people in the door. Dip is not the right fit for Fred Meyer. The general merchandise side as a whole seems to be struggling, and a weak apparel department does not help things. They are forgetting the fact that people who visit physical stores are looking for selection, and until recently, they had a decent selection. Poor selection only helps the likes of Amazon when a store's website isn't very well-known, or until recently, didn't even offer nonfood items. I took a look at the Fred Meyer Direct website, and while some big & tall sizes are there, certain brands like Carhartt aren't even listed. I used to buy Carhartt shirts at Fred Meyer because of not only convenience, and the fact they had larger sizes, but the prices were good especially when there was a sale. I have shifted this to local retailers, however, they aren't as convenient with stores closing as early as 6PM. This is just one example, they could end up losing similar sales in other apparel categories until reaching a point that sales get low enough that apparel gets removed altogether. Not to mention other departments....
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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by Super S »

I visited another Fred Meyer in Vancouver (Orchards) yesterday which completed a remodel fairly recently. I noticed the same thing going on with their apparel department (which was not downsized at this location) Carhartt had a larger area but sizes were still limited. It appears Fred Meyer is getting out of Big & Tall sizes. I also noticed a lot of Nike products like socks were on clearance for 50% off. I also noticed a much smaller selection of Lee and Levi's jeans. It appears that the apparel departments are shifting toward limited size ranges and less expensive items. The lower prices will draw some people in but the limited sizes are going to offset the lower prices when people can't find the sizes they want.

I am curious how things are shifting at the stores around Portland that are keeping some apparel items locked up now.
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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by babs »

Fred Meyer has been struggling with clothing for years, especially in the more urban stores. The rural stores that have less nearby competition did much better. The info I have from others is that the department hasn't made money in years. They had to try something. Dip may or may not be the solution but keeping things the same wasn't the answer.

I actually expect them at some point to drop clothing and take it down to a more simple line of basic such as T-shirts, jeans, and socks/underwear.
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Re: Kroger: new clothing line: "Dip"

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: May 8th, 2019, 10:39 am Fred Meyer has been struggling with clothing for years, especially in the more urban stores. The rural stores that have less nearby competition did much better. The info I have from others is that the department hasn't made money in years. They had to try something. Dip may or may not be the solution but keeping things the same wasn't the answer.

I actually expect them at some point to drop clothing and take it down to a more simple line of basic such as T-shirts, jeans, and socks/underwear.
I think the sad reality here is the general merchandise side of Fred Meyer is failing. It was propped up for years by very strong grocery results and the foot traffic from those very strong grocery results helped keep at least some sales of general merchandise happening.

But as time has gone on, and the business has gotten more and more difficult and we have seen numerous general merchandise formats close, and more and more sales moved online, the Fred Meyer general merchandise side has kept losing track.

Properly managed, this would not have happened. Properly managed, Fred Meyer would have been selling its full array of general merchandise online in the early 2000's and there were a ton of cross marketing opportunities to existing Kroger customers that could have taken place before Amazon captured so much business.

I don't think Kroger is really in a position to "fix" general merchandise at Fred Meyer. First, it would take money. And they are too interested to blow money on all their online initiatives. Second, it is questionable if it would even work with where online sales have gone today. Of course had Fred Meyer been selling online years ago, I do believe they could have established a strong foothold to existing Kroger customers and been a serious threat to Wal Mart and Amazon. But, that did not happen for whatever reason. Probably Kroger holding them back even then not wanting to try something so risky at that time. Third, too much talent that knew the format has long retired and at this point the deep talent in Kroger is grocery people who know grocery and know it very very well, but it is a different business model than general merchandise.
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