what real estate pros can learn from dressbarn (?!)
“I love going to private parties because it makes you feel very special.” Real Housewife Gretchen Rossi re: a private party at La Perla
If you watch Real Housewives of Orange County, you saw the ladies modeling $1700 bras and panties during their private party at La Perla.
While that might be an earnest money deposit on a condo in some parts, there’s a deeper relationship between real estate and this pricey private party.
WRELDA members are pioneering marketing to women to the real estate industry. But we can minimize our trial and error (and take a shortcut to high returns-on-investment to learning from what other industries who market to women do right and wrong.
The retail apparel industry has probably invested more time and money into strategizing what works to attract and connect with women cnonsumers than any other. While you might think that clothes and homes are too different for apparel marketing strategies to apply, I beg to differ.
The star of this prime, in-the-field case study of event marketing magnetically attracting women, is – da da da DAAAAA – my Mom!
My mother – an avid and super well-connected clotheshorse
and career shopper – was at the checkout counter at DressBarn when the manager came up and asked her if she would host a private VIP shopping party at the store. {At DressBarn, VIP stands for Very Indulgent Party.}
Of course she would.
The Setup:
* The party was on a Friday night at 7 – management closed the store down 2 hours early for my Mom and her BFFs.
* The store provided invitations and very light refreshments (cookies, punch and coffee).
* My Mom provided the guest list.
* During the party, Mom got 25% off of her purchase, and her friends got 15% off
* 10 women attended – my Mom said she’d have probably been more aggressive about turnout if she was offered more of a discount incentive for an increased number of attendees (she just handed out paper invites to a couple of her Bible study cronies and called a couple of close friends).
The Rundown {i.e, the ROI, i.e., the take!}
* From memory, my Mom calculated that she and her friends spent a little over $2,000 at the party.
* But that doesn’t include the memories and “insider” connection the attendees will always have for the store, which could very well increase their future store visits and spending.
* The store spent no more than $20 on party supplies, and because they held it during normal store hours, spent no more on overhead than they otherwise would have.
* 2 non-party shoppers were turned away during the event. But the opportunity costs were very likely negligible. Chances are almost nil that those two folks would have spent over $200, much less $2,000. Plus, chances are that they’ll come back, so whatever they would have spent was not actually lost! The would-be shoppers who were turned away were so curious and interested in why the store was closed, they might even come back and want to throw their own party!
The Verdict: Brilliant!
I’m sure the store made much more than they would have during those very slow shopping hours (my Mom lives in a town where everyone goes to Friday night high school football games) with virtually no additional overhead.
This event demonstrates a number of the truths about marketing to women that are explored in the WRELDA curriculum, including the CR OPing phenomenon (which explains why word-of-mouth is essential in the smart woman demographic), why event marketing done well has an explosively high ROI, and more.
Have you ever been invited to a VIP or private event by a brand or vendor? Have you thrown one? What were your observations?
