Business Insider/Mary Hanbury
Women’s workwear at J. Crew’s Fifth Avenue store, New York.
J.Crew is in trouble.
The company announced Monday that its longtime CEO Mickey Drexler is being replaced. Jenna Lyons, J. Crew’s creative director of 26 years, is also out.
Same-store sales have been down at J. Crew for the past three years; dropping by 8% in 2016, following a 10% decrease the year before, and the company has more than $2 billion in debt and less than $150 million in cash.
We went to check out a store in April to see what it’s like to shop there and find out why the brand is struggling:
We visited J. Crew’s flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue on a Wednesday afternoon In April. The store is blocks away from its major competitors, Zara and H&M.
While J. Crew has seen three straight years of declines in same-store sales, these stores have seen growing sales, luring customers in with cheap prices and constant turnover of fashionable clothing and accessories.
In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, outgoing CEO Mickey Drexler said that the retailer’s biggest mistake over the last few years was that it had raised prices at a time when customers were increasingly cost-conscious.
“We gave a perception of being a higher-priced company than we were — in our catalog, online, and in our general presentation,” Drexler told The Journal. “Very big mistake.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Drexler told the Journal: “We became a little too elitist in our attitude.” J.Crew priced its consumers out of the store.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
On our visit to the store, it’s instantly apparent from outside that J. Crew is trying to fight back and become more competitive on price. A sign in the window reads “No – Brainers. Great Style at Great Prices.”
This “No – Brainer” collection is an attempt to go back to selling basics and more simple clothing after being criticized for alienating core customers with its more outlandish designs.
While the line has been mocked on social media…
J.Crew, you’re gonna have to help me out on the new definition of “no-brainer” here. http://pic.twitter.com/fh1VU3uVe7
— Amy Argetsinger (@AmyArgetsinger) April 25, 2017
The prices do seem more reasonable and, in most cases, the designs are simpler. This “No – Brainer” off-the-shoulder top, for example, is being sold for $59.50.
There’s also a 30% discount on most items including its newest arrivals bringing the price of the top down to $41.65.
But it’s still not enough to keep up with Zara, which is selling a similar looking item (in a different color) for $35.90.
Lyons was criticized for making the brand unaffordable and impractical, Business Insider previously reported.
In 2015, writer Tricia Louvar wrote an open letter to Lyons on The Hairpin, prefacing it with “you are pretty dope,” but stating that, dopeness aside, the clothes J. Crew was selling were unaffordable and not practical. “If only I, an ordinary mother on a modest income, could afford to wear a $400 cashmere skirt, silk barely-there blouse and belt to a one-time business-casual event,” she wrote.
Source: Business Insider
Lyons’ signature geek-chic look is still apparent in the clothing on sale — but these clothes do seem wearable.
However, pricing is still an issue and in some cases, arbitrary. This plain white dress costs $248.
While pants cost a more modest $115. Though it’s still a lot more expensive than Zara, it is on par with its sister brand, Madewell.
Next, we took a look at sportswear. J. Crew partnered with New Balance in October of last year to create a line of athleisure clothing, in hopes of cashing in on one of the only bright spots in retail. But we are shocked by how expensive it is. This pullover is $85.
And a flimsy white tennis dress is $100.
We headed to the sale section to see if there were any bargains. All we found were the remnants of J. Crew’s offbeat designs from last season.
And these clothes hadn’t been reduced by much. This sequined cardigan still cost $79.99.
Upstairs, menswear had a matching line of basic items.
But prices here seemed steep. Chino shorts were $69.50, for example, which is $37 more than an equivalent pair at Uniqlo.
Men’s athletic wear was also expensive with running pants costing around $90 a pair.
But most shocking of all was kidswear. The clothing seems almost as expensive as the adult’s clothing. Girls’ cotton dresses cost around $70.
… which is probably why this section of the store was empty.
We definitely felt there was an improvement in womenswear but overall the prices still felt high across the store.
The bottom line: J. Crew’s new leadership will have to make the store more competitive on prices in order to turn the brand around.
Read more stories on Business Insider, Malaysian edition of the world’s fastest-growing business and technology news website.
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