Dear Management
I was disappointed to read the announcement on Friday 19th May re the sales downturn. Yes, retailers are doing it tough across the board, BUT here is a comment from someone ( my wife) who has been a loyal Black Pepper buyer and avid shopper for many years. I mentioned today to her the about the announcement. She said it does not surprise her. She has gone off buying Black Pepper in the past 12 months because the design/fit of the clothing seems to have shifted away from targetting the over 40's or so to a now younger group with obviously more petiteness to their body build. For instance, she says the legs of trousers now taper down so much there are hard to get on, and are clingy, and on more elderly women look a bit silly, and the waist line of trousers has gone more "hipster" which means for over 50's like us ( with a little more body weight) the fit of the clothing is just not right any longer. These might seem trivial things, but she was loyal for many years ( and still would like to buy Black Pepper) but has now changed to other brands out of frustration. Maybe many others are doing the same. She feels the designers need to be more aware of the age group the clothes are for, and Black Pepper has traditionally been favoured by the "not so young' anymore. Has the clothing design team changed in the past 12 - 18months months or so, because she feels this is when the style started to change? The clothing demographics are shifting yet further to the older aged bracket, not the 20's something. Management need to take notice of what their target customer's want/need and feel comfortable in, and actively canvass customers to keep ahead of the game or at least keep on track. Yes competitive pricing is important up to a point, but if the style is no longer catering to the demographic target groups, sales will only go one way. The wife says if BP gets back to making clothes with designs that an over 50's feels comfortable in, she will be back buying without hesitation.
PGR Price at posting:
58.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
