Professor: Brent Barr
Student: Jaspreet Banwait
Student Number: 500351380
Due Date: April,3,2012
Course: RMG 200
Table of Contents
Title Page……………………………………………………………………………….….1
Table of Contents………………………………………………………….…………..2
History of Harry Rosen and Objective………………………….…………….3
Theory 1……………………………………………………………………….…….……..3
Potential Gap at Harry Rosen……………………………………….…………….4
How To Address The Gap and Expected Outcome………………….....6
Theory 2…………………………………………………………………………………….6
Potential Gap at Harry Rosen (2)………………………………………………..7
How To Address The Gap and Expected Outcome……………………..7
Exhibits………………………………………………………………………………………9
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………11

History of Harry Rosen and It’s Objective
Harry Rosen has been recognized as one of Canada's most creative and innovative retailers. Harry Rosen is in the business of assisting men develop a confident, personal image, in all aspects of their life – any day, anytime and any occasion. That’s achieved by offering the ultimate in high quality apparel, expertise, selection and unparalleled service. The objective of the company and their mission is “To Exceed Each Customer’s Expectations” and “to thrive and grow by inspiring a sense of personal style among men of distinction”. The company first started in 1954 where a small shop was opened on Parliament Street in Toronto’s Cabbagetown, with only a down payment of $500. The store was operated by Harry Rosen himself and his brother Lou. The reason they established such a successful business was because they had clothing that people could not find anywhere else in Toronto. Customers began to tell others and the company began to benefit from word-of-mouth referrals. By 1961, their customer list had outgrown their capacity and moved to larger premises on Richmond Street in Toronto’s Financial District. In 1981 first store was opened beyond our home base in West Edmonton Mall. Cross Canada growth continues over the following seven years as locations open in Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Quebec City and Winnipeg. Today.
Theory 1 Merchandise presentation techniques are an important part of retailing, as retailers need to effectively present merchandise to the customer. Merchandise presentation techniques are also important because a retailer will not be successful unless it portrays its customers a visual image of its merchandise in a proper and etiquette manner. A visual image can be portrayed through many methods such as an Idea-Oriented Presentation, Style/Item Presentation, Color Presentation, Price Lining, Vertical Merchandising, Tonnage Merchandising, Frontal Presentation and Fixtures. Idea-Oriented Presentation is “a method of presenting merchandise based on a specific idea or the image of the store”. Style/Item Presentation is one of the most commonly used techniques as merchandise is organized by its style or item. Color Presentation is an important and is also one of the more commonly used techniques as merchandise is color blocked and having a customer friendly environment makes shopping that much more comfortable when customers are surrounded by variety of colors. Price Lining is a technique that organizes its merchandise in terms of price, in which customers can find merchandise for the price they want to pay. Vertical Merchandising is “A method whereby merchandise is organized to follow the eye’s natural up-and-down movement”. Tonnage Merchandise is “A display technique in which large quantities of merchandise are displayed together”. Frontal Presentation is a method that is used by a retailer to expose a product as much as possible for a customer to catch onto it. Fixtures are the last method in which they efficiently hold and display merchandise. There are 4 different types of fixtures Straight racks, Rounder, Four-way and Gondola.
Potential Gap At Harry Rosen
Frontal Presentation is a technique Harry Rosen uses in which mannequins are used to display its style and items to its customers as it gives them a visual image of how the apparel would look on an individual. Mannequins are used by this retailer to expose as much of the product as possible. Harry Rosen thrives in presenting its customers with a visual image that they can be confident in regardless of the occasion. When customers come in and see how the mannequins are dressed, it automatically sparks different ideas in their mind in terms of how they want to be dressed. However, the problem with the mannequins at Harry Rosen is that it is not changed on regular basis and is changed close to every 2 months. That is a problem because customers want new ideas; they want to be shown a new outfit that they might have never thought of, different colors, different combinations. When the mannequins are not changed on regular basis, it also tells the customers that there is no new merchandise in the store, thus making it difficult for the associates in selling the merchandise, as customers don’t want to buy merchandise that is not in fashion or season for that matter. As this trend continues, it would lead to customers being dissatisfied and possibly loss of customers to competition. Having Mannequins is a must in retail, but knowing where to position and place those mannequins is also a must. The whole purpose of Mannequins is to attract the customer's eye and place it in such way where it is visible to customers at all times. Harry Rosen's mannequins are placed in such manner where it is not visible to anyone from the outside, thus making it less attractive for someone who doesn’t know what Harry Rosen is, and what kind of merchandise is in the store. Harry Rosen puts most of its focus on dressing up the mannequins with suits more than anything. While Harry Rosen main focus is selling suits, they tend to forget that they carry casual wear also. This makes it tough for the associates to sell Casual wear to their customers as there are rarely any visual image of how someone would look in an casual Harry Rosen attire.
How To Address The Gap and Expected Outcome
Harry Rosen should address the gap by providing maybe an extra assistance to whoever the visual merchandiser is so as to he/she can change the mannequins on weekly basis. In addition to this mannequins need to be placed not only at the back of the store where the focus is on suits but also needs to be put near the entrance for those who do not shop at Harry Rosen and set up mannequins for casual wear in which the company tends to focus less on. Once the mannequins are changed on regular basis, the outcome will result in even bigger sales numbers as every week new merchandise is being displayed thus catching the eye of customers who probably might have never envisioned themselves in such an outfit.
Theory 2
Unique Merchandising is a technique used by retailers to have a sustainable competitive advantage over their competitors. Retailers know that competitors can sell the same merchandise and same brands as the retailer potentially sell it for less, therefore to gain a competitive advantage retailers develop Private-Label Brands, which are “products developed and marketed by a retailer and only available for sale by that retailer. Also called store brands.” These private brands can attract customers as they are sold for a cheaper price because the income for private-label brands goes straight to the company as opposed to selling other national brands where only a percentage of sales in dollar value is received. According to stats one of every 5 items sold is a store branded item.
Potential Gap At Harry Rosen
Harry Rosen from the start has been a distributor in retail delivering designer brands from all over the world. However, it was recently that they decide to produce their own label "Harry Rosen." It is difficult to market and sell something to someone when a label is introduced as it is, but it makes it that much more difficult when the prices are really high as well. Not only are the private label harry Rosen brand are expensive, they are often merchandised in such a way that it doesn’t really attract customers. They are merchandised on its own, in a corner spot more often than not, and that itself kills any chance for customer being attracted to it. One other thing that makes the private label hard to sell is the fact that its not visually displayed. The purpose of mannequins is to make the hard to sell stuff look appealing so they can be sold. Instead at Harry Rosen, the mannequins are dressed with all the good outfits which would sell on its own regardless of whether it is on the mannequin or not. When its not visually displayed, it makes it difficult for customers to see how the apparel would look from some one else's view. The harry Rosen label hasn't succeeded much when it comes to selling, so might as well change how you would present the label to the customers, and the best to way to make it appealing to the customers is by dressing them up on the mannequins. Only then you can catch the attention of the buyers.
How To Address The Gap and Expected Outcome
There are many ways for Harry Rosen to improve the selling of its private label brand and they are: First and foremost obviously would be to display it on the mannequins. Maybe have a separate mannequin dressed in all Harry Rosen attire. In Retail, a lot has to do with how merchandise is positioned and where its positioned that determines how high in demand that merchandise is. As a retail manager you would want to balance the floor out where there would be equal chance of selling everything. Maybe the private harry Rosen label should be scattered around the stores into different sections. Also, one thing I have noticed with the private label brand is the fact that the prices on them are so high that it becomes a daunting task in trying to persuade a customer in buying the merchandise simply because it is a brand with no logo, no identity, or reputation. We live in a label oriented society. So as a company Harry Rosen, should compare the prices and put the prices on its private label low to start off, and see what kind of reaction it gets from the consumers. Once the demand for the brand increases, then the prices can be bumped up but to have the prices that high while trying to create a reputation doesn't necessarily make sense. I believe that once these steps that I have mentioned above are taken, the sales on Harry Rosen private label would increase drastically, because the main thing a label should do first is to build a relationship with its consumers and the only way to make that relationship is being price friendly, making it more visually appealing and constantly coming up with new ideas, and fashion trends and creating magazines. In the beginning, dropping the prices might make Harry Rosen suffer, but Harry Rosen is also successful enough to be able to take a loss on a profit of a label for the long term.

Exhibits Merchandise Presentation Techniques

Mannequins at the back of the store focusing on suits and sports jackets

Clothing and clothing accessories stores | 23,846.8 | 23,973.6 | 23,211.9 | 24,806.2 | 25,751.0 | Clothing stores | 18,510.9 | 18,638.0 | 18,050.2 | 19,315.5 | 20,038.9 | Shoe stores | 2,753.0 | 2,742.1 | 2,751.4 | 2,847.7 | 2,896.4 | Jewellery, luggage and leather goods stores | 2,582.8 | 2,593.5 | 2,410.4 | 2,643.0 | 2,815.8 |
Retail Trade by Industry for 2007-2011 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

As seen in this table clothing stores are the leading retail industry as opposed to shoe stores or jewellery, luggage and leather goods stores and over the years that has kept increasing except between 2008 and 2009 because of the recession.

Harry Rosen itself generates over $200 million in annual sales, which accounts for 30 percent of all sales of high-end menswear in Canada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY5RfhqPPSU
That’s a youtube link to additional information about Harry Rosen and hear the CEO talk about the company and their objectives/mission

Bibliography
Harry Rosen | Shop Online in Canada for Designer Fashion & Mens Suits. (n.d.). Harry Rosen | Shop Online in Canada for Designer Fashion & Mens Suits. Retrieved April 3, 2012, from http://www.harryrosen.com/eng/about

Summary Tables. (n.d.). Summary Tables. Retrieved April 3, 2012, from http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/trad15a-eng.htm

Levy, M. (2011). Retailing management (3rd Canadian ed.). Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.

Most of the information that came from this assignment is from my personal experience as a supervisor and team leader for Harry Rosen.