Spiegel Takes Fashion Forward

“The great thing about this from a merchandising point of view is we don’t have to worry about selling $99 blazers to make our customers happy. We can sell a great jacket that costs a little more but that women can wear with almost anything, so it’s well worth it to them.”

Spiegel’s merchandisers focused a lot on finding the right balance in the company’s product lines: a balance of daily needs vs. aspiration. As Payner explains it, Spiegel learned that, to entice people to buy, the clothing and home furnishings have to be stylish and a little trendy, but not “over the top.”