Wearing the Pants

Don’t jump to any conclusions here. This is not about another retailer invading DME space. This is about learning from one of the most experienced and most successful merchants in modern history.

Prior to Fall 2008, there were probably a lot of Americans who didn’t know the brand, but when the news media started reporting on what Michelle Obama was wearing, we all heard of J. Crew. Months after becoming the first lady, the media continues to report that Michelle wore J. Crew to her meetings with the Queen of England and other dignitaries.

Mickey Drexler has been the CEO of J. Crew since 2003. But in his four years at the helm, Mr. Drexler has succeeded where a string of CEOs before him failed. Drexler is also the man who made Gap a ubiquitous brand.

CBS’ “Sunday Morning” recently aired an interview with Drexler, and it caught my attention. He shared that his experience really started as a child working with his father in the family’s small fashion business in The Bronx in New York City. He also shared his principles of building a successful retail business.

For the many DME providers who are either considering or building retail operations as a way to insulate their businesses from the woes of competitive bidding, incessant reimbursement cuts, and costly regulatory changes, Mickey Drexler’s comments are a gold mine.

At the top of Drexler’s assortment of aphorisms was “vision.” What is the brand to become? Based on his comment, it seems DME providers should be careful to build retail operations that are much more than a reaction to the current business environment.

He went on to speak of the “focus” that management must give to realizing the vision, being careful to put all of the right elements in place.

Creativity was another among Drexler’s fundamentals of building a strong retail business. He said that management must allow its employees to be creative. When he spoke of attention to detail, he recalled that J. Crew’s line of formal wear and wedding dresses came about because of a comment from a call-center operator who noted that bridesmaids were buying cotton dresses.

“Respecting your customer” is a different way to state “understanding your customer,” Drexler said. In his explanation, he said “Know what your customer is thinking.” That seems to be a much deeper understanding of the customer than we typically think of. Since Drexler’s success rate in picking the right merchandise is far better than most, that’s a strong support for the concept.

CBS showed what the CEO office looked like on Drexler’s arrival at J. Crew compared to what it is now. He moved his office to an open space among a bullpen of associates. He believes in having “less barriers in the office” and being hands-on. He is somewhat renowned for his use of a public address system to communicate with employees.

One clip showed Drexler visiting a J. Crew store and telling the manager that the merchandise people see on their first visit determines how they will think of the store thereafter. He went on to explain that each store should have a list of essential products. These are what the store becomes known for. In his stores, that list is about 20 items. The emphasis is on the products that establish the store’s first impression and its identity.

After watching the interview I wanted to know more about this man and his wisdom, so I Googled him. One interesting finding was a 2007 story from Time magazine that provided a couple more insights worth including in retail DME operations.

Growing smartly instead of quickly is what the article said consumes Drexler. “We don’t want to be bigger faster, we want to be better faster,” he told a group of Wall Street analysts. In my look at Drexler’s history at Gap, growing smartly seems to be a lesson he learned the hard way.

There is one final thought that seems timely for the DME industry as we enter the era of competitive bidding. That is that J. Crew is “avoiding the race to the bottom by refusing to woo price-conscious consumers and sell ever-cheaper clothes made with ever-cheaper labor — a trend driven by discounters like Wal-Mart and Kohl’s that has rippled to specialty shops.”

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Wallace Weeks is founder and president of Weeks Group Inc., a Melbourne, Fla.-based strategy consulting firm. You can reach him at 321/752-4514 or [email protected].