My daughter, freshly graduated from college and about a month into her first full-time job, loves Marshalls. Marshalls is a department store chain with a very nice selection and great prices. Apparently, she and her friend would shop there every day if they could. They have a little jing in their pocketbooks and for the first time have the flexibility to shop on demand. That’s not to say they buy something every time they’re there but they look around (enjoy the air conditioning) and feel the power of consumerism.
A club?
Stores like Marshalls have been advertising and mailing to my daughter for years. Perhaps it has worked, perhaps not, but why not take advantage of recent graduates new found status by create a tailored marketing plan and in-store experience for them; one that might just make lifelong customers of them. How about taking some of that hundred thousand square feet of retail space and turning it into a college graduate corner. Display clothes, apartment furnishings, some appropriate books, maybe some free coffee and a financial advisor. Put up some PC stations with access to Facebook. Create a Foursquare check in incentive. Cookies? (The kind with raisins.) Celebrate these young ladies as they enter a scary part of their lives. Help them cope. Let them commune. Test it out Marshalls! Peace.