Orvis is no Ugly American

When companies enter an overseas market, they're sometimes guilty of a cultural arrogance. One could argue that with its new LittlewoodsEurope.com website, Shop Direct commits that crime: Although the site targets consumers in France, Germany, Portugal, and Spain, the copy is almost exclusively in English.

And back in 2003, the then-chief of Spiegel, an American catalogue owned by Germany's Otto Group, told the magazine I edited at the time, “We'll keep the 'big book' going because according to our research in Europe — although we've not researched it here in the US — people use big books for planning and what they may buy in the next couple of months.” Maybe if Otto had done some research in the US, it would have found that by and large Americans viewed big-book catalogues as fusty, and Otto wouldn't have had to sell the Spiegel business.

So it's nice to see that latest Orvis Women's Clothing catalogue steers clear of any such arrogance. Orvis is an American cataloguer/retailer of outdoor gear and apparel, founded in 1856; it's been doing business in the UK for 27 years. In his president's letter, CEO Perk Perkins includes a paragraph especially for the UK market: "Our UK business holds a special place in my heart, since I was there when we opened our doors in 1982. Since then, our business has grown steadily--today we have 23 retail stores, more than 50 stockists, an award-winning website, orvis.co.uk, and we post more than 15 catalogue titles annually." To emphasise his appreciation of his British customers, he uses British verbiage ("stockists", "post") and spelling ("catalogue"). (Granted, the letter would have been more effective if placed on page 2 than tucked away as it is on page 6, but nobody's perfect.)

Another nice acknowledgement of British mores: On the catalogue request form on the UK site, the options for "title" include ""Dame", "Honourable", "Lady", and "Sir", none of which are applicable in the States.

Sure, these are little details. But as we all know, retail is detail, on both sides of the Atlantic.--SC

Bonprix's US reentry

The acquisition by Otto Group’s Bonprix division of US women's fashion manufacturer/marketer Venus Swimwear makes a certain amount of sense. The largest global direct seller, Otto’s presence in the largest global market is limited to its ownership of home furnishings cataloguer/retailer Crate & Barrel and its CB2 spin-off. And because Otto bought Venus out of receivership--which it fell into in May after its primary lender unexpectedly pulled its financing—it no doubt managed to strike a good bargain.

What doesn’t make sense, though, is that Bonprix, and not another Otto unit, is the buyer. As its name suggests, Bonprix is a value brand. On its UK website you can buy a women’s swimsuit for as little as £4.90, although most fall in the £10-£20 range. On the Venus website, most of the one-piece suits cost $69-$89 (£42-£55), and the brand’s emphasis was always on being fashion-forward, with an especial appeal to younger women. In terms of branding, I’d think that other Otto titles, such as Apart or 3 Suisses, would be a better fit with Venus.

Perhaps Otto thinks that it can use Venus as a platform to relaunch Bonprix in the States. Bonprix had mailed a catalogue in the late 1990s-early 2000s, but it never caught on in the US. Now that the recession shows little signs of relenting in the States, Otto may have decided that now is a better time to introduce a value brand there. The acquisition of Venus, then, would be less a matter of brand synergies and more an instance of back-end synergies.--SC