Influx

As Influx mentioned in June, Wal-Mart’s plans to get serious in fashion look real. The Washington Post has a great story on the company’s new 10-person trend office in Manhattan.

The unit is designed to help Bentonville get hipper in both fashion and household goods. With US store openings slowing down, Wal-Mart is looking to carve out a greater share its customer’s purse and knows it needs to be more contemporary to compete.

The article explores some of the challenges the unit faces.

But as Wal-Mart steps out of its comfort zone, it runs the risk of walking right past its conservative shoppers. A risque new line of T-shirts for the teen and tween set carries sexually suggestive messages such as “My boyfriend is out of town,” “Meet me after school” and the brief but provocative self-description “Easy.”

Watts called Wal-Mart’s uneven product presentation a “real issue.” To fix the problem, the chain has quietly hired 350 “style police” — the official title is fashion merchandiser — who travel from store to store teaching employees how to display trendy new products.

It’s debatable exactly how much influence this small unit can have in a culture that is conservative and anti-trend. The idea of making their private label brands more interesting, is a no-brainer. However, these are brands with little or zero equity and if Wal-Mart is really serious it is going to require an advertising effort of Targetesque stature. This is something that we have yet to see from Wal-Mart.

It will also be interesting to see what they do with brands. Will Wal-Mart look for opportunities with designers? Can more upscale brands now find a home in Wal-Mart?