Baby Boomer Women Sacrificing Selves This Retail Season

Certainly the decrease in apparel sales have given retailers plenty of reason to notice their favorite customer is all but non-existent. The specialty retailers who target Baby Boomer women are seeing terrible sales results as the female consumer does what they naturally do best: look after the family first.

Take a look at Chico’s FAS, a chain of clothing stores focusing on Baby Boomer women. Chico’s is reporting a drop in their third quarter earnings this year. Last year this time Chico’s had earned $23 million, this year they’ve only seen $2 million in earnings. This happened even though they cut back on their marketing budget for this quarter.

The company knows that our unhealthy economy along with declining consumer confidence has definitely attributed to the loss in earnings. To put it briefly, Baby Boomer women are not spending money on specialty items and Chico’s FAS is suffering from that sacrificial decision. However, like anything cyclical, Chico’s believes the economy will rebound and when it does, they will be there to service their lost Baby Boomer market.

Another specialty retailer that targets Baby Boomer women is Talbots, the retailer that carries career oriented clothing. Their total sales fell to $357 million compared to $414 million from one year ago. Yet they appear to be trending downward, the last 13-week period shows sales declining 13.9% from their favorite customers: Baby Boomer women. Talbots third quarter loss was $14.8 million compared to $0.9 million last year this time.

Given the weak outlook, "we expect the environment to remain difficult and volatile for the balance of this year," the Massachusetts based specialty retailer says, adding that it will not comment on the fourth-quarter outlook.

Another Baby Boomer women specialty chain, Coldwater Creek actually posted a gain. The casual clothing chain, which targets older women, reported a $1.3 million loss compared to a $6.2 million loss one year ago. Company representatives believe their improved results were partly attributed to a cut in their marketing budget. Baby Boomer women don’t really make up their core customer, so Coldwater Creek doesn’t appear to be as affected by the economic downturn as some of their retail counterparts.

Whatever the reason, one thing is for certain, in times of economic stress, Baby Boomer women turn inward to purchases of necessity. Certain luxury items of the past are now put on hold as the pure survival of the family unit is given priority. History shows women are more likely to spend every available dollar at Wal-Mart, than at a Talbots; proving that women will sacrifice themselves at the retail level and spend more on their families and children.