October 6, 2008
Retailing Politics
By Tom Ryan
While much of the country is captivated by the presidential election, you’d never know from the floors of American’s retailers. Not that there’s a lack of merchandise out there. But it can largely only be found at Urban Outfitters, quirky independent shops and online sites, and from street hawkers.
The hottest item appears to be the Barack Obama T-shirt, which has emerged as “a definitive statement of youthful, progressive cool,” according to an article in The Associated Press. Young voters as well as professionals who embraced the Democrat’s campaign “are slipping into Obamawear to make a statement as much about their political leanings as their hipness.”
Urban Outfitters’ website features five different T-shirts, a hoodie, an action figure, a talking bobble head and a stencil of the democratic nominee.
Brian Kirwin, who advises would-be lawmakers on their image, said Senator Obama has clearly crossed over into pop culture.
“I’ve seen candidates give away T-shirts for their campaign,” Mr. Kirwin told The Associated Press. “I’ve never seen (consumers) from the bottom up latch on.”
What’s also driving the popularity of Obama T-shirts is social networking sites like MySpace, where users are marketing their T-shirt designs; as well as websites such as Zazzle and CafePress that encourage people to create T-shirt designs.
Outside the Obamamania craze among the mostly young, candidate books are being sold and Obama, McCain and Palin masks will be big Halloween sellers. But most retailers aren’t selling any merchandise around the election. If any, it’s small non-partisan efforts or more about marketing. Here are a few:
Starting Oct. 23 through Nov. 4, Gap will be selling “Vote for __” T-shirts,
encouraging buyers to fill in the blank;- Target is selling “Vote”-themed juniors
T-shirts; - Nordstrom is selling “My Dog for President” shirts from Juicy Couture
for pooches; - Whole Food’s downtown location in Manhattan is selling a Hop
Obama craft brew; - The Southern California bakery Mrs. Beasley’s has come out
with Obama and McCain cookies and cupcakes; - Baskin-Robbins is asking consumers
to vote for president by selecting two new flavors: Straight Talk Crunch
(John McCain) and Whirl of Change (Barack Obama). Results will be posted
online about two weeks before Election Day; 
For the third straight election
year, 7-Eleven coffee drinkers are picking red cups to vote Republican and
blue cups to vote Democrat with daily results posted online by state. At
press time, Senator Obama was leading Senator McCain nationwide, 57 percent
to 43 percent.
Discussion Questions: Can (or should) retailers be doing more to capitalize on the mania around the president election?
[Author’s commentary] Illustrating the risks of playing with politics, Walgreens just pulled candidate dolls that sang songs and recited messages parodying themselves after customer complaints. The Obama doll was sold in a box that proclaimed, “The senator from Illinois gets down and funky!” The Clinton figure referred to itself as a “broad” in a song parody.
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The question was not whether or not a retailer should push a politician, it was whether or not they should capitalize on the election. Small window of time? Sorry, this has been the longest election process in history!
Inventory? Carry both candidates, t-shirts and treat the inventory as seasonal. There are many ways to manage that by gathering and accurately using point of sale data. Marry the POS data with recent Gallup poll information by county and DMA, stock accordingly and it could be very profitable for retailers.
I visited my daughter at college for parents, weekend this past week and saw at least a dozen kids wearing Obama shirts. There were even a few McCain shirts out there. Why should television be the only industry to make money on this campaigns? Let’s feed our industry too!
I think it’s tough and risky for most “mainstream” retailers to appear partisan toward one side or the other. It’s one thing for Urban Outfitters, which is probably aware that its target customer overwhelmingly favors Obama…it would be another thing entirely for stores like Kohl’s, Penney and others to go near this. However, if history is a guide, Presidential elections are usually great times to sell flag and “vote” lapel pins and so on.
A retailer’s particular political position supported through the merchandise they offer can potentially result in the loss of some customers. However, if a retailer is fair in its representation of merchandise in support of both major parties, it can turn out to be a big win for retailers in this politically charged year. Tasteful, yet creative merchandise can help to offset the slow movement in other categories in this economically challenging year.
For mainstream retailers, the question is; are 50% of your customers worth the short term sale of a t-shirt?
Retailers could encourage their customers to vote. However, even playing that straight is a challenge.
The best action is to listen to what Mom told you.
Trying to capitalize on an election is simply not good merchandising. At a time when everyone is trying to get control of their inventory, what are you going to do with all this stuff 30 days from now when the election is relegated to the history books?
An election is simply too narrow a window. It doesn’t create big profits, just big inventory leftovers no matter who wins. Have said that, the T-shirts from both sides of the aisle are great for polishing your car.
Retailers sell brand products and politicians like McCain, Palin, Clinton and especially Obama are essentially brands that appeal to certain consumers. Capitalizing on the upcoming election by selling politician brand product seems a smart move for merchants.
The larger question for merchants is whether the politician’s values align with corporate values, i.e., merchants must decide whether they’ll sit on the fence and sell all brands across all major political parties or whether they’ll choose a side by selling only certain politician brands. In the latter case, retailers need to be ready to weather any controversy. And retailers like 7-Eleven and Baskin-Robbins prove merchants can join in but do it in a fun way while remaining above the partisan fray.
One thing merchants need to keep in mind is that it’s sometimes easier for specialty merchants to choose sides because they often represent a specific consumer lifestyle. The retail brand and the politician brand are each part of that core consumer’s identity and customers proudly wear their chosen brands. For other merchants selling to consumers across multiple lifestyles, it’s probably best to be as nonpartisan as possible and allow the politicians to state their case outside the store.
Capitalizing on the election is risky business for retailers if in any way the distribution or in-stocks reflect partisanship, intentional or not.
People by nature are political animals. Politics creates avid fans just as do football and other competitive sports. And fans want to win. This arouses emotions, at least sometimes, to a high pitch. Fans not only want their folks to win but for the other folks to lose. So they are willing to do many things to support their emotions including wearing political garments.
This situation develops fertile sales grounds for politically-related merchandise. So retailers should go after those sales. But then the paradox of caution appears. Politics can cause hard feelings among many consumers which can carry over in to the political manifestations in wearing gear and those feelings may continue after elections. So retailers should be sensitive to how they deal with merchandising political products–particularly in heated and divisive elections.
Unless a retailer knows its customers so well that it can take a position intelligently, there is only so much to do in terms of exploiting the election. This is particularly true this year, where things aren’t exactly ebullient and our country continues to be incredibly polarized.
Just like it’s not always wise to discuss religion or politics at a cocktail party (with the obvious exceptions), retailers should focus on being relevant to as many valuable customers as possible.
I’m totally against retailers taking any kind of political position. It seems, to me, to be like sticking your chin out and asking to be hit. Enough people have strong enough opinions to take against any retailer whose opinion differs from their own. And that applies not just to the election but a whole lot of other issues and attitudes we have discussed on this site.
Seeing politically oriented clothing is pretty disgusting to me regardless of which candidate it favors. This presidential election has been going on for two years and most of us are very tired of it. I applaud Walgreens for eliminating their political dolls and wish that others would follow suit.
No. Retailers “capitalizing” on the election may be profitable and it may not. However, retailers engaging in this type of behavior further discourages people from thinking about the issues and the important differences between the candidates. This is an important election for many reasons and increasing hype discourages people from approaching it with the seriousness necessary for us to make the right choice for our country.
It’s risky on a lot of fronts, including customer alienation, associate alienation and brand misinterpretation…to say nothing about markdowns.
Having said that, it sure seems there’s room for merchants to have some fun and bump sales and profits too, like Urban Outfitters does. You don’t have to take a side, just pick on the whole insane process–there’s lots of fodder there for anyone with an imagination.
Selling snacks for debate watching parties could be a good non-partisan activity. Doing something to promote voting would be good. Doing something to promote a candidate should be left to the parties unless you sell something for all candidates and/or you really know your consumers’ choice.
I think I speak for consumers (if not merchants) everywhere when I say “HECK NO!” We’ve seen every holiday from X-mas to National Hieroglyphics Week exploited–er, “capitalized on”–not to mention all the artificial “- days” created solely for commercial purposes…enough is enough!
America’s politics have become so divided that other than reminding people to vote campaigns, retailers should stay away. It would seem that almost any effort would alienate someone, and in this economy, retailers need all of the customers they can draw into their stores.
No. Plain and simple. The politics of retail are customer service, product selection and price. They are not, and should not reflect the fleeting politics of the day. Doing so would hold too many retailers hostage to the barest impressions of a fleeting demographic which is here today and gone tomorrow, and provides only short term sales and profits at best. Politics should stay outside of the retailer’s purview.
A retailer might want to offer 4 different T-shirts–2 Republican and 2 Democrat. The smart thing would be to use them as a loss leader, sell them at cost or give them away to the first 200 shoppers each day. The free publicity and additional traffic might be good for business. Why not also put up a tote board in store to let people know how many of each have been taken? Buy a radio spot each day and report T-shirt sales or giveaways to the public. This is a great way to garner publicity and create additional interest. Can’t you see the Democrat and Republican organizations urging people to go to Macy’s or Kroger to get their T–Shirt? Have some fun but stay above the fray.
Sarah Palin appeared at Lake Sumter Landings in The Villages (which is one of the centers we handle) and over 60,000 people came out to see her. The retailers received tremendous exposure and the event was covered by heavily by the media. Having said that, we had trouble getting real estate media to cover the event. It made me wonder if some did not cover it due to the political angle. So I can see this as a tough call. I like leveraging our centers for political events but realize there can be a downside.
Haven’t we–and all consumers–had enough of this election? I think the public is suffering from candidate fatigue already. Why make it worse?
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The question was not whether or not a retailer should push a politician, it was whether or not they should capitalize on the election. Small window of time? Sorry, this has been the longest election process in history!
Inventory? Carry both candidates, t-shirts and treat the inventory as seasonal. There are many ways to manage that by gathering and accurately using point of sale data. Marry the POS data with recent Gallup poll information by county and DMA, stock accordingly and it could be very profitable for retailers.
I visited my daughter at college for parents, weekend this past week and saw at least a dozen kids wearing Obama shirts. There were even a few McCain shirts out there. Why should television be the only industry to make money on this campaigns? Let’s feed our industry too!
I think it’s tough and risky for most “mainstream” retailers to appear partisan toward one side or the other. It’s one thing for Urban Outfitters, which is probably aware that its target customer overwhelmingly favors Obama…it would be another thing entirely for stores like Kohl’s, Penney and others to go near this. However, if history is a guide, Presidential elections are usually great times to sell flag and “vote” lapel pins and so on.
A retailer’s particular political position supported through the merchandise they offer can potentially result in the loss of some customers. However, if a retailer is fair in its representation of merchandise in support of both major parties, it can turn out to be a big win for retailers in this politically charged year. Tasteful, yet creative merchandise can help to offset the slow movement in other categories in this economically challenging year.
For mainstream retailers, the question is; are 50% of your customers worth the short term sale of a t-shirt?
Retailers could encourage their customers to vote. However, even playing that straight is a challenge.
The best action is to listen to what Mom told you.
Trying to capitalize on an election is simply not good merchandising. At a time when everyone is trying to get control of their inventory, what are you going to do with all this stuff 30 days from now when the election is relegated to the history books?
An election is simply too narrow a window. It doesn’t create big profits, just big inventory leftovers no matter who wins. Have said that, the T-shirts from both sides of the aisle are great for polishing your car.
Retailers sell brand products and politicians like McCain, Palin, Clinton and especially Obama are essentially brands that appeal to certain consumers. Capitalizing on the upcoming election by selling politician brand product seems a smart move for merchants.
The larger question for merchants is whether the politician’s values align with corporate values, i.e., merchants must decide whether they’ll sit on the fence and sell all brands across all major political parties or whether they’ll choose a side by selling only certain politician brands. In the latter case, retailers need to be ready to weather any controversy. And retailers like 7-Eleven and Baskin-Robbins prove merchants can join in but do it in a fun way while remaining above the partisan fray.
One thing merchants need to keep in mind is that it’s sometimes easier for specialty merchants to choose sides because they often represent a specific consumer lifestyle. The retail brand and the politician brand are each part of that core consumer’s identity and customers proudly wear their chosen brands. For other merchants selling to consumers across multiple lifestyles, it’s probably best to be as nonpartisan as possible and allow the politicians to state their case outside the store.
Capitalizing on the election is risky business for retailers if in any way the distribution or in-stocks reflect partisanship, intentional or not.
People by nature are political animals. Politics creates avid fans just as do football and other competitive sports. And fans want to win. This arouses emotions, at least sometimes, to a high pitch. Fans not only want their folks to win but for the other folks to lose. So they are willing to do many things to support their emotions including wearing political garments.
This situation develops fertile sales grounds for politically-related merchandise. So retailers should go after those sales. But then the paradox of caution appears. Politics can cause hard feelings among many consumers which can carry over in to the political manifestations in wearing gear and those feelings may continue after elections. So retailers should be sensitive to how they deal with merchandising political products–particularly in heated and divisive elections.
Unless a retailer knows its customers so well that it can take a position intelligently, there is only so much to do in terms of exploiting the election. This is particularly true this year, where things aren’t exactly ebullient and our country continues to be incredibly polarized.
Just like it’s not always wise to discuss religion or politics at a cocktail party (with the obvious exceptions), retailers should focus on being relevant to as many valuable customers as possible.
I’m totally against retailers taking any kind of political position. It seems, to me, to be like sticking your chin out and asking to be hit. Enough people have strong enough opinions to take against any retailer whose opinion differs from their own. And that applies not just to the election but a whole lot of other issues and attitudes we have discussed on this site.
Seeing politically oriented clothing is pretty disgusting to me regardless of which candidate it favors. This presidential election has been going on for two years and most of us are very tired of it. I applaud Walgreens for eliminating their political dolls and wish that others would follow suit.
No. Retailers “capitalizing” on the election may be profitable and it may not. However, retailers engaging in this type of behavior further discourages people from thinking about the issues and the important differences between the candidates. This is an important election for many reasons and increasing hype discourages people from approaching it with the seriousness necessary for us to make the right choice for our country.
It’s risky on a lot of fronts, including customer alienation, associate alienation and brand misinterpretation…to say nothing about markdowns.
Having said that, it sure seems there’s room for merchants to have some fun and bump sales and profits too, like Urban Outfitters does. You don’t have to take a side, just pick on the whole insane process–there’s lots of fodder there for anyone with an imagination.
Selling snacks for debate watching parties could be a good non-partisan activity. Doing something to promote voting would be good. Doing something to promote a candidate should be left to the parties unless you sell something for all candidates and/or you really know your consumers’ choice.
I think I speak for consumers (if not merchants) everywhere when I say “HECK NO!” We’ve seen every holiday from X-mas to National Hieroglyphics Week exploited–er, “capitalized on”–not to mention all the artificial “- days” created solely for commercial purposes…enough is enough!
America’s politics have become so divided that other than reminding people to vote campaigns, retailers should stay away. It would seem that almost any effort would alienate someone, and in this economy, retailers need all of the customers they can draw into their stores.
No. Plain and simple. The politics of retail are customer service, product selection and price. They are not, and should not reflect the fleeting politics of the day. Doing so would hold too many retailers hostage to the barest impressions of a fleeting demographic which is here today and gone tomorrow, and provides only short term sales and profits at best. Politics should stay outside of the retailer’s purview.
A retailer might want to offer 4 different T-shirts–2 Republican and 2 Democrat. The smart thing would be to use them as a loss leader, sell them at cost or give them away to the first 200 shoppers each day. The free publicity and additional traffic might be good for business. Why not also put up a tote board in store to let people know how many of each have been taken? Buy a radio spot each day and report T-shirt sales or giveaways to the public. This is a great way to garner publicity and create additional interest. Can’t you see the Democrat and Republican organizations urging people to go to Macy’s or Kroger to get their T–Shirt? Have some fun but stay above the fray.
Sarah Palin appeared at Lake Sumter Landings in The Villages (which is one of the centers we handle) and over 60,000 people came out to see her. The retailers received tremendous exposure and the event was covered by heavily by the media. Having said that, we had trouble getting real estate media to cover the event. It made me wonder if some did not cover it due to the political angle. So I can see this as a tough call. I like leveraging our centers for political events but realize there can be a downside.
Haven’t we–and all consumers–had enough of this election? I think the public is suffering from candidate fatigue already. Why make it worse?