Men’s goods chain Kanzler intends to add a women’s collection to its range

The stagnation of the men’s clothing segment predicted by analysts, including due to the ongoing mobilization, is forcing specialized retailers to look for new directions for business. Thus, the country’s second largest chain of goods for men, Kanzler, intends to add a women’s collection to its assortment. Experts warn that consumers may not understand such a transformation, so they advise the retailer to first test sales of new products online. Otherwise, the company risks reducing the efficiency of using the space of its offline stores.

The chain of men’s stores Kanzler is looking for personnel for a new line of women’s clothing, including designers, Kommersant discovered in the recruitment service HeadHunter. Kanzler Deputy General Director Elena Nikitina confirmed that the retailer is testing the new direction in five stores in Moscow and seven more regional outlets. So far, according to her, the chain is refraining from creating a separate network in the women’s clothing segment, focusing on testing a new direction for itself. Based on its results, further steps will be determined, explains the top manager.

Henderson, by the way, also tried its hand in the clothing segment for women, launching a custom-tailored shirts and suits service for them in 2019. They told Kommersant that this opportunity was preserved only for sewing shirts. However, the retailer has no plans to expand in this segment.

Managing partner of Vanchugov and Partners, Alexey Vanchugov, notes that women account for about 75% of buyers in shopping centers. Therefore, according to him, stores with women’s clothing and shoes have a better chance of development than men’s. Thus, according to Infoline-Analytics, by the end of 2023, the retail trade of men’s clothing will increase by 4.7% year-on-year, to 755 billion rubles, which is less than in other segments of the fashion market.

Moreover, analysts add, stagnation will be observed among men’s clothing retailers in the lower and partly in the middle price segments. This, as clarified in Infoline-Analytics, may be due, among other things, to the increase in the number of mobilized people, who significantly reduce spending on everyday clothing during their service. General Director of Infoline-Analytics Mikhail Burmistrov believes that it is more economically feasible for Kanzler to test the potential demand for a new range in the online store, since when filling offline stores with it, the retailer risks reducing the efficiency of using its retail space.

Expanding the range has now become a general trend for clothing retail in Russia. There are also opposite examples, when networks that specialized only in the sale of women’s goods enter the men’s clothing segment. Thus, in 2023, the Zarina brand, part of the Melon Fashion Group, launched men’s clothing lines, and Lime also appeared in such collections.

Alexey Vanchugov believes that the transition to a new segment is easier for brands that initially specialize in women’s clothing than vice versa. While men mostly value functionality in clothing, women value design and compliance with trends, the expert explains. This difference, he said, makes it somewhat difficult for chains specializing in men’s clothing to enter the women’s segment. Mikhail Burmistrov points out that it is easier for fashion retailers from the mass segment to expand their assortment by entering new segments, while in the high price segment there is stronger competition, including with the products of large international players entering the country through parallel imports.

Alina Savitskaya