Hat World heads in a new direction
Hat World Corp., which operates Lids.com, is looking to expand both its online sales and product offerings by pursuing more opportunities in niche programs such as custom embroidery. With annual web sales of about $10 million, Hat World stays close to its roots and customer base by offering thousands of SKUs, which include hats and caps from professional sports teams and sports apparel manufacturers such as Reebok.
But through targeted e-mail campaigns and other marketing programs, Hat World is also expanding into custom embroidery and offering a four-step product called “Create Your Own.” The program lets shoppers browse inventory by hat styles, font styles, top designs and graphics and then place a custom order for custom embroidered hats.
The program is far more than just a simple customer service tool, Hat World says. Hat World sees custom embroidery as a gateway into the potentially lucrative market of custom orders for corporate events or personal occasions. For instance, Hat World is working with various national chapters of college sororities and fraternities on several larger scale custom embroidery deals. “We’ve had a great deal of success with customization,” says Tim Kabrich, senior director of Internet operations.
Hat World, a subsidiary of Genesco Inc., is careful about selecting new lines of merchandise to complement its hats and caps inventory. Among the multi-channel retailer’s core customers, and the segment that launched the company, are younger and college-age shoppers who want the latest in a sports team cap or urban fashion. “Our foot print is the college student with $20 to spend who rolls out of bed in the morning and puts on a cap,” Kabrich says.
But custom embroidery is proving to be a good niche and a good complementary product line for Hat World, which generates an average online ticket of about $39. “There’s a good market for selling custom orders to personal and corporate event sponsors,” Kabrich says.
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