Banana Republic has introduced — actually reintroduced — home products into its apparel assortment and if you feel like you’ve been to this movie before…it’s because you have. The upscale Gap division tried this very same thing 20 years ago and if you don’t remember it, that’s because it didn’t last very long. There’s nothing wrong with a company retrying a merchandising concept: things change, customers change, how to sell changes. But as far as I can see what they haven’t done is change the concept much. It’s still really derivative product that can be found at half a dozen other retail brands.
Listen, some apparel stores have been quite successful selling home merchandise: Anthropologie, H&M, Zara and this fellow Ralph Lauren have all made it work. But this one from Banana Republic is going to have to work harder to succeed. Here’s more on my take on this in this new Business of Home post: https://businessofhome.com/articles/will-banana-republic-s-second-attempt-at-breaking-into-the-home-sector-work?utm_source=daily_newsletter&utm_medium=email
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