Here’s an interesting tidbit: luxury brands are targeting men (reports the Wall Street Journal).  Men’s apparel sales are growing 37% faster than women’s, and retailers are eager to push that growth even higher.

The labels say it makes business sense to target men now. In the 12 months ended Oct. 31, U.S. sales of men’s apparel rose 2.6% to $56.3 billion — faster than the 1.9% growth to $103.5 billion in the women’s apparel market, according to market researcher NPD Group.

There’s a generational shift at play.  More men are buying their own clothes, and slowly growing more confident in their fashion purchases:

 The labels say one of their ultimate goals is to get men to shop more like women — making more impulse purchases and being open to items they didn’t intend to buy when they walked into the store. Many men nowadays know what they’re looking for when they step into a store and are unlikely to pick up anything extra.

Last year, 75% of men bought most of their own clothes, compared with 52% in 1995, according to Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief industry analyst.

Finally, the article shares an interesting tidbit about (offline) retail store design:

In the retail business, the area just to the right of a store entrance is prime real estate because most shoppers, regardless of their gender, turn right when they walk in a store, says Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group, a consumer-behavior research and strategic-marketing firm in Charleston, S.C. Following this logic, Harry Winston says it is prominently displaying its new men’s jewelry collection in that spot. Tiffany’s expanded men’s jewelry line can be found just to the right of the entrance to its new Wall Street store.

Placing men’s goods in this prime location is especially important for stores trying to appeal to men because they tend to be more purposeful shoppers than women, says Mr. Beemer.

Filed under: luxury, market size, marketing, retail, strategy