Macy’s program looks a lot like another retailer’s

Here’s a good idea for retailers looking to bring a sense of newness and a treasure hunt atmosphere to stores. Sign exclusive agreements with known and emerging designers or upscale brands during limited duration merchandising events as a means to achieve differentiation. Sound familiar?

Target pursued this concept more than a decade ago with general merchandise and earlier this year observed the 5th anniversary of the Go International designer program with a collection of products from past designers.

Increasingly though Target has new mid-tier department store competition for designers eager to cash in on the mass market and there is no better example than Macy’s. The department store chain has a program called Impulse in which designers offer what the company calls “capsule collections” for a limited period of time in about 25% of Macy’s stores. The most recent example involves fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld who has created a collection that will hit Impulse departments found in 235 stores beginning Aug. 31. Even the obligatory quote from Lagerfeld sounds like something that might have appeared in a Target press release.

“To me Macy’s is the perfect department store in the United States where everybody can find what they're looking for without ruining their budget. That’s why I am happy to make this limited collection just for Macy’s,” Lagerfeld said.

In addition to Lagerfeld, other designers offering capsule collections in Impulse departments during 2011 include Kinder Aggugini and Matthew Williamson.