After two years of successful sales in large sizes online, department store giant Neiman Marcus is introducing Last Call Plus Size departments in five outlet stores. Vice President of Merchandising, Frank Crisci said this kind of customer is underserved when it comes to upscale options. “There is a lot of product out there but a curated assortment of Tahari, Lafayette 148, Eileen Fisher is harder to find,” he said.
The new strategy follows a dive of five consecutive quarters of declining comparable-store sales. The new section will span 750 square feet and covers everything from activewear to evening dresses to jeans to coats. All of which will be sized up to 3X and sizes 14 to 24. Twenty percent of the products will be exclusive to the Neiman Marcus. Labels so far include; Marina, Nic + Zoe, Julia Jordan, Not Your Daughters Jeans and Marc NY Performance.
According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, more than 60 percent of women are overweight or obese in America. “It’s a huge market, and we’re not playing in it,” said Crisci. “If it does well there’s no reason we could not roll this out to all stores.”
