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Innovation at Destination Maternity Starts With Its Employees
Last weekend, I accompanied a newly pregnant friend as she shopped for maternity clothes. We hit Target, Old Navy…but it wasn’t until we stumbled upon Destination Maternity
The 4,000 square-foot super store caters to the indulgences of mommies-to-be through a very interactive in-store, one-stop-shop approach with a wide range of products and services aimed to prep and pamper pregnant women. The mommy-mall concept store operated by the parent store Mothers Work, offers casual and special-occasion maternity apparel from its four chains: A Pea in the Pod, Destination Maternity, Mimi Maternity, and Motherhood Maternity.
The “wow” factor of Destination Maternity stems from its experiential nature. There’s a maternity yoga/meditation room, a children’s play area, and a leather seating area with a flat-screen TV for the spouses. For sale are spa services, educational materials and classes, vitamins, baby products, and of course maternity clothing from all four Mothers Work brands. That’s not all. Offered at the check-out counter, is free juice and water and the clerks peddle a loyalty program that offers $1,000 in sweepstakes, a free trial of Parenting magazine, and targeted coupons.
Needless to say, I was impressed. I’m not even pregnant and I already feel loyal to the store. Curious about this company, I conducted some research and discovered that one of the factors that contribute to the success of the chain is the employee culture. No one works in isolated compartments, but rather everyone is part of cross-departmental teams with every member free to develop the next big idea. It’s the organization’s open environment and support of a team approach that the company claims “has helped give birth to the modern maternity apparel market.”
The approach seems to be paying off. Since its initial public offering in 1993, the organization has grown from $31 million in revenue to $602 million last year. And this year, as many as 20 new stores are planned and about a dozen of them will be multi-branded Destination Maternity concept stores.
Because Mothers Work shows confidence in the abilities of its employees, and operates within principles that promote trust, collaboration, and teamwork, the outcome is an organization with a strong culture of innovation that delivers value to its customerrs and has the potential for continued growth and market share.
Same-store sales for Mothers Work Inc. dropped 6 percent this January.
Also, catering to women's fashion is not an automatic win. The NYT reported yesterday that Gap is closing it's Forth & Towne chain -- the "retailer for moms, grandmothers, suburbanites and city dwellers" that "created four different brands, one in each corner of the store" -- because "executives began worrying that the new stores, marketing and staff were not worth the cost".