If you covet the styles of celebrities such as Sarah Jessica Parker or Harry Styles, you will likely be a Nordstrom shopper.
The high-end American retailer opens its doors at the Rideau Centre for the first time Friday morning, and according to one Ottawa marketing expert, the typical customer does not fall into a certain demographic, but rather they’re well-versed fashionistas of all ages.
“It’s really about a mindset and priorities the customers have,” said Michael Mulvey, a marketing professor at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management. “And so the one thing about Nordstrom is it really does target people who are fashionable and see themselves as fashionable and are trend conscious. They’re the types of (products) that you might see on runways, you might see your favourite celebrities wearing.”
Mulvey says people who have never experienced Nordstrom customer service before are “in for a shock” because they go over and above what is typically expected of a retailer.
“You just don’t find many businesses in Canada, let alone Ottawa, that really strive to have outstanding customer service,” said Mulvey. “And so their employees are not only well trained when it comes to the different product lines that they represent, they are also very empowered in terms of developing relationships with customers and solving problems in their own sort of common sense ways.”
That service savvy was demonstrated at the gala evening event Wednesday when guest Marc Gagnon was about to lose power to his iPhone. When he mentioned it to an employee, the employee left briefly and returned with a mobile charger.
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“They gave me the device; I didn’t have to give them collateral,” said Gagnon. “We agreed on a meeting place and time and voila, I had my phone charged while still having fun and enjoying the unveiling.”
Fashion and good service might be an mindset, but it’s also going to cost you.
Barry Nabatian, a director of the market research division at Shore Tanner & Associates, says the typical customer will have a household income higher than $150,000. And there’s no shortage of them, given 40 per cent of Ottawa’s 400,000 households — or 160,000 — have an average household income of $200,000 annually.
“We have at least 20,000 public servants that fall into that category,” says Nabatian. “Then there’s the high-tech professionals, executives, health care professionals, people in finance, and a minimum of 5,000 foreign embassy attachés. These are the people that typically spend a lot of their money at Tiffany’s and Nordstrom and other luxury places.”
