results

cato fashions

situation

In 1999, research revealed that Cato’s brand awareness among women shoppers was less than 5%, with a very narrowly defined lower-income, lower educated, ethnic market base. Cato clearly had a low-price image, but one that was associated with low quality.

insight

Define a positioning strategy that would optimize growth among young, active working women who do not have the luxury of time and prefer to have all of their fashion needs – from business to casual – met in one store. Quality, style and selection (not price) would be the most important points to communicate to busy working women.

solution

Shift Cato from a low-price-based creative strategy to a contemporary, “on-trend” fashion strategy. Our tagline, “A new statement of style,” helped communicate this. This repositioning made the brand more relevant to working women, while also appealing to its existing, lower-end core customer base. Shoppers who had based their decision to shop Cato on price would now feel even better about their decision.

results

Over a 10-year period, Cato’s customer awareness shot up a staggering 1,300%, share of visits increased by 163%, and share of dollars rose 150%.