Hello Ladies

After celebrating our second anniversary in July, I was eager to begin analyzing two year’s worth of sales to discuss what bra sizes and styles we sell the most.  To begin the series, I want to refresh everyone on the demographic information for our store as well as the general region.  Not only can age, income, and even race impact what sizes and styles customers purchased, but they can also be useful in identifying the current or emerging needs of our target market.  Consequently, I wanted to include them as a way of providing context for our sales history.  The statistical data for the county and city are courtesy of the US Census, but the information regarding customers will be strictly observational based on my experiences as I never collect customer’s personal details.

Below is a table consisting of the various counties from which we see the most customers, and I’ve included the average income as well as the percentage of white and black residents.  All of the counties as well as the state contain roughly 52% female, so I decided not to include this figure in the chart.*

County	White	Black	Income
Alamance	76.2%	19.2%	$44,167
Guilford	59.9%	33.1%	$45,676
Orange	77.5%	12.4%	$52,891
Durham	53.5%	38.5%	$49,894
Wake	70.0%	21.3%	$63,770
Chatham	82.4%	13.5%	$56,038
Randolph	90.2%	6.2%	$40,346
Forsyth	68.1%	27.1%	$46,749

Since we are based in Burlington (Alamance County), I also am including background information on our city.**

• The median age is 38.3 years.
• 57% of population is white.
• 28% of population is black.

Now, I want to provide my personal observations from working in the store daily for the last two years:

• The median age is between 32 and 38 years.
• 57% of customers are white.
• 40% of customers are black.
• 3% of customers are other minorities.

What does race tell us?

Last year, I estimated that around 38% of our customers were black, but after our second year, that number has increased to around 40%.  Because a significant portion of our customer base has a darker skin tone, I would love to see more options available in medium to darker neutrals like the chocolate brown Keira from Goddess or the honey Rita from Elomi.  Even colors like the fawn Hermione, also from Elomi, function as better alternatives for neutral bras.  Not to mention, lingerie bloggers have written before about the insulting use of the word “nude” to describe light beige bras, and after finishing two years in business, my resolve has only strengthened that a larger variety of neutrals is essential.

What does income tell us?

Quite intuitively, we understand that if you make more money, you often have extra cash to spend on discretionary items.  As a result, customers with higher incomes sometimes stock up on bras or are more likely to buy several throughout the year—often with an affinity for new fashion styles.  These customers regularly purchase from the shop, which can translate to the appearance of more sales (both in dollar amount and quantity) in a certain band or cup sizes.

What does age tell us?

As with last year, the age range of our store mirrors the median age in the area, roughly mid-to-late thirties.  Consequently, we see a shift not only in what these customers want but also in which styles will fit, especially compared with our teenage or college-age clients.  Younger customers usually want push-up or cleavage-enhancing designs as well as fun colors and prints whereas our core customers prefer stocking up on basic bras in neutral colors with the occasional fun purchase thrown into the mix.  Furthermore, as we age, we lose some firmness in our breasts—a process that can be exacerbated by weight fluctuations, pregnancy, or medication—and the fit element can be challenging, particularly with finding molded cup styles that contour well.  This is part of the reason why the flexible cups of the Elomi Hermione enable the style to dominate the competition.  Finally, our younger customers also tend to wear smaller bands with the majority of our 28 and 30 band sales being to women under 25.

The Normalization Debate

After last year’s statistics posts, I fielded criticism about the method in which I presented the statistics as I had neither provided the amount of total sales nor had I normalized the statistics to reduce the skew to certain sizes created by repeat customers.  This year, the statistics will show percentages instead of amounts so that I can keep my sales data private while still portraying an accurate picture of them; however, I am not going to normalize them.  Thus, this series does not represent the distribution of bra sizes across my customers but instead focuses on the distribution of sales across bra sizes.  For the former, please read June of Braless in Brasil’s analysis of her underbust survey.  My rationale serves dual purposes.  First, I honestly do not have the time to sort through 2000+ sales records to identify the cup and band sizes.  Secondly, I feel it more useful to discuss what sells rather than what sizes we see.  After all, I am a store owner, and when I make buying decisions, I am going to stock what sells and sells often over merchandise which may take me months to turnover.  For example, if I sell size 32DDD eighteen times as much as 28DD (yes, that’s true) even if it is only because I have repeat customers in the size, I will still stock more 32DDDs to keep up with demand.  Consequently, the statistical analysis will give you insight into how our store selects future inventory.  If you wear a hard-to-find size, you may want to support retailers (and brands) by shopping with them, especially if you can afford to pay full price.  Now, as a poor business owner, I understand budgets do not always allow this, but if a retailer hopes to stay open, it cannot afford to carry sizes which never sell or only sell on clearance.  Profit margins are too low already to sustain that type of sale.

With the demographics and background information covered, the next blog will cover the details on what band sizes people are purchasing!

Erica

*   http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/37000.html
**  http://burlingtonnc.gov/index.aspx?NID=264

P.S.  For a detailed look at last year’s statistics, check out the following links:  Demographics, Band and Cup Sizes, and Bra Sizes.