Under Cover: Tips for Marketing and Selling Undergarments
By Melinda Gros

Imagine your customer trying on a winning outfit in your store — ruined by panty lines, wrinkled and ill-fitting bra cups, her breasts falling out of a too-small bra, or a too-loose bra so that her breasts bounce or hang low or... or...so many other ways a look can be undermined by the wrong undergarments. Imagine losing the sale.

Why stock a variety of great undergarments?
You may as well ask yourself why you open your store every morning. The answer is to satisfy your customers, which translates into sales. A woman walking into your store may or may not know what she wants to buy, but when she finds the right items, she expects to look fabulous. Granny panties under low-rider jeans? Don't think so. Heavily embellished bra under skin-tight, belly-grazing polo? No again. Massive Brunhilda bra under shrunken baby tee? How impolite to offer your customers these wonderful, chic clothes — and then send them out into the cold, cruel world in search of discreet undergarments from someone else's store. If you do this, you are kissing your business away, because the next store will not only have the appropriate innerwear but will also have other wonderful, chic clothes to sell your customer once she steps away from your doorstep.

What to stock?
Look at the mix of clothes you are selling and the clothes will tell you what undergarments to stock. Stock both soft and underwire maternity bras, in white, nude, blush and black (stock at least two colors, but they can't be white and white). You must offer smooth cup bras for under knits, a convertible bra to accommodate different necklines, and a racer-back bra to wear under racer-back tops. Consider buying only from brands which also manufacture nursing bras. This will provide for continuity of color and look for your lingerie department and will teach your customers that not all bras are made equal. Maternity bras are truly engineered for more support than are most bras found in department stores. Your customer will feel confidence in your expertise and the brands you stock when she comes back to be fitted for her nursing bras. Maternity bras from maternity and nursing manufacturers are a wonderful opportunity for sales which otherwise would go to the department stores.

Nursing bras?
Your customers already know you and will trust you when you fit them and remind them that they need several bras — one bra on, one in the wash, one drying — and for different activities in the day. The new mom needs young looks to make her feel beautiful and feel like herself even as she needs the same bras to make nursing easy. She is going out in the world to family events, on social occasions, showing off her baby, and she wants sexy and lacy. Every new mom needs to start exercising so she'll need a nursing sports bra. She wants to get back into her jeans and her skinny little tops (remember - there are skinny little nursing tops you could be selling her). She needs smooth, body-conscious nursing bras. She wants a choice of color — nudes, blushes, whites, blacks — to work with her outfits. Offer soft-cup and underwire styles, offer front-snap opening and drop-cup opening bras. Offer nursing camis so that you don't lose a sale if the new mom is undecided about buying nursing clothes.

Panties?
Of course you should offer panties and bikinis to match the bras, along with plain-Jane styles.

Support products?
Belly support garments and support hose are important offerings and mark your store as a full-service store.

You, the store owner, should be offering your customers choices. One white bra is not a choice and will not fit everyone. If you want your customers to buy three bras, offer at least five styles. For maternity, offer color choices in soft-cup and underwire styles. For nursing, offer soft and underwire styles, front-snap and drop-cup, a choice for sports, and color choices. Offer a range of sizes — know that while most bras are cup sized, some bras come in size ranges. Offer bras you are comfortable selling and ask your suppliers questions regarding fit.

Make shopping easy for your customers. Put samples of the bras (with matching panties) near the dressing rooms. Put the bras near the appropriate clothes. If you are selling racer-back dresses and you have a racer-back bra, show a sample of the bra near the dresses. Put samples of nursing bras near the nursing shirts. Sample the black bras near the racks of all-black clothes and the evening clothes. Remind the ladies that shopping at your store is easy, convenient, and fills all their clothing needs. And remember to offer your customers your expertise.

Undergarments themselves can easily translate into big business. As your reputation as an undergarment resource grows, customers will come. They will shop, and they will tell their friends who will shop, and these friends will tell their friends...who will buy not only undergarments from you, but they will buy all the looks you offer. Your business growth will surprise and delight you.

Melinda Gros designer and manufacturer of MelindaG maternity and nursing bras, panties, nightgowns and loungewear. All made in the U.S.A. Represented by Two Generations in Dallas and Atlanta and also West Coast Maternity on the West Coast.