But the products sold by GMI are such staples, this is unlikely, and its food products are fairly diverse and palatable to a large, general audience. It has also shown the ability to innovate and swiftly offer customers products with new, different formulas based upon shifts in demand. Thus, its 'fashion line' seems considerably less secure than its food lines, much like its restaurant and toy components.
The need to focus on necessary products with durable sources of sustained demand vs. non-specialty products with volatile demand is further underlined in GMI's specialty retailing. Certain brand names such as Eddie Bauer and Talbots are doing extremely well. Although these are clothing lines, these retailers do not offer 'trendy' clothes and instead market themselves to broad niche markets that are older and more reliable in terms of their preferences. Eddie Bauer offers clothing targeted to the 'outdoorsy' consumer who is in search of comfortable clothing that can be worn in a wide variety of weather (such as wet, cold, or hot weather when camping). Talbots' consumers tend to be older and trend-resistant and capitalize upon its brand name for quality, versus being 'of the moment.' Although officially the specialty retailing sector is mixed, this is only because non-necessary products like collectibles are not doing particularly well. Even more so than toys, collectibles often have trouble sustaining demand once a trend burns out and consumers tend to eliminate these components of their personal budgets during economically shaky times (563).
Given this data, it is recommended...
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