Trunk Club

MKT 310 - Consumer Behavior

Dr. James Mourey

Written by: Lauren Shaw, Noah Diaz, Brittany Dodson, Justina Pokvietyte

1 INTRODUCTION
We decided to work with Trunk Club because fashion and appearance have become a big factor
in everyday life for most people in todays society. Trunk Club is a personalized shopping
website, or app, for men that asks a few questions to determine the best look you are looking for.
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Trunk Club has a wide range of designers for men to be styled from, absolutely free. When
signing up for Trunk Club, you are given a personal stylist that helps style you by answering a
few lifestyle questions. How it works: your stylist makes an outfit and ships it to you from the
Trunk Club facility and you only pay for what you keep. Slight problem with that, they raise the
prices exponentially high and make the items more expensive then they should be. Also, we
realized Trunk Club only offers personal shopping and styling for men. By not including women,
half of the population is disincluded and the company is not tapping into a wider audience. As
we know women in the workforce have become more evident, and more tied up with the
increasing demands of life. We feel that by having a personal stylist, women could have some
free time to enjoy to themselves instead of having to worry about updating their wardrobe.
Fashion and new trends are quite the hassle to keep up with since they are constantly changing,
so women would have to worry less since they would be getting a second opinion from an
expert. Trunk Club was intended for men mainly for the reason that men hate shopping, but
Trunk Club can cater towards women as well as men; especially those who don't have a lot of
time to shop and get new clothes. We also think that they shouldn't have to over price the items
the customer receives and have an idea of what they can do instead. Trunk could also potentially
expand into Bloomingdales to better create more brands the Trunk Club can offer as well as
maintaining relationships with the brands.
1.1 Historical Background
Founded in 2009 right here in Chicago by Brian Spaly, Trunk Club is a very unique way for men
to purchase clothing. Spaly saw a problem and a potential market and solved that problem with
his start up; Trunk Club. The problem he saw was that men hate shopping and picking out new
clothes. So, he made Trunk Club to taken that burden away from men and simply have a stylist
do all the hard work for the them instead. In August 2014, Nordstrom bought the company to
better help with designers and to expand their customer service. Nordstrom was looking into
doing something similar, to better connect with their customers and do personal styling, and
Trunk Club already does that and has the clientele Nordstrom was looking for: men. We are
suggesting that Trunk Club add women to is market because we firmly believe that by adding
women, Trunk Clubs sales will skyrocket and so will Nordstroms.

2 The Self
Maslows Hierarchy of needs

The use of Trunk Club fulfills the need of esteem within Maslows Pyramid. Women want to
have the opportunity to show off to their girlfriends that they have a personal stylist. One who
actually comes to their homes and brings custom outfits to their liking. As a working
businesswoman or just a busy stay at home mom, these women need validation that they have
made it and that their life is pretty fabulous. The fact that they can tell their friends they never
had to leave the house or actually shop online for their new wardrobe because their stylist has it
covered.

Modeling/Observational Learning
In todays society women and even men look up to celebrities to feel as satisfied with their lives
as these stars appear to be. Reading popular magazines, following the latest trends, purchasing
brand name clothing these models and actresses wear, and going so far as to alter one's
appearance to look more like them. This is known as modeling or observational learning. We
have this perception that by mimicking these celebrities we will be just as happy and appreciated
by others for the clothes we wear and how good they make us feel. We tend to see celebrities like
Kim Kardashian endorsing a lot of products and services through her Twitter and Instagram
account. If we were to get a well known and liked celebrity to endorse Trunk Club through any
one of their social media outlets, it would spur more women to look into the company and
encourage them to get a personal stylist of their own.
Human Emotions
According to a study done in 2009 called, The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness,
women appear to be less happy now and days (Stevenson). Even though women run countries,
companies, universities, and make up more than half the workforce, they are not as satisfied with
their lives. Many approach the myth to happiness by telling themselves, Ill be happy when
I, which sets women up to fail to reach optimum happiness. As marketers we can use this
approach to happiness to our benefit. We can make our service of a personal stylist appear to be
the best and have women believe that they will be happy once they have this.
3. The Situation
There are many things that factor into consumers purchasing and consuming of products or
causing them to avoid them. In our society people are becoming increasingly more busy. With
numerous distractions to everyday life such as text messaging and keeping up do date with
every day trends, it can be difficult for people to update their wardrobe. In order for Trunk Club
to meet the needs of geographic location, economic condition, social networks and consumer
appeals, they will be implementing the service to women. Along with these factors Trunk Club to

be effective in this new market they will also have to look at what causes consumers to buy. By
observing and researching consumer trends in the market, Trunk Club will be able to execute
their new strategy in the marketplace.
3.1 Increase of Distractions
Today life has become very busy, and there are millions of distractions. For most women, they
are working in a professional career anywhere from 5-6 days a week, and if not woman could be
busy staying at home taking care of the home. The trend of ordering online food and shopping
online is becoming very important to people who find that they are too busy during the week, or
weekend. A survey conducted by Trunk Club to their existing male clients said that 81.1% of
males preferred not to spend time clothes shopping during the weekend, since they are taking
that time for leisure and pleasure. Although this may not directly apply to women, it has an
adverse effect to those who are married. Most women who are married would also be spending
time with their husband on the weekend and unable to shop if they are working full time.
City life is a perfect example of how busy everyday life can be, and how there is always
something trying to grab our attention. For example, working women in Chicago were surveyed
by Trunk Club, and results showed that 74.7% prefer to be recommended fashion from
someone working in the field rather than advertising. Through utilizing this information Trunk
Club can target this group, and have their stylists pick new trending outfits from highly trending
clothing lines.
3.2 Market Segment (Occupation and Geographic location)
We realize that targeting the correct market segment is important in order to create profitable
results. In order determine best group of women to target we have looked at a few factors
regarding location and occupation. To better understand the situation, Trunk club assessed the
strengths of the company, which is convenience offered with great taste in choice of trendy
clothes. Thus, we determined that Trunk Club is best fit to target working women or
homemakers that are tied up with day to day life and may not be completely fashion forward.
We understand that in a city there is a lot of influence with clothing trends, so we have decided
to target women who either are too busy living in the city to buy clothes for themselves, or live
outside a cities trend influence.
The reason the company chose this was after seeing a study conducted by University of
Chicago we found that only 7.12% of women shop outside their comfort zone to explore new
trends. Again, by implementing our stylists sales techniques we have found that we can help
expand customers horizon with sending clothes in a trunk they might not usually wear. For
women not living in the city, where trends may not be as apparent, this type of sales makes it
easy for them to try new things that are offered from the newest stores. We also have targeted
working women, because with such little time we believe that this will be a great convenience for
them.
3.3 Economic Conditions

After taking into the fact that the economy has slowly but surely stabilized, we believe this is
Trunk Clubs best time to initiate this new strategy to women. Now that job growth is increasing
and unemployment is low, we can assume that more women will be spending money on clothes
to expand their wardrobe. At the same time women are earning money at work we realize their
time is valuable, so again this is why Trunk Club can successfully market to women. It is
obvious that a strong economy influences consumers to spend more and expands their appeal
to spend their disposable income. Also, an adverse effect of marketing to Women from a strong
economy is that more and more women may begin to use it and create a word of mouth, but this
will be further discussed in the next section.
3.4 Social Groups and Influences
Trunk club took into account the factors of social influence, and how we might go about
effectively communicating our new service and product to women. As stated earlier, we
understand a strong economy will help contribute to a viral component for word-of-mouth
marketing. If an initial group of women are targeted through advertising, then as most of our
business started from word-of-mouth, it will continue to grow in this market segment. Also, if we
incorporate a social media platform to our target customers, then we can better connect
individuals to one another and again grow the word-of-mouth advertising platform. Our idea is to
implement a new hashtag that will expand through each social media platform. Also, within the
workplace for those women who are professionals, they will notice the newest professional
styles and will influenced to do the same.
4. The Solution
Trunk Club has been very successful in building relations in the mens department. We wish to
mitigate the negative perception of high costs by cutting costs just to the perfect noticeable
amount. In doing so, it will help boost our positive associated with offering free style advice and
ease of use by having someone pick out your own outfit. Another product that will boost appeal
to this new service is adding a celebrity or outfit look-a-like pick. Trunk Club believes this will
offer our new target client an easy way to fit a look they desire. Whether it be from a high
fashion design on the runway, or someones everyday clothes they see on tv. Some biases that
might come along with Trunk Club are that since its mostly tailored to men at this point that
stylists will not be fit for the job. Although, Trunk Club has hired one of the main designers for
Prada to help train our stylists in fresh trends.
Another thing Trunk Club has highlighted in is the ability to fulfil more than one need for women.
For some it could be having utilitarian use and functional needs. Also, Trunk Club could be
used for women as a pleasure need from being recommended all the hottest trends and fashion
through a stylist. The negative bias of thinking that one is too lazy to buy their own clothes can
be diminished if we show clients that its rather meeting their functional needs or pleasure needs
to save times for themselves and with friends.

PROPOSAL
Trunk Club is a relatively new and modern company. Trunk Club, an online apparel store, gains
a lot of competitive edge as it enters an era where not only men, but also a high percentage of
women are now joining the workforce. Beyond the career-oriented, schedule-based females of
the world, there is also the nurturing mother side that has to balance soccer games, cheerleading
practice, dinner, and still look presentable for work or the next PTA meeting. Trunk Club making
shopping convenient and more affordable allows a variety of females to pursue it. According to
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website, women have increasingly attained higher levels
of education: among women ages 25 to 64 who are in the labor force, the proportion with a
college degree more than tripled from 1970 to 2012. Women accounted for more than half of all
the workers employed in management professional, and other related occupations. The shift and
broadening of Trunk Clubs consumer base will make necessary new strategies to market to this
new female market as well as their existing market.

Segmenting
Trunk Club will be targeting an entirely new audience, the females of the world. This is
extremely beneficial to the company as women make up roughly half of the workforce today.
From a demographic standpoint, the ages of these females would be 25-50. This is typically the
time that college graduates have obtained a career in which they can support themselves, and
also the time where some working women are peaking in their careers. The stay-at-home moms
of the world would also be targeted as they are bombarded with chaotic schedules leaving them
little time for themselves. Abraham Maslows pyramid, specifically the issues revolving
around esteem, would come into play here as the longing for self-value becomes more prevalent.
Ethnicity is not relevant in this instance. As far as location, the Internet is reachable worldwide,
but many of Trunk Clubs stylists are located in major cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New
York City. Trunk Clubs apparel is more business professional and/or business casual to fit the
needs of their typical customers. This would remain the location of their target audience, but
more females looking for this same look would be capable of acquiring it. On top of this, the
females would typically have disposable income to be able to purchase the conveniences Trunk
Club has to offer. Low-middle to high-middle income homes would be the main target.

Targeting
Professional career-oriented mothers would be an ideal segment for Trunk Club to focus its
marketing efforts on. This is because being a mother is a job in itself, and adding a career is just
the cherry on top of a mental breakdown sundae. There is also a status related to the Trunk Club
Company that allows these hard-working females the pleasure of being respected and even
rewarded for her long days at the office. Aside from the career-drive female audience, another
target audience would be the stay-at-home moms who are looking for a way to escape reality and
feel like a brand new person with their own personal stylist and wardrobes picked specifically for
them. Stay-at-home moms would be great to target because convenience is now a vital part of
everyones life, and moms are always looking new recipes, home remedies, etc. via the internet,
so online shopping should feel just as quick and personal. The added bonus of finding deals

allows these working and stay-at-home moms to give into their wanting to be or act in a certain
manner.

Positioning
The position Trunk Club will be the same as the current categories for its products, but they will
be the female version of business casual, business professional, etc. To make Trunk Club stand
out further and reach more of its target audience, it will include its Celebrity-Look-Alike
categories where, like Pinterest, one can search for celebrity outfits or cheaper looks they want
simply by clicking on the celebrities that are available or the hottest trends that will also be
visible on the category page. If there is a price range included in the back of the customers
mind, there is the option of picking and choosing various outfits from celebrities or trends, and
then clicking on store options with a price range included. Another feature that will allow Trunk
Club to differentiate itself is the feedback and recent purchases feed that allows actual customers
to leave comments about their experience with various stylists and the company itself.

4 Ps
Product
Trunk Club now has access to a wider selection of clothing stores, including Bloomingdales. All
the apparel will be from current relationships with companies to Trunk Club, but also more
affordable yet luxurious apparel items will help Trunk Clubs initial appeal to its new female
audience. Reward points with a loyalty membership, which is free, will allow Trunk Clubs new
apparel products compete with other retailers that have reward cards in their stores, but at the
convenience of being online. The new apparel lines, such as the Celebrity-Look-Alike will be
a first in the world of online shopping when it comes to companies associated with some level of
prestige, such as Trunk Club.

Pricing
The pricing of this new clothing line for women will also be impacted by the new pricing criteria
made by trunk Club. The stylists that travel to the homes of the customers will be paid a fixed
fee for their visits. This will allow for the actual apparel items to appear cheaper than Trunk
Clubs previous customers. This tactic, also known as economy pricing, is not actually economy
pricing at all as the stylists are simply being given a fixed cost to replace the prices of the
clothing items that they stressed to sell to their customers in order to be paid. Yet, the average
customer will not notice this, and will assume that the credibility of the stylist is associated with
the price of him or her. The profits originally being based on mark-ups will now be based on the
fixed fee. This change will be calculated on a Just Noticeable Difference, Webers Law, the
smallest price changes possible will be taken into account so that consumers do not think that
Trunk Club has lost its high-end touch, or that, as the consumer, they are not benefiting from this
change. But, the price changes are happening with the fixed cost that should be what is small as
this is the more negative side for the consumer. The prices of the actual outfits will appear to be
a lot cheaper as they will have SALE signs in red and .99 endings to intrigue consumers.

Place
Although Trunk Club is an online company, the placement of the company does not have to
consist of only its own website. Its current relationships with other retailers will be tied to
purchases that consumers make in physical stores. The app, Four Square, will be linkable to
Trunk Club to see what outfits the consumer could order from their website.

Promotion
Trunk Club will take advantage of its retailers and create an app for your phone that allows the
everyday consumer to scan articles of clothing in any given store that is connected to Trunk Club
and create outfits based on the color, style, or brand. This makes Trunk Club part of everyones
life as in the modern world no one can last five minutes without their phone glued in their
hand. Along with the app, a new version of the survey will help promote the broadening of trunk
Clubs target market with ads for the new survey on all platforms of its social media websites.

Conclusion
In conclusion, we believe that if Trunk Club adds marketing towards women and reduces the rate
of how much they price the clothes, Trunks Clubs sales and loyal customers will increase
drastically. If they add a few features, like the Celebrity-Look-Alike, for those hard working,
no time to shop women then that would better help the customer and create more customer
loyalty. It would also help the men too because it would make things simpler for men when the
pick what they want for styles. Adding Bloomingdales would better broaden the brands the
Trunk Club already offers while keeping a relationship with Nordstrom. The new app idea to
scan clothing from any store would help in sales because most of the consumers would be more
likely to buy it if they saw it in store first before being styled in it online. Trunk Club has the
potential to take this to the next level and with what we are proposing, this will help them
achieve that goal.

Abraham Maslow Pyramid (Esteem) p.55

JND (p.80)

(http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-databook-2013.pdf)

References
Stevenson, B., & Wolfers, J. (2009). The paradox of declining female happiness.
American Economic Journal, 1(2), 190-225. 28 February 2015.
http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic457678.files//WomensHappiness.pdf.
Mourey, James A. Urge: Why You Really Want What You Want (and How to Make
Everyone Want What You've Got). N.p.: n.p., n.d. 288-91. Print.

Trunk Club
Introduction
Historical background of the market situation.............................20 pts. Identification and
Justification for the Market Opportunity.............10 pts.
REMEMBER TO TALK ABOUT THE CURRENT APP

The Self
Discussion of Influences Originating Within Individuals..................5 pts. Accurate and
efficient use of course concepts.............................10 pts.
The Situation
Discussion of Influences Originating Externally...........................5 pts. Accurate and
efficient use of course concepts.............................10 pts.
The Solution
Discussion of Value and Decision-Making..................................5 pts. Accurate and
efficient use of course concepts.............................10 pts.
The Proposal
How well the campaign integrates Urge concepts..........................20 pts. How well the
team converted its ideas into tangible executions........20 pts. Justification for how/why
this campaign is better than before..........10 pts.
Conclusion:
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Effectively summarizes the entire campaign succinctly.................10 pts.

Lauren: Introduction and half the proposal

Brittany: Half proposal and conclusion
Justina:
Noah

Trunk Club

Target Audience: Moms

Stay at home-no time to shop
Busy with career/professional

Three Categories of Apparel:

Casual/business/formal

Change:

ADD Bloomingdales or Saks

Celebrities-easy outfits (look-alikes)
Pick store want look-alike from

Other Popular/recent purchases w/feedback on stylists/apparel

Fix fee for stylist

Money NOW based on Mark-ups

Change: less of mark-up on items
Ex: Just Noticeable Difference
To Show:
What it is now: survey
What it will be: our version of survey

trumaker

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