Miniso’s top price point is $10.
New York – For every vendor in the home textiles business who laments there are no new customers and every retailer who thinks they know the competitive landscape, let me introduce you to Miniso, a Chinese take on the dollar-store concept.
Ten dollars is its max price point. It recently opened its first store in New York City, in Soho no less. It’s unlike any retail concept you’ve seen before…and yet very similar to some.
The Good
- Instead of impulse items at the checkout area, Miniso is an entire store of impulse merchandise, all of it priced at below $10. The long lines at those checkout lanes confirm shoppers are responding to the concept.
- Rather than just a sea of generic non-brands, this store has all kinds of branded goods from such names as Disney, Black & Decker, Sharper Image and Marvel. And we bet the margins are still healthy even with the royalties.
- Miniso Rewards is the retailer’s loyalty program, simply explained on in-store signage, and a compelling purchasing trigger.
The Bad
- Housekeeping, always an issue in high-turn stores, certainly could have been better – not that anybody seemed the least bit perturbed in their pursuit of bargains, real or otherwise.
The Ugly
- We suspect if we went back to the store 48 hours later the merchandising mix would be entirely different – we get it – but a little better organization by product category wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Warren Shoulberg has reported on the gift and home industry for most of his career. He is often quoted in national media, such as The New York Times and CNN, and contributes to PBM publications, Forbes.com and The Robin Report.
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