Emily Wiley

History•Began in the early 20th century in Italy•Started by Mario Prada, Muiccia Prada’s grandfather•1st shop in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II•1919 Prada was appointed official supplier to the Italian Royal Family ( which allowed them to use the coat of arms and the knotted rope insignia into its logo•Originally sold leather goods, bags, luggage, jewels, crystals, as well as unusual pieces such as walking sticks•Had a home delivery service

Visual MerchandisingThe Main Floor Mirrors as backgrounds to the

shelves on the wall, holding mainly bags

Glass cases with mirrors incorporated holding wallets, clutches, scarves, and gloves

Sunglasses had own rack on wall

Special section dedicated to women’s shoes

Mannequins displaying women’s ready to wear even on floor consisting of only accessories

The three-tiered effect

Visual MerchandisingThe Basement Menswear Marble staircase/glass elevator

separating the clothing from shoes

Velour couches used for seating Rolling racks in corners of the

room next to the staircase Racks organized by formal wear

to more casual wear Glass cases including messenger

bags, wallets, and cardigans Special shelf dedicated to

sunglasses on wall Shoes in the back area of room:

dress shoes to more casual leather shoes

Visual MerchandisingThe Mezzanine Consisted of specialty

snakeskin and bejeweled items

Mainly bags, clutches, and shoes

Smaller floor because less merchandise

Velour couches to use for sitting

Mannequins used to display clothing even though this was an accessories floor

Visual MerchandisingThe Top Floor Women's wear Everything from casual

dresses to formal dresses, to women’s suits, to casual and professional skirts, pants, button downs

Mannequins display elegant skirts with tops and scarves on either side of partition

Two pink velour couches facing each other on either side of partition

Glass cases holding cardigans, clutches, scarves, and wallets

Characteristics

Contemporary lighting, not obvious

Very clean, open merchandise was easy to see

Marble stair case centered, with glass elevator next to it

Glass and mirrors incorporated in almost every detail Allows the customer to

see themselves with the product

Merchandise

Everything separated by floors, from leather goods to men’s wear to specialty goods to women’s wear

The brand is self named

Prada is one of the highest fashion leaders in the world

Customer Service

Very helpful on the main floor and basement

Relatively aloof as the floors went higher

“can I help you find something?”

Very busy but managed to be attentive to every customer on the main (and busiest) floor

Different from the Prada boutiques back home due to increased consumer market and larger store

Image

Targeted customer: wealthy, can afford and appreciate luxury

Unusual department is the mezzanine floor, since the entire floor was devoted to only 2 specialty goods, snakeskin and precious gems

Unique about the boutique: mirrors used in almost every aspect

Clean and simplistic while being open and sophisticated and with a good amount of product

Sources http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://leathercraftcentral.com/wp-content/

uploads/2008/07/prda.jpg&imgrefurl=http://leathercraftcentral.com/leather-bags/leathercraft-success-stories-prada.html&usg=__Iti2bKhpD0bo3nW0-KYGlKAeh9g=&h=283&w=196&sz=106&hl=en&start=4&sig2=BOnmpQ79Z3QQ6KVDMT8q1g&um=1&tbnid=YHIZ_xFACmhjpM:&tbnh=114&tbnw=79&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmario%2Bprada%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7DKUS_en%26um%3D1&ei=TsEcSqr-AY34Meus8Fo

http://leathercraftcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/prda.jpg

http://wharton-women.com/upload/files/Prada-logo.gif

Prada Milano DAL 1913; The history of Prada (given by the store)