Lobster for dinner tomorrow night Fresh Catch Express
Lobster for dinner tomorrow night Fresh Catch Express
Want some unusual holiday gift ideas? Neiman Marcus is only too happy to oblige: How about a miniature replica of a rock 'n' roll sound stage crafted in 18-karat gold, diamonds and mother of pearl?
Or if the $1.6 million price tag is a bit too steep, perhaps you'd prefer a "his-and-hers" silver Airstream trailer -- it's one you share -- with custom-designed interior including antique rugs, oil paintings and beaded fabric for $195,000. Or, for something completely different, there's a $9,400 gold-painted, castle-shaped dog house.
But sorry, the limited-edition, titanium-colored XK-8 convertible Jaguar -- all 50, each with a price tag of $74,975 -- are already sold out.
Yes, long before Thanksgiving comes notice that the holiday shopping season is already upon us: Neiman Marcus's venerable holiday fantasy catalog has begun arriving across the country, proving that conspicuous consumption -- or at least dreams of it -- is alive and well.
Three million copies of the 96-page glossy catalog were mailed, advertising not only extravagant gifts but also more down-to-earth items such as bathrobes and pizza shaped like the state of Texas, that sell from $10 to a few hundred dollars.
But every year Neiman Marcus includes a dozen or so "fantasy" items that since the catalog debuted in 1959 have never failed to generate loads of free publicity for the Dallas-based department-store chain and catalog retailer. And they also invariably rack up a few real five-, six- and seven-digit sales.
"We really do sell these items," said Jo Marie Lilly, head of advertising for the company's catalog division, who also oversees the selection of the fantasy gifts each year.
But more important than the sales these items generate is the tony image the catalog helps maintain for the retailer.
"While not everyone has enough disposable income to afford some of these things, we've really struck a chord in the imagination of people," Ms. Lilly said, even though more than one-third of the catalog's 700 items cost less than $100, with 60 items for less than $20. "They like to read the catalog, even if they can't buy everything."
Analysts agree that the catalog was a stroke of marketing genius for Neiman Marcus.
"The catalog always has been a publicity stunt," said Alan Millstein, publisher of Fashion Network Report, a newsletter for retailers. "What other retailer could get this much Christmas publicity" now? " ... It was a very brilliant marketing move."
Kenneth M. Gassman, a retail analyst with Davenport & Co. in Richmond, Va., said the demand for fantasy items does not wax and wane like typical retail trends but that the desire for the outrageously expensive from a small group of rich people persists during good times or bad, during periods of power-buying like the 1980s or less-flamboyant times like today.
"The top two-tenths of 1 percent of all U.S. consumers who would buy that stuff are in the same financial shape today as they were yesterday and will be tomorrow," Mr. Gassman said. "They will always buy this stuff regardless of the economy. This is the stuff of kings and queens. There's more than just money involved. There's ego, the satisfaction of owning a one-of-a-kind thing. Logic does not prevail."
Founded in 1907, Neiman Marcus began having "a real Christmas catalog" in 1939, Ms. Lilly said. In the 1950s, the company would receive calls from broadcaster Edward R. Murrow or his then-assistant, Walter Cronkite, to inquire what lavish gifts people in Texas were buying that year.
Soon, executives wised up to the potential publicity that lavish gifts might bring, and in 1959 the first bona-fide Neiman Marcus fantasy item was offered: a live steer, or a steer's worth of beef. The next year the company featured his-and-hers airplanes, for $176,000.
"Other retailers have tried to imitate some of the bizarreness of the Neiman catalog," Mr. Millstein said, "but the only one that comes close is the Sharper Image. It's aimed at men, at the husband of the woman who shops in the Neiman catalog."
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