The rational and irrational shopper

You may have noticed that Sears and Wayne Gretzky are teaming up to introduce a new line of clothing this fall.

“Wayne Gretzky!”, I exclaimed to my wife. “He must be at least 50” (he’s 54, in fact). “Who the heck is going to buy a line of clothes endorsed by someone over 50? How will they get the young fashion-types to buy clothes endorsed by someone who could be their father?”

My wife turned to me with that ‘suffering a complete idiot’ look and sighed. “They’re not interested in the younger folks,” she said. “They’re interested in older folks—like you.” Although I felt a slight sting from that remark, it didn’t take long to accept its truth, or at least, the truth of everything except the “like you” part. It’s amazing what the association of a product with a name, age group or activity can do. I still remember when I came home and proudly showed my son the new runners I had bought. Expecting appreciative comments, I was surprised when he broke out laughing and said “That company makes skateboarder shoes. No one your age skateboards— and certainly not you.” The shoes ended up in the far reaches of my closet.

More recently, I went to the mall in search of a basic pair of casual trousers, tailored for the sleekly well-rounded figure. My first stop was the outdoor adventure store, because, after all, if I buy clothes there, that makes me an adventurer, right? The best pair I could find fit me a little too snugly, and cost an arm and a leg (actually, two legs). So my second stop was at Sears, where I found more comfortable pants for less than half the adventure store price. After a brief mental tussle, I opted for the Sears product.

But I was annoyed with myself. I hadn’t behaved rationally. The purchase price and comfort differential was too great for me to do anything other than capitulate to the call of Sears, but I had obviously been willing to pay some sort of premium for the tinge of excitement I would get as I sauntered through the mall clutching my purchase—seeing parents bending over to whisper to their children “You see, Billy, there goes an adventurer: you can tell by the store his bag comes from.” Of course, if I was to pass myself off as real adventurer, I would have to do some real adventuring, in which case people wouldn’t particularly notice my trousers. When you summed it all up, I was prepared to pay a premium for the privilege of deluding myself.

And to rub salt in my self-inflicted wound, as I was leaving the Sears store, I noticed one of those white, cricketer-style summer sweaters on sale at a very low price. I couldn’t believe my luck: I could buy the sweater as well as the pants and still come out a winner. And then I noticed the sweater was an “Arnold Palmer” endorsed product. Now Arnold Palmer (the golfer) just happens to be 85 years old (86 on September 10: Happy Birthday Arnold!). My reaction was to jump backwards as if the sweater carried a poisonous sting.

Which was a second dose of irrational behaviour, because the only way you could tell the product was associated with Arnold Palmer was to turn the inside collar outwards, which no one does in civilized company. But somehow, its association with a man almost 25 years older than me was too much for me to swallow. Had the identical sweater come as a plain label product, or carried the imprimatur of, say, Garrison Keillor (age 73, but also a humour writer), I probably would have bought it without hesitation.

But back to the Gretzky collection. The Sears press release says it will offer “a complete look that can be worn from the office to dinner, from the arena to the café.” It will feature “classic pieces with rich fabrics such as mercerised cottons, cashmeres and merino wool.” It will be “neat” and, of course, “contemporary.”

More informative, perhaps, is the price point. The Gretzky collection is part of Sears’ “strategy to provide value to our customers with products of high quality at prices Canadians expect from Sears.” Gretzky himself says “my clothing will be accessible to Canadian men who want to dress smart and do so affordably.” And a base price of $39.99 is mentioned.

So what does all of this say about the prospects for the collection? It says to me that however well designed it is and however much value it affords, it’s a total crapshoot, because of shoppers like me who consider themselves rational, but aren’t. Next time I’m in Sears, I promise I’ll take a look at the new Gretzky outfits. After all, he’s only 54. And while I’m there, I’m also going to take a second look for that Arnold Palmer sweater. After all, no one else can

see the label.

dsimmonds@wellingtontimes.ca