InsightBlog

  

It's all about the bag....shopping bags that is.

And no I am not talking about the paper or plastic variety that you get at your local grocery store-but rather the highly conceptual ones that you get from your everyday high-end, high-style and all luxe boutiques and department stores. It's often said that the "clothes make the man" and if you subscribe to that theory, then the shopping bag speaks volumes as well. The shopping bag acts as a "free pass" into the club that says " I have style, high taste and that my "money is long"--because quite frankly, whether you buy a key ring or a $500 wallet at Coach--you get the same badge (the shopping bag) that says "I am a member of the Coach" club. If we see a woman strolling through MOA or Rosedale with shopping bags from Bebe, Betsey Johnson, Neiman Marcus - we apply the lable of "style maven" and assume she has the inside track to Fashion Week. We attribute positive images to her of wealth, class etc. simply based on the power of each brand emblazoned on the shopping bags. And it's no surprise that the trend highly stylized and well designed shopping bags has become even more popular--brands get this phenomenon of generating appeal and aspiration through the shopping bags and capitalize on that trend daily.

And it's not just high end brands that have highly stylized shopping bags--even Macy's has redesigned their bags to have a more clean and streamlined look.

The power of the bag is well defined--the fact that the only thing in the bag is a $24.99 t-shirt from the 60% off the sale rack is just a boring detail.