Thanksgiving 2017
For centuries we have come together on the third Thursday of November to celebrate autumn with the circle of our closest friends and family. In 1621, two distinct cultures laid the foundation of what has become the land we call “United”. By doing so, we have...
Will Pokémon Go help Retailers to new Heights?
News are filled with projections that Pokémon Go is a blessing for brick-and-mortar stores. But the real value of the underlying augmented reality technology is with their arch rival: Online retailer. Only the pre-digital generations will remember the original...
Department Store: Retailer or Realtor?
When Herman Bergdorf and Edwin Goodman, his apprentice, created the department store Bergdorf Goodman more than a century ago, they founded an enterprise – and a concept – that has become synonymous with luxury shopping. Since then, department stores around the world...
Modern Consumer: New Opportunity for Luxury
For decades, there was a clear formula for success in the luxury goods business: Offer well-made products at premium prices through a limited distribution network and reinvest a substantial part of the profits back into the brand, boosting consumer brand awareness and...
American Fashion Brands Face Strategic Consequences
Not so long ago, American fashion brands were riding the crest. Now, not so much. As recently as March 2012, the price of Coach common stock was at a historic high; outlet stores were opening at a rapid rate; and the company introduced a flash-sales e-commerce site...
Luxury Brands: Changing the Real Estate Landscape
The rise of e-tailing, the havoc caused by the recent Great Recession and the increased homogenization of the American shopping experience have generated an upheaval in the country’s real commercial real estate landscape. The upshot: increasingly, luxury brands are...
Recession – Scarred Marketers Grapple With Post-Traumatic Stress
It is not entirely clear when the economic battle–a.k.a. the Great Recession–of the 21st century actually began. . ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS: I consider 2008 to be the year of “great value destruction.” Many marketers are still aggressively promoting their...
Chinese Luxury Market: A Changing Business
For much of the past decade, China has been the key driver of the global growth in sales of luxury products and services. But over the course of the past eighteen months a number of factors—some predictable, others less so—have combined to slow what had been a torrid...