Last week’s
Big Retail Show in New York drew much attention from commentators and
participants in this incredibly volatile retail industry. Here are some
snippets that caught our eye.
Volatility
Is The New Norm - Former vice chair of General Electric, Beth Comstock -
“Transformation means you’re never done. Volatility is the new normal,” …… She said that while retailers may be tempted
to put everything on hold, while they “figure this one thing out”, that’s not
an option anymore. Retailers need to become comfortable with many parts of the
business changing all at once.
Levi’s
president, James Curleigh, discussed the company’s move to find points of
strategic balance between delivering the expected (having products in store,
providing a level of service) and surprising customers with the unexpected;
between leveraging the brand’s heritage and acquiring new customers through
innovation.
Curleigh likened the approach to that iconic eighties hairstyle, the mullet: “What did [the mullet] say? It said business in the front, party in the back. The new brand of business mullet should be simple in the front, sophisticated in the back.”
Curleigh likened the approach to that iconic eighties hairstyle, the mullet: “What did [the mullet] say? It said business in the front, party in the back. The new brand of business mullet should be simple in the front, sophisticated in the back.”
Moderating a
panel of ‘next-generation’ entrepreneurs, Rachel Schechtman, the founder and CEO
of innovative revolving concept store, STORY, asked what it takes to create a
successful brand or retail business today.According to the participants, Manish
Vora, co-founder of the ‘playground for adults’ concept, Museum of Ice Cream,
Michael Lastoria, co-founder of the food and lifestyle chain, &pizza, and
Marcia Kilgore, founder of luxury beauty club, Beauty Pie, the best ideas
combine the head and the heart, a bit of logic and magic and sometimes a little
weird.
Continuing
with the trend that, far from dying, retail is flourishing, albeit changing,
the final keynote at the NRF Big Show featured iconic fashion designer Tommy
Hilfiger speaking with IBM’s Michelle Peluso about technology and
transformation at the iconic fashion label. Tommy Hilfiger was an early adopter
of the see now, buy now trend in fashion and the first retailer to partner with
Facebook Messenger on chatbots. The brand has embraced mobile shopping, such as
‘snap to shop’, and influencer marketing, striking advantageous partnerships with
the likes of Gigi Hadid.
“Many years
back, when we decided we should be technically advanced, it was a great
decision because we were right on the cusp of change in retail. We were the
reverse of that trend [of decline]… It all had to do with the fact that we
embraced new technology and were not afraid to take risks,” Hilfiger said.
The Death of E-commerce - from a Forbes article - “Anyone who has been paying attention (or who has been following research from folks like Deloitte Digital) knows that the distinction between e-commerce and physical stores is increasingly a distinction without a difference. Digital drives brick & mortar shopping and vice versa. It's all just commerce now and the customer is the channel.”
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