5 Strategies for Victoria’s Secret in 2020
Victoria’s Secret has been in a downward spiral for a hot retail minute now. The brand has faced not one but several PR crises of late and is failing to resonate with consumers amidst the emergence of new competitors better aligned with consumers’ shifting values. According to Seeking Alpha, the brand’s “protracted slump” is responsible for […]
3 Most Common Ways Stores Frustrate Mission-Driven Shoppers
It’s not easy to increase store conversion with certain shoppers. The browsers. The showroomers. The price averse. They don’t walk in intending to buy, so there’s not much that you as a merchant can do to prevent them from leaving empty-handed. But how can you increase store conversion for mission-driven shoppers—i.e. those who walk in […]
Expert Spotlight: 6 Big Ideas from my Interview with Neil Saunders
If you follow retail, you’ve followed the work of Neil Saunders. He’s the media’s go-to expert for all things retail, and his insights have been published in the likes of Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and on CNN, NBC News, and more. No wonder Neil Saunders is widely considered one of retail’s most influential […]
The Anatomy of a Winning Pop-Up Shop
They’ve been fleeting fixtures on streets and in shopping centers for a while, but pop-up shops are here to stay. In fact, the strategy for pop-up shop success has evolved beyond its original goal of generating buzz and sales. Though they still boost revenue, these concepts now primarily help retailers test and improve upon on […]
How Retailers Are Thriving in The Resale Economy
We’ve come a long way since 2012, when Nordstrom selling secondhand shoes at Rack stores was the scandal du jour in the retail industry. In light of increasing environmental concerns, retail is evolving into what is called a “circular economy”–– an economy that doesn’t depend on finite resources or need to create waste to stay […]
Retail Bankruptcies of 2019: Lessons Learned from Forever 21, Gymboree, & More
Bankruptcy. It’s not pretty, but it happens. And in the retail world, it seems like there’s another company filing for bankruptcy every other week. This year alone, the industry has seen 16 major bankruptcies, including filings from Charlotte Russe, Payless ShoeSource, and Gymboree, among other stores. To be clear, retail as a whole is alive […]
How to Energize Your Retail Workforce
Anyone who’s ever worked in retail will tell you there’s a disconnect between store personnel and corporate retail teams. To customers, this might look like a retail employee engagement problem. Part of the challenge is employee turnover. According to a study by global consulting firm Korn Ferry, 29% of retail HR teams reported an increase […]
How American Eagle is Building the Denim Brand of the Future
While some of American Eagle Outfitters (AEO)’s peers are fighting to stay relevant (like Aeropostale) and others are rebranding to weather choppy tides (like Abercrombie & Fitch), it’s been smooth sailing for American Eagle. In the last year alone, AEO achieved a company record of over $4 billion in net revenue after 17 straight quarters […]
5 Ways Lululemon Dominates the World of Athleisure
Lululemon debuted just two decades ago with a single pair of yoga pants. Now the athleisure behemoth is a bona fide lifestyle brand with an envy-provoking retail strategy, opening stores and launching new product lines at a frenzied clip. The Vancouver, Canada-based global activewear empire, which first attracted a cult following for its $100 yoga […]
5 Retailers Using Tech Incubators to Stay Competitive
As traditional retailers take stock of the marketplace in 2019, it’s beginning to appear as though fears of a full-blown “retail apocalypse” were exaggerated. Today, upwards of 90 percent of all retail sales are still completed in physical stores, and industries such as home furnishings, automotive and beauty supplies maintain low percentages of e-commerce sales […]
