Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia and the fourth most populous country globally, with 289 million inhabitants, consistently maintains robust GDP growth, often hovering around 5% annually in recent years. Economic indicators such as stable inflation, manageable public debt ratios, and growing foreign direct investment reflect a healthy macroeconomic environment. The country's strength lies in its abundant natural resources, diverse manufacturing base, and rapidly expanding service and digital sectors, supported by a large, youthful population driving domestic consumption.

And yet, the retail market remains relatively unknown to foreigners. Retail contributed 10.7% of the national GDP and is expected to reach a total sales value of USD 242bn by 2024. E-commerce, which represented 11.5% of total retail sales in 2022, is expected to reach 21.8% by 2027, following the COVID-19 pandemic-induced acceleration. Thanks to an increasing omnichannel approach, retail is expected to grow at a 4.7% CAGR through 2030, opening many opportunities for national and international players. This IADS Exclusive is the first about Indonesia. It aims to provide a preliminary understanding of one of the leading national players, Metro Indonesia, following a one-day IADS market visit in June 2024.

IADS Exclusive: How Metro is becoming a household name in Indonesia, after Singapore

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Every IADS event is designed to allow the Association members to learn from each other or from inspiring leaders. In early 2025, IADS CEOs gathered to exchange with Javier Goyeneche, the founder and CEO of ECOALF, one of the first genuinely sustainable fashion brands in history. The purpose was to explore the brand's specificities, the company behind it, and what it takes to "be sustainable" in periods of uncertainty, which 2025 certainly is.

Born in Madrid, Javier Goyeneche founded Fun & Basics after graduating in 1995, specialising in contemporary fashion handbags and accessories. Within 10 years, the business grew to 350 points of sale and 70 retail stores, and he was awarded Best Young Entrepreneur of Madrid in 2005.

However, he gradually grew frustrated with the amount of waste produced by the fashion industry, so he embarked on a mission to create a concept combining design, an understanding of the fashion consumer, and the latest recycled materials. This led to the launch of ECOALF in 2013.

The company now produces a fully sustainable lifestyle collection of outerwear, swimwear, casual apparel, yoga, footwear, and accessories. Brand distribution has strategically expanded to include prestigious department stores, speciality retailers (with over 1,800 points of sale), and a worldwide roster of retail stores.

IADS Exclusive: How ECOALF offers a truly sustainable fashion alternative

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In November 2024, the IADS had the opportunity to visit Belgian department store chain INNO in Brussels. Founded in 1897, and having changed hands many times over the years, 'A l'innovation' was a founding member of the IADS in 1928.

INNO moved its headquarters earlier this year from the iconic Rue Neuve location to its newer Avenue Louise space. IADS' last visit in 2022 (reported here), soon after CEO Armin Devender took over, set expectations for INNO's revamping across the digital and physical verticals. Two years hence, the IADS conducted a second visit to both locations in Brussels, the original Rue Neuve and the posh Avenue Louise, to gauge the headway made by the Belgian department store.

The strategic transformation plan, which aimed to renew the store's image and increase sales, seems to have garnered positive results. With fresh branding, physical store makeovers, and a new online marketplace, INNO has revitalised not just its storytelling but also its connection with various groups of consumers. This is visible in younger shoppers crowding the dedicated giftable sections and in the orientation towards Belgian families.

IADS Exclusive: INNO's unfinished business 

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Over the past decade, the retail market has undergone a profound transformation fueled by technological innovation, evolving consumer habits, and shifting employee expectations. While many analysts predicted that the rise of e-commerce and omnichannel strategies would mean the death of brick-and-mortar stores and department stores alike, the opposite happened past the closures accelerated by the pandemic. Nowadays, physical retail tends to thrive, with a renewed demand for immersive in-store experiences (this has been recently exemplified by the many customers queuing to enter Louis Vuitton x Murakami pop-up stores in January 2025).

Beyond store concept spectacles, the true differentiation from one brand to another lies in the quality of the sales staff in delivering exceptional service, especially with the growing importance of VICs. According to BoF, 75% of shoppers are likely to spend more after receiving high-quality service from store personnel. This is truly important for luxury brands as top-spending luxury customers are expected to create 65 to 80% of global market growth by 2027, as mentioned by BoF. Sure, this evolution can create tremendous business opportunities for those brands. However, it also comes with significant challenges in understanding how to upgrade the customer experience and redefine the profile, role and tools of retail teams, as well as the strategies to attract and retain top-tier talent.

IADS Exclusive - Beyond sales: how brand ambassadors redefine in-store luxury

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The French department store Printempsis making a bold leap into the U.S. market by opening its first American outpost in Manhattan's Financial District. After four years in the making, the 2-story, 4,000 square meter location at One Wall Street opened last 21st of March (on Spring Day, which means Printemps in French). Interestingly, it is not advertised as a store but as an immersive luxury experience, blending fashion, gastronomy, and hospitality.

With around one-tenth of the Paris Haussmann flagship store surface, Printemps aims to challenge the traditional department store model by focusing on experiential retail, offering visitors a space to linger, discover and indulge. Also, the opening of Printemps, a new retailer name for US consumers, is expected to contribute to the renewal of the Financial District, introducing a new luxury shopping option in NYC. Advertised as "not a department store" on local cabs and billboards, Printemps is a very ambitious project. What is it all about? Many retailers have bit the NYC dust in the past. What is Printemps' plan to differentiate, in a crowded market, to oversollicited customers?

IADS Exclusive: What should New York expect from the new Printemps store?

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*The IADS Global Department Store Monitor was originally launched in May 2021 by Dr. Christopher Knee as the 'IADS 100 Report' after realising that comparable department store data was either unavailable, poorly understood, or not exploited by analysts. This was characteristic of an ever-evolving industry, making it difficult for outsiders to understand, including events such as privatisation, mergers, change in ownership, or simply not categorising numbers by business uniti.

Since then, the report has been renamed and rebuilt into a new format to enable dynamic comparison among department stores over a specific period and a series of years. To track and compare sales and profits from companies worldwide while accounting for fluctuations in exchange rates, the renewed version of the monitor includes current (as of today) and fixed exchange rates (as of 2021) to isolate the impact of sales growth from the effect of exchange rate changes.

Also, given that accounting standards across countries are not uniform, the fiscal year is referred to as FY 2023-2024 throughout the monitor to compare results across the occurrence of the same world events. This uniformity helps maintain a baseline in the events that have occurred throughout the year to draw fair conclusions. The conception of this monitor was driven by the need to juxtapose pre- and post-COVID-19 results. The 2025 edition of the IADS Global Department Store Monitor reviews 59 department stores with publicly available information to create a benchmark for global department store stakeholders regarding the 2023-2024 period.

This report attempts to capture the global economic retail scenario post-COVID-19 and whether pre-COVID-19 numbers have been regained or are faltering.*

[i] And a reason for international analytic platforms such as the International Association of Department Stores to exist in the first place.

IADS Exclusive: Global Department Store Monitor 2023-2024

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Every IADS event is designed to allow the Association members to learn from each other, and the General Assembly is no exception. This is why the 2024 edition took place in Türkiye. It was the perfect opportunity for one of the IADS' newest members, Boyner Grup, to showcase the progress made since the COVID-19 pandemic and how it radically reinvented itself to adapt to the new market conditions.

The text below is a synthesis of two presentations made by Nurçin Koçoğlu, CMO, and Efsun Janset Yilmaz, E-commerce Deputy General Manager, to explain the extent to which Boyner's transformation process has challenged the company's structures and successfully reimagined every touchpoint with its customers.

It has been stripped of confidential information, including the Q&A section, which IADS members can find in the meeting recap related to the 2024 General Assembly on the IADS Website.

IADS Exclusive: How Boyner has holistically transformed itself

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The fastest growing major economy in the worldi, India has an unconventional approach to spending. Generally a saving economy, consumer spending around festivals in India is significantly boosted across categories like clothing, jewellery, groceries and confectionery, and luxury goods. The festival season in India refers to an approximately 45-day period starting in September with pre-festival sales and ending with Diwali, occurring usually at the end of October or the start of November. With a population of over a billion people, the consumer expenditure over this festival period is a key economic driver for the country.

Parallelly, the Indian retail industry is a major component of its economy (see our report following the Retailers Association of India presentation during the FIRA meeting in 2023 here). It contributes over 10% of the GDP and accounts for around 8% of employmentii. Combining a substantial middle class with increasing purchasing power and a largely unexplored retail market, India is a new favourite for global retail giants. This is evident with behemoths like IKEA, Decathlonand Sephorato name a few. Luxury brands have also garnered traction in the Indian market with the propensity of consumption for luxury goods in India rising with the expansion of the middle class. The advent of the Unified Payments Interface(UPI) transformed the Indian retail industry. UPI is a real-time digital payment system developed by theNational Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). According to a PwC India report, UPI accounted for over 78% of total retail digital payments in India and expects that it will contribute 90% of total retail digital payments by 2026iii.

IADS Exclusive: What do retailers need to know about the Indian Festival Economy?

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Every IADS event is designed to allow the Association members to learn from each other, and the General Assembly is no exception. This is why the 2024 edition took place in Türkiye. It was the perfect opportunity for one of the IADS' newest members, Boyner Grup, to showcase the progress made since the COVID-19 pandemic and how it radically reinvented itself to adapt to the new market conditions.

The text below is a synthesis of a presentation by Yalin Ozcan, CEO of Hopi, the loyalty business unit within the Boyner Grup. In ten years, Hopi evolved from a points-based loyalty programme to a retail media offering and a fintech, offering a wide array of services to customers and other retailers.

It has been stripped of confidential information, including the Q&A section, which IADS members can find in the meeting recap related to the 2024 General Assembly on the IADS Website.

IADS Exclusive: How Hopi invented a new approach to CRM in Turkey

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A store fostering a community of customers

Established in 1881 in Stuttgart, IADS member Breuninger has long been a cornerstone of the city's retail landscape. It has evolved from a single department store located outside of the city's retail centre into the multi-faceted and lively mixed-use Dorotheen Quartier that has redefined urban shopping and leisure in Stuttgart. Attached to this 62,000 sqm project, Breuninger's flagship store plays an integral role, showcasing a curated blend of luxury goods, private-label success, and customer-centric services and experience. Together, these elements illustrate how Breuninger has managed to not only maintain its relevance as a modern department store but also lead the way in building an active community of local customers.

IADS Exclusive: Breuninger Stuttgart

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Every IADS event is designed to allow the Association members to learn from each other, and the General Assembly is no exception. This is why the 2024 edition took place in Türkiye. It was the perfect opportunity for one of the IADS' newest members, Boyner Grup, to showcase the progress made since the COVID-19 pandemic and how it radically reinvented itself to adapt to the new market conditions.

The text below is a synthesis of a presentation by Cihan Yildiz, Boyner's CTO, describing the company's journey into this field. Today, Boyner Grup uses AI in various use cases after taking the necessary steps to ensure the company structure was adapted.

It has been stripped of confidential information, including the Q&A section, which IADS members can find in the meeting recap related to the 2024 General Assembly on the IADS Website.

IADS Exclusive: NRF Big Show 2025

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The IADS Academy programme, a 29-year-old tailor-made mentoring workshop open only to our members' high potentials, promotes cooperation and future orientation. Over the years, the IADS Academy has trained 190+ executives from 29 companies in 22 countries, some of whom reached top positions in member and non-member companies (for IADS member companies alone, 4 CEOs).

The 2024 topic was as follows:

AI and department store activities - Given the number of possible AI applications, how can retailers develop a decision-making tool (in terms of investments, teams and time)?

Once in the forecast, how can they decide and prioritise the right areas of application (examples: product development, customer loyalty, in-store operations, productivity-saving operations...)?

The following is an attempt to report all insights the Academy group considered and worked on during the journey to their final presentation shown to the IADS member CEOs.

IADS Exclusive: 2024 IADS Academy 

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The 2025 edition of the NRF Big Show took place last 12-15 January 2025. It was reportedly a record show, with an attendance of more than 40,000 visitors from 105 countries, 1,000 exhibitors and 500 journalists. Just like last year, the lines were long, and energy was palpable, even though one can wonder if traffic was evenly distributed over all days or if more action took place on day one, with the audience then disseminating in side events, meetings and visits during the following days.

IADS Exclusive: NRF Big Show 2025

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IADS recently held a meeting spotlighting the men's fashion brands and trends that stood out in 2024 and are set to lead the way in 2025. Backed by thorough market research, IADS and NellyRodi shared a handpicked selection of brands to keep on your radar for the year ahead.

Take a closer look at these standout names and explore the photos by clicking the button below!

IADS Exclusive: Brand Roundup: Men's Fashion 2024-2025

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Buy the white paper here

Since its inception in 1928, the IADS' purpose has been to coordinate information between department stores worldwide and research their activities to help them address the many challenges they must face. This translates into many responsibilities carried out by the IADS, all solely intended to provide insights to its members and help them have a broader understanding of the shifting business environment.

Every year since 2020, the IADS has produced a White Paper on a specific topic perceived as important for its members. In 2020, the purpose was to collect the learnings from the pandemic and how to make sure department stores would be prepared for the next crisis. The 2021 White Paper was dedicated to digital transformation and its impact on the organisation. In 2022, it was all about the development of sustainability, CSR and ESG in retail businesses. The 2023 edition was dedicated to retail media.

In 2024, the White Paper was dedicated to middle management. The IADS believes that middle managers' distinct blend of operational knowledge, leadership, and adaptability enables them to deal with retail challenges, but also address transformation and foster innovation. In an era of automation and AI, middle managers have strategic importance as they are pivotal in integrating new technologies, redesigning roles, and ensuring that human judgment and creativity complement technological advancements

IADS Exclusive: Middle managers, the heroes of retail transformation

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Last November, the IADS had the opportunity to visit the recently revamped Oxford Street John Lewis store with its higher management. This was the perfect opportunity to review John Lewis's recent history and see how this overhaul fits into a larger narrative of change for a company that has been going through difficult moments in its recent history.

IADS Exclusive: the revamped John Lewis Oxford Street store

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Last month, the IADS attended the presentation of the State of Retail 2024 - Europe: Transition and transformation in non-grocery retail, a report carried out by Eurocommerce in collaboration with McKinsey. Usually dedicated to grocery retail, this report addresses key trends shaping the specialty retail landscape in 2025 for the first time. It combines market data with surveys of 30 European executives and approximately 15,000 consumers across six European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom). The scope focuses on six retail categories: furniture and furnishings, DIY and hardware, consumer electronics, sporting goods, beauty and personal care, and pet care.

IADS Exclusive: Eurocommerce's State of Retail 2024 report

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IADS consolidated 2024 Holiday window displays from around the world in the latest Holiday window report. Have a look at how IADS members and other department stores are capturing the upcoming new seasons through their artistic and inspiring interpretations.

DEPARTMENT STORES WINDOWS, IN-STORE INSTALLATIONS, VISUALS & SOCIAL MEDIA SPOTS

IADS Exclusive: Department stores Holiday windows 2024

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*Known for its rapid economic growth during the past two decades, China is now navigating a period of moderated expansion. The current economic and societal landscape is marked by a complex interplay of challenges and opportunities: a significant real estate crisis, high youth unemployment rates, a shrinking and ageing population and newfound Asian pride. These factors are reshaping consumer behaviour and economic priorities within the country.

Despite these challenges, as stated by IADS' partner NellyRodi in their What's Up China conference held in Paris in October, there are sectors poised for growth, including sportswear, consumer health, and experiential travel. Understanding these dynamics and local macro-trends is crucial for businesses aiming to navigate the evolving Chinese market landscape effectively.*

IADS Exclusive: a look at trends and consumers in 2024's China

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The Drucker Forum, held annually since 2009, is a yearly opportunity to review management practice and question the state of research, a favourite combination from "management guru" Peter Drucker (1909-2005). The IADS attended the 16th edition of the Forum this month in Vienna. The theme was "the next knowledge work," questioning how organisations can deliver new value creation and innovation levels.

AI was obviously a centrepiece of the conversations, given the impact it has had so far on knowledge and innovation. While the overall conference themes were oriented towards knowledge workers, including researchers, scholars, and academics, it was interesting to relate them to the current situation in retail, where AI is seen as a transforming force for business models. Taking on what was discussed during the conference, AI appears to be, in fact, a pretext for more radical organisational transformations.

Paradoxically, achieving such transformation also does not systematically involve ground-breaking technological or intellectual innovation, as, many times, speakers were calling for a "back to the basics"movement in an updated way.

IADS Exclusive: At the Drucker Forum, AI is the opportunity for a radical organisational change

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising retail, impacting everything from customer service to supply chain management. Yet, as outlined in our recent IADS Exclusive titled "AI in retail: why culture, values, and strategic goals matter more than tech," successful AI adoption involves more than simply implementing new tools. It requires deep alignment with an organisation's broader mission, culture, and values. This exclusive further addresses one of the most critical challenges in AI deployment—the "black box" problem, which refers to the challenge of interpreting or explaining how complex AI models arrive at their decisions. This piece explores how retail leaders can ensure transparency, accountability, and ethical use. Retailers can fully harness AI's potential by focusing on governance, explainability, and innovation while avoiding the risks of opaque decision-making systems. A lack of clarity can impact both customers and employees, undermining trust and creating potential issues with compliance and fairness. Our focus here is on bridging AI's capabilities with clear, human-centred governance by prioritising transparency and informed oversight to channel AI's potential for people-first innovation.

IADS Exclusive: Navigating the AI maze in retail beyond the black box

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Last October, Manor gathered its business partners to introduce them to its new Men's and Women's fashion concept, unveiled in the newly refurbished Basel store and supported by a press release issued the same day. It was the first time that Manor conducted such an event, which reminded of what Boyner does to keep connected with its local suppliers and partners in Turkey./nbsp]

For Manor, an IADS member since 1968, it was, however, an excuse for a much more comprehensive update about every category, the company itself, and where the CEO, Roland Armbruster, sees it in the coming years. This is why the format took the shape of a keynote, modelled after tech companies, with Armbruster, CMO Sandra Kottenauer and CFO Thomas Stocklin, taking the stage solo one after another to discuss product strategy, omnichannel updates, belief in more stores, retail media, and enhanced cooperation with brands and suppliers. The session ended with a Q&A with the three top executives, moderated by Sandra Kanzig, Communications and Marketing Director.

IADS Exclusive: Manor details its new concept and strategy

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Singapore, officially known as the Republic of Singapore, is a member of the world's exclusive club of city-states, along with Vatican City and Monaco. Singapore was even identified in 2015 by the Financial Times as "the world's only fully functioning city-state", with its currency, a large airport acting as a worldwide hub, one of the busiest maritime ports, and fully fledged armed forces (a feature that the other two do not have). Singapore's numbers are astonishing: it was the 4th most competitive economy in the world in 2023, one of the world's very few countries to be rated AAA by S&P, Moody's and Fitch altogether (and the only one in Asia), the second densest city in the world after Monaco, the second country in the world in terms of being a business-friendly place. 100% of its citizens are equipped with smartphones (a feature that even South Korea, an ultra-connected market, does not reach).

Singapore's reputation in terms of productivity is well-established. Still, combined with tourism (Singapore is the 5th most visited city in the world and the second in Asia, thanks to its "City in Nature" positioning promoting sustainable tourism), it becomes a natural destination for anyone versed in retail. The state in its current form is 107 years younger than the first department store to have opened there, Robinsons in 1858, when Singapore's population was 80,000, of which 50% were Chinese.

Today, retail represents 3% of the national workforce and 1.4% of Singapore's GDP, serving nearly 6m inhabitants. Most of its iconic department stores are located on Orchard Road, which gives visitors the feeling of seeing double, given the ubiquity of luxury and fashion labels there. This situation raises some serious questions regarding the still-operating department stores (Robinson's closed for good in 2021): how are they differentiating? What is up-and-coming in such a competitive retail landscape?

IADS Exclusive: How Singapore's new shopping experiences give a glimpse of the future of retail

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IADS consolidated 2024 Fall window displays from around the world in the latest Fall window report. Have a look at how IADS members and other department stores are capturing the upcoming new seasons through their artistic and inspiring interpretations.

DEPARTMENT STORES WINDOWS, IN-STORE INSTALLATIONS, VISUALS & SOCIAL MEDIA SPOTS

IADS Exclusive: Department stores Fall windows 2024

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