What: a new company called Unified Commerce Group seeks to acquire brands to develop them globally on and offline.

Why it is important: might this be an interesting model for department stores to look at? Whatever it may be, it is acquiring already existing brands which is one way to ensure exclusivity without having to build them from scratch.

A new operating company has been formed called Unified Commerce Group with the ambition to acquire brands and scale them for the Asian market. Co-founded by an ex-Fung and Macy’s executive and a former managing director of Société Générale and Credit Suisse, acting as CEO and CFO respectively, the group aims to acquire around six or more brands and develop them in store and online. The advisory board includes Terry Lundgren, formerly Macy’s CEO as well as a mixture of business executives, influencers and “global celebrities”.

It has already acquired the bankrupt Canadian Frank and Oak brand with an online business and 16 stores of which 11 have been reopened. Also Radley, Lisa von Tang and Velveteen. It describes itself as a “tech-enabled platform which drives scale for our brands through unified services”. These include supply chain, marketing and digitisation, HR and finance, distribution, tech and stores.

Betting On Next-Generation Retail: New Company Is Shopping For Brands To Buy