The luxury retailer wants to implement buy-now, wear-now merchandising beyond what the pandemic has induced. Saks merchants, moving to implement changes to the product cycle beyond those imposed by the pandemic, have been in discussions with vendors to closely align the arrival of new seasonal product to its stores with consumer demand -the talks have been with 20 key brands in particular. It means that a fall cashmere turtleneck could be introduced in September instead of June; boots arrive close to cold months, and sandals arrive around spring. "It's a matter of what we can do now, through this health crisis, to accelerate the transformation of Saks Fifth Avenue," said Marc Metrick, the president of Saks. The company wants to lead so others follow. "We need this to be an industrywide thing. We are going to lead it, but everyone has a certain level of responsibility in the market," said Metrick. "It doesn't work if the consumer is seeing different products at different times. It's got to be something that changes [throughout] the industry."

For instance, Saks said there won't be as much fall product on the shelves to the degree seen in past years as pre-fall and fall merchandise will be received later than they have in previous years. Historically fall pre-orders could beginning in April but with most arriving by July. This year, fall orders will be received during the months of August, September and October. The reset for 2020 is due to the pandemic but the plan is for permanency. "The current situation has afforded Saks with an opportunity to reset the product lifecycle to better align with customer preferences, which is for more focus on buy-now, wear-now," said Metrick.

Full WWD article: Saks Fifth Avenue presses to change the product cycle

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