What: Macy’s best-in-class retail development program for underrepresented brands enhances programming with new classes, a digital pop-up shop, business grants for participants and more.

Why is it important: The Workshop provides up-and-coming businesses with the tools, knowledge and access to resources to drive their enterprises to the next level, achieve business objectives and sustain growth.

This year it returns with 25 new entrepreneurs and a five-week program, taking place virtually and in-person in New York City. To further strengthen the program, it will introduce exciting enhancements, including new classes, Strategic Sourcing and Pitching for Funding, to improve the Supply Chain and Financial Management curriculum.

There will be a digital Pop-up Shop that will launch on macys.com providing the participants with the unique opportunity to sell their products on macys.com, further fueling business growth. In addition, the participants and their brands will be featured on macys.com live shopping episodes.

The Workshop will also introduce a Vendor Pitch Competition for participants to present their product, business opportunity and funding proposal. The competition winner will receive a USD 100,000 business grant; a partnership with Macy’s sourcing team; buy now, pay later services from Klarna and marketing support from Spark Foundry, among other prizes. Additionally, upon completion of the five-week program, every participant will receive a USD 5,000 business grant.

The Workshop at Macy’s returns

What: Retail rents in Hong Kong are at decade lows as the territory looks to re-open from strict Covid-19 restrictions.

Why is it important: Tenants have already started renegotiating leases by exercising bargaining power ahead of a proposed law that will allow a moratorium on payments. Government pressure and the need to keep retailers’ businesses afloat have also prompted property owners to offer discounts.

Owners of malls and street shops are struggling to get rents back to pre-pandemic levels that made Hong Kong one of the world’s most expensive markets. That’s hurting a key source of income for developers at a time when the residential and office sectors are also under pressure following the government’s strict response to the health crisis.

Lawmakers are expected to pass a bill as soon as this month that will give tenants a three-month grace period on rental payments after Covid restrictions left stores shut or deserted and caused retail sales to plunge. Those that renew rents won’t be subject to the relief, giving them leverage to ask landlords for discounts instead.

While the government’s latest round of consumption vouchers distributed in early April are set to boost retail sales in the city, they may not be enough to lift all businesses out of their misery.

Hong Kong landlords brace for deeper cuts in retail rents

What: Off-price retail is increasingly becoming an important source of growth for the fashion sector as inflation has hit a high post-pandemic.

Why is it important: According to an analysis of global data on the off-price market and a survey of 11,000 consumers in 10 European countries, it appeared that this segment grew faster than the fashion market as a whole, and it was hit less hard during the pandemic. Off-price retail will likely grow five times faster than the market overall between 2025 and 2030.

The study also revealed that off-price enthusiasts, who are interested in products in the luxury, affordable luxury and premium categories and do their shopping on specialized platforms like Dress-for-less, BestSecret, Brands4friends, or Scarce enjoy comparing prices and spend 2.3 times more on their purchases than other groups of fashion customers.

To fully capitalize on the opportunity across all levels, the study suggested that “brands must take a multipronged strategy to maximize revenues for both channels and to secure their brand equity — without cannibalizing full-price offerings.”

Off-price retail fuels fashion growth

What: For many consumers, the endless feed of new styles offered by online retailers like Shein, The RealReal and Grailed is as much about entertainment as shopping.

Why is it important: The age-old ways brands have drawn shoppers back to their sites and apps is with email prompts, promotions and, most importantly, new stuff people will want to buy. Fast fashion was built on this operating model, and it’s a key ingredient of some of the most-addictive shopping experiences.

Shein, regularly uploads thousands of new items daily. But this sort of hook isn’t only found at Shein or even just in fast fashion. Resale sites and apps like The RealReal, Grailed, Poshmark and others have a similar appeal. Theirs is a slower but nonetheless steady stream of novel items to browse multiple times a day for some users.

Fast fashion keeps getting faster, more consumers are buying clothes online and they’re increasingly doing so through handheld computers we call smartphones that allow them to shop whenever and wherever they like.

The boom in online resale has added a curious dimension to the situation, since buying used is arguably one of the more effective ways to counter fashion’s overproduction. But resale sites can still tap into the desire to see new items all the time.

Non-tech trends are contributing. Drops and collaborations provide a regular drip of hyped goods and fashion’s pop-culture appeal has only broadened, fuelling the appetite for clothing.

The result is more shopping sites and apps you can visit daily, or sometimes repeatedly in a day, from your couch or wherever you are. It’s much like scrolling through Instagram and just looking at the clothes, to relax, to avoid work, to kill time during commercials, is almost as good as buying them. More than just physical products, they’re digital media too.

Key to e-commerce success: treating clothing as content

What: Target has quietly started reselling its products via a partnership with ThredUp.

Why is it important: The retailer operates a landing page on the ThredUp website, which features a variety of apparel, accessories, and shoes. Target confirmed that it launched the ThredUp landing page in March. The page features Target’s private-label items as well as some limited-time designer collaborations.

ThredUp has recently added a slew of major brands to its growing roster of clients utilizing its Resale-as-a-service program. It powers resale for PacSun, Crocs, Madewell, Vera Bradley, and Adidas along with powering a resale arm for Walmart with a landing page on the big-box retailer’s website.

Target teams up with ThredUp 

What: Fenwick tapped the architect Ben Mailen, and the hot London design firm Sybarite, to refurbish and expand the store as Fenwick marks 140 years in business.

Why is it important: Fenwick is investing 40 million pounds over the next five years in the refurbishment of its Newcastle, England flagship, adding two new atria and renovating the beauty hall and accessories area.

The retailer has already begun work to upgrade the historic facade of the building. The 40 million pounds earmarked for the Newcastle unit are part of a broader program of investment being made by Fenwick at its nine stores across the country, and online.

The architect Ben Mailen has been commissioned to work on the exterior, including new entrances and frontages with open views into the store. He will be working alongside Sybarite, the London architecture and design firm with a client roster that includes SKP, Ferrari and Uniqlo.

Fenwick plans to run anniversary events through the end of the year. At the Newcastle store, it is hosting a public exhibition featuring works by Northumbria University fashion students inspired by the retailer’s archive and brand story. It is also opening Cafe 140, a café inspired by the archives.

The retailer has introduced a podcast series titled “The Woman Who…” narrated by the actress Zawe Ashton.

It is meant to highlight women past and present who embody female empowerment. Launched last month, it consists of 10, 10-minute weekly episodes featuring inspirational stories written by the scriptwriter and author Hannah Jewell.

Fenwick makes investment in Newcastle flagship

What: Saks, the luxury e-commerce platform, has appointed Cara Chacon as its first senior vice president for ESG.

Why is it important: Saks wants to develop a "cohesive, thoughtful approach" to strengthening environmental, social, and governance efforts across all functions.

Chacon has more than two decades of experience in corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability, including more than 10 years with Patagonia Inc., where she served as vice president, social and environmental responsibility.

Saks appoints first ESG executive

What: Shein has just conducted mega-fundraising and made them bigger than Inditex and H&M combined globally.

Why is it important: Shein has raised between USD 1 bn and USD 2 bn from investors including General Atlantic, Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital China. This puts its valuation higher than USD 100 bn and beats the combined valuations of Spain’s Inditex (USD 68 bn) and Sweden’s H&M (USD 20 bn).

It was the most downloaded shopping app in the US last year and is now the biggest fast-fashion retailer in the US, as well as in many others.

Embracing disposable fast fashion in the way it does has drawn criticism in a more sustainability-focused world, as has its use of data, although the company has defended its data storage policies and also said the Chinese Government has no stake in nor control of the company.

Shein raises new funds

What: Digital fashion and 3D creation studio, which Nike acquired in December, revealed a collection of co-branded digital sneakers on Discord and Twitter.

Why is it important: The shoes, called Nike Cryptokicks, are modelled after the Nike Dunk sneaker and mark the brand’s long-awaited entrance into digital clothing.

The sneakers are available to people who own Rtfkt’s Mnlth, a mysterious digital box NFT that was airdropped, for free, to anyone who owned a Clone-X in February. Clone-X is the PFP project that Rtfkt created with artist Takashi Murakami in November. People could elect to sell their Mnlth NFTs or keep them. Now, those who held onto it have been rewarded, can burn their current Mnlths in exchange for a Mnlth that holds a Cryptokick.

Trademarks filed by Nike for Cryptokicks offered clues about its future roadmap. It filed for downloadable computer software for use as a cryptocurrency wallet, services for a marketplace for digital currency assets, services that provide a digital currency or token for an online community, electronic bulletin board services, blogs in crypto-collectibles, online scavenger hunts, and technology that enables members to receive crypto assets.

This Cryptokicks launch could be the first of many digital launches from Nike. The brand has previously filed seven metaverse-related trademark applications, indicating an intent to make and sell virtual branded sneakers and apparel.

Nike and Rtfkt create the digital “Cryptokick” sneaker

What: Next has opened its first department store-style location with an upsized in Watford.

Why is it important: It comes at the same time as M&S is moving towards a department store model, selling more third-party brands, after UK retail lost Debenhams as a physical stores business due to the impact of the pandemic.

Next in Watford brings together its regular clothing and homewares offers, all well as including the beauty ranges that it has been diving deeper into in recent years and adding a Victoria’s Secret to the mix as part of its UK licence deal for the giant US lingerie brand.

The new ‘department store’ covers almost 95,000 sq ft across three floors with an extra 4,500 sq ft Victoria's Secret branch that has its own entrance as well as being accessible from the Next branch.

Next opens new department store

What: The newly appointed and first non-family member CEO reviews the current challenges and opportunities in Brazil.

Why it is important: Brazil is different from other retail markets, as the mall business is often looking like the department store business in other countries. It is interesting to see how they make the most of both as this might bring interesting insights to department stores companies.

Iguatemi is a major luxury player in Brazil, where the format of department store is often mingled with the mall one. We reported the appointment of Cristina Betts last October 2021 (see here).

Malls in Brazil are located in city centres (quite a difference with the US market), are designed to be safe havens and provide all entertainment facilities in addition to shopping proposals. In Sao Paul itself, Iguatemi operates 19 malls.

Just like department stores, Iguatemi scout for new brands and are very active into making sure that they remain on top of trends. In addition, they propose to brands to team up into JV or partnerships, to make do with the inverted seasonality when compared to the Northern hemisphere.

Iguatemi also operates Iguatemi 365, a phygital touchpoint (see here) allowing the company to operated in both channels and mitigate for the heavy investments involved in mall building (on average EUR 85m). Omnichannel operations are however totally focused on local businesses, be them communities or brands.

Cristina Betts from Iguatemi interview 

What: Spectators will have 150 minutes to unravel a mystery based on a 19th-century novel by French author Émile Zola, itself inspired by the department store.

Why is it important: Shoppers will have the opportunity to find out on Friday and Saturday nights starting Sept. 2, as the department store plans to offer a cycle of immersive theatrical productions in honor of its 170th anniversary.

Within 45 minutes of the store’s 7:45 p.m. closing time, 250 spectators will be welcomed into the store for a celebratory cocktail that will soon take an unexpected turn that will take them back to 1862 and the fictional department store.

The musical score will be performed live, as 40 actors live out 12 tableaux throughout the 150-minute playtime. Guiding the audience through the story — and the store — will be French journalist and radio host Fabrice Drouelle.

Le Bon Marché celebrates 170 years with immersive play

What: Retail's next frontier promises infinite possibility but won't be for everyone. Moves made today will decide retail's leaders versus laggards.

Why is it important: With the Covid-19 pandemic the world leaped five to seven years in the digital revolution. Stores are no longer the default shopping channel, but 72% of consumers still rely on stores as part of their primary buying method. Over the next five years, leaders are buying into the prospects of digitization of the physical world.

The universality of smart devices and the pervasive acceptance of digital tools has created an evolved consumer who no longer sees online and offline shopping as distinct experiences. The team at ChangeUp identified three key themes that should frame up next moves:

Liminal Defiance

Today, people drift in a fluid state of always-on consumerism, not chained to any specific journey or destination. As such, perspectives must evolve from in-store or online to non-spaces: brands thriving in an undefinable and malleable existence. There must be an acceptance of and appreciation for liminal brand experiences that are not built as physical or digital but rather created to achieve a certain objective – tools and tactics agnostic.

Cognification Commerce

The way in which data from devices is being collected, analyzed, and used is evolving. Increasing the "smartness" of the store speeds up the time between gathering insights, making decisions, and seeing results, ultimately driving a synergistic and multiplying effect across all channels over time. Armed with of-the-moment intelligence, proactive retailers will be able to make stores as responsive and addictive as the algorithm that controls their shoppers' TikTok feeds, transforming the store experience at the speed of a swipe.

Untethered Experimentation

The unknowns of XR, including AR and VR should be seen as the melding of worlds, not as a hypothetical outskirts idea to be ignored, but rather a bold expansion of our universe and in turn, expansion of profit. Taking full advantage of an experimentation mindset retailers should see this as an opportunity for creative exploration, data collection, and ultimately, growth.

With the world changing, understanding what trends to pay attention to, what technology will be most prevalent, or what move to make next can be overwhelming for physical retailers. Leaders, however, will see the maze of unknowns as pathways to discovery, of brand opportunity, consumer loyalty, and ultimately, business growth, if they are willing to step across into a new retail frontier.

Physical retail’s endless opportunities

What: SSG.com will sell over 9.6 million fashion, beauty and food items on Gmarket Global’s English and Chinese online malls, as part of the first collaborative project following Shinsegae’s acquisition of eBay Korea, since renamed Gmarket Global.

Why it is important: International shoppers from over 80 countries including the US and Hong Kong can purchase bestselling Korean products.

SSG.com offers bundled shipping services, charging shipping fees only once for buying products from different sellers. Delivery takes seven to 10 days on average.

Shinsegae’s SSG.com to launch in 80 countries

What: Google introduced a Retail Search tool to provide customers with more precise search results when shopping online. The tool also prevents retailers from losing sales stemming from poor search results.

Why is it important: The tool has been tested by Lowe’s, Fnac Darty and Casas Pernambucanas, with each company reporting an uptick in sales conversions, bigger basket sizes, and better customer engagement.

Google created the Retail Search feature to address inadequate searches that lead to cart abandonment on e-commerce sites. The tech giant conducted a survey with the Harris Poll indicating that 94% of U.S. consumers quit a shopping session due to inaccurate search results. The company also said that retailers lose USD 300 billion in sales annually because of search abandonment in the U.S.

In addition to Retail Search, Google has released other tools to assist retailers with their e-commerce tech and make the shopping experience easier for customers. Last May, the company expanded its partnership with Shopify, enabling sellers to easily showcase their products to customers on its mobile browsing tools. It also released a Shopping Graph tool, which tracks products, merchants, brands, reviews and inventory information using artificial intelligence. In September, the company introduced Google Lens, which allows shoppers to search and shop using images and videos on a given webpage.

Google releases Retail Search tool to improve shopper discovery

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What: Neiman Marcus Group is advancing its sustainability journey by installing two, 500-ton water-cooled Trane chillers at the Bergdorf Goodman’s Women’s Store, located in the heart of New York City’s retail district.

Why is it important: Implemented in partnership with Trane by Trane Technologies, a global climate innovator, this environmentally friendly makeover of the historic, 94-year-old building utilizes innovative, energy-efficient, decarbonizing technology, enabling the retailer’s elimination of natural gas use and electrification, transition to renewable energy use and carbon footprint reduction.

The installation of these chillers will result in an annual reduction of 642 metric tons of carbon – equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 138 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year. Along with nearly USD 61,000 in annual energy cost savings.

The elimination of natural gas use in the facility is especially noteworthy when considering in April 2021 the NYMEX natural gas price was USD 2.854/MMBtu, compared to USD 5.336/MMBtu in April 2022. Natural gas pricing is rising quickly, increasing savings for the Neiman Marcus Group even more significantly, and mitigating their price risk.

Bergdorf Goodman’s commitment to sustainability 

What: Uniqlo announced the launch of its new 'Buy With Purpose' feature that highlights sustainable styles, while giving back. The new program is one of Uniqlo's latest efforts to extend its LifeWear philosophy of making good clothing and also a better planet and society for all.

Why it is important: The feature, bringing another ‘green’ label on the fashion market, rewards customers' purchases of certain items with a donation made from Uniqlo on the customer's behalf to one of three non-profit Uniqlo partner organizations.

Uniqlo introduces 'Buy With Purpose' feature 

What: From altering products to buying materials in bulk, brands and retailers are adapting to a volatile market.

Why is it important: Brands and retailers are struggling to preserve cash at a time when everything from labour to materials to energy is becoming costlier daily.

Raising prices alone won’t be enough for businesses to maintain healthy margins. Managing inflation could also mean negotiating better rates with suppliers, using deadstock, introducing lower-priced products and more.

The first step in preserving capital is being efficient, brands should look at small measures, such as ordering fewer samples, along with bigger solutions. Also, look to alter products in small ways, such as hang tags, zippers and packaging, for instance, are subtle enough to change without eliciting too many complaints from customers.

Optimizing production costs by powering factories by solar energy or exploring new production partnerships with vendors who could make the same product for cheaper.

Purchasing a larger-than-usual quantity of materials is an easy way to negotiate lower prices with suppliers, especially when those prices are changing daily also seeking partnerships with other brands in order to build up negotiation leverage.

Finessing the price increase with loyalty programmes and encouraging customers to buy in stores, where margins per purchase are higher. Also, introducing a new assortment of low-price, low-cost products.

How brands adapt to rising costs

What: Nordstrom created two new senior-level roles, elevating Jamie Nordstrom to chief stores officer and Ken Worzel to chief customer officer.

Why is it important: The changes were triggered by the planned retirements of two Nordstrom veterans: Scott Meden, chief marketing officer, and Geevy S.K. Thomas, president of Nordstrom Rack.

As chief stores officer, Jamie Nordstrom will now oversee operations for Nordstrom Rack, the off-price division, while maintaining his responsibilities as president of Nordstrom stores, a role he has held since 2014.

As chief customer officer, Worzel will be responsible for customer strategy across all touchpoints and will oversee the company’s digital platforms, including e-commerce, digital operations, marketing, credit, and the Nordy Club loyalty program. Worzel will continue to report to Erik Nordstrom.

Nordstrom is seeking a new chief marketing officer to succeed Meden. That person will report to Worzel.

Nordstrom resets senior roles

What: The success of its Goodmove brand has prompted M&S to open a pop-up space for the activewear range in London’s Covent Garden.

Why is it important: M&S described the opening as a “significant standalone moment” for the brand, which launched online and in-store in January 2020, becoming the retailer’s best-selling own brand, with 1.6 million items sold annually.

The pop-up at Covent Garden will operate until 23 April, showcasing Goodmove’s spring/summer 2022 collection across womenswear, menswear, and childrenswear as well as host a variety of free classes and talks.

M&S to open a Goodmove pop-up space 

What: J.C. Penney Co. Inc. is collaborating with Authentic Brands Group to offer a 12-piece capsule collection called “Marilyn Monroe by JCPenney.”

Why it is important: This collaboration is reflecting the retailer’s plan to rev up revenues and differentiate and sharpen the identity of key in-house labels, like St. John’s Bay, Xersion and a.n.a., and add greater exclusivity to the business for the past three years.

ABG has become a key part in offering  J.C Penney’s new merchandise concepts and labels, including Forever 21 and Juicy Couture, which are part of the group’s portfolio of brands associated with both living and deceased legends including Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali, Shaquille O’Neal, David Beckham, Dr. J and Thalía, as well as Sports Illustrated, Reebok and other brands.

The collection was launched on the 28th of April in 300 J.C Penney’s locations and on their online platform jcp.com. The capsule collection offers capri pants, shirtings, full-skirted sundresses cinched at the waist; a color palette of black, white, coral and navy blue; classic stripes and floral patterns, and an inclusive range of sizes from XS to 3X. There’s also a special edition of Keds with Marilyn Monroe-inspired design details that will be sold at the retailer in late May.

J.C. Penney Launches styles inspired by Marilyn Monroe

What: After seven years as Group's Director of Operations at Galeries Lafayette, Olivier Bron is CEO of Central and Robinson's department store network in Thailand.

Why it is important: Besides acknowledging the fact that the department store model must reinvent itself, Olivier Bron explains the challenges his store network is facing. Competing with digital penetration, adapting department stores to new forms of consumption such as social commerce, and differentiating boosted services and experiences are key.

About the future of department stores

Whether in Europe or Asia the observation is the same: the department store model must reinvent itself. However, the Thai middle class is growing and the potential is great for the department stores. One of the main challenges is that international competition as well as the digital penetration are becoming stronger.

About the differences with the European market in terms of digital

The consumption via social networks is much more developed than in Europe. There are also very big online aggressive players with marketplaces like Zalada. The challenge is to update department stores to adapt them to new forms of consumption such as social commerce.

Also, consumers in South Asia are highly educated about discounts and promotions: the weight of gamification is very important, and the approach is often very sophisticated. Coupon collection and gambling are very important. With 85% of Central’s customers having a loyalty card, the influence of data is even bigger.

Behaviour evolution is going very fast with 20% of 25-50 year-olds having cryptocurrencies. A huge difference with Europe is also that 75% of digital activity goes through the app: it is more a service in which it is possible to buy than a direct path to purchase. “We have seen a 70% growth in our sales through this channel and we have doubled our sales through social commerce.”

About the differences in the product offer

European department stores have tended to organize their offer around fashion. In Asia, the categories are more balanced with a greater importance of home and living products, household appliance, and beauty.

In the fashion segment, there is a very affluent clientele that is very savvy about luxury products. Such customers are interested in major international brands and French luxury brands already have strong recognition. But they are also waiting for local brands to develop.

About the absence of Chinese tourists 

Chinese tourists did not return. Some Europeans are coming back but it is not like before. The traffic drops are significant. Under such circumstances, experience and service must bring differentiation: in Thailand, personal shopping strengthened the activity by 25 to 35%. Catering is also generating traffic.

Now 15% of the surfaces that are dedicated to services: rather than reducing store sizes, spaces are reallocated to complementary offerings. There is a big risk that below a certain size of store, department stores might lose their attractiveness.

An interview of Olivier Bron, CEO of Central and Robinson's

What: The vice president of Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) Jaré Buckley-Cox announced that the third-party fulfillment business went through a 500% growth in gross merchandise volume last year.

Why it is important: Last year, Walmart added about 20,000 new sellers to its U.S. marketplace after only launching roughly two years ago. The expansion of the fulfillment services program has been key in "bringing more sellers to Walmart's marketplace” with a 90% retention rate for sellers joining the marketplace.

The program has been quite successful for both Walmart (which with this program is able to add to their advertising business which hit USD 2 million last year), but also the sellers themselves. The current sellers who are currently involved with the program have reportedly experienced a 50% sale growth for items. New members are also able to receive free storage and a 10% discount on fulfillment for the first 90 days for those who sign up before May of this year.

WFS is just one of a growing suite of supply chain and other services Walmart is offering to third parties. The goal for Walmart, along with creating a new revenue source from sellers, is to increase its online assortment with the prediction of reaching over 200 million items by the end of this year.

Walmart's third-party fulfillment business experienced a growth of 500% last year

What: Shipt, the delivery company owned by Target, has partnered with Walgreens (health and wellness retailer) and 7-Eleven (convenience chains) to increase the number of retail locations where its service is available by more than 40%.

Why it is important: Walgreens and 7-Eleven further build out Shipt's range of retailers for customers to choose from. The expansion also proves that Target’s investment in delivery services was wise as the market continues to expand.

Shipt currently works with more than 140 retailers and has tripled its network of shoppers since 2020. Shipt is working towards getting on the same playing field as rivals such as Instacart, DoorDash, and Postmates.

Target-owned delivery company expands nationwide