What: Showfields is bringing its distinctive retail format to Brooklyn, New York with an 11,500-square-foot, tech-enabled store.

Why it is important: Playing on the concept of a house, Showfields also aims to target a younger demographic through a storytelling-based merchandising strategy that rewards brand discovery by leveraging data and technology.

Customers can scan and learn about products as they enter rooms focused on different parts of a house. The app through which customers shop unlocks a lower price only available at the store which is always 10% lower than anywhere else. This is intended to be a reward to the customer for coming in-store and discovering more about the products. The reward to customers is also an opportunity for brands to understand which customers saw their products and interacted with the brand’s website. Sensors and POS software gather figures on sales, traffic, customers’ gender and whether they touch and engage with products or just pass by, among other types of data.

Showfields also doesn’t operate using a wholesale model but intends to democratize retail through lowered costs for displaying items based on the number of SKUs.

House of Showfields opens in New York

What: Close to 2,400 luxury shoppers participated in the “Saks Luxury Pulse” survey sharing their holiday shopping plans.

Why it is important: Saks executives are feeling confident with survey data revealing that 76% of respondents plan to spend the same or more on holiday shopping this year, only 3% less than data from 2021.

65% plan to start holiday shopping before Thanksgiving and 43% plan to shop mostly online. Saks’ aspirational consumers which are marked by incomes of USD 100,000 or less have shown a little less enthusiasm as Saks’ typical consumer, yet the outlook remains strong.

Analysts project smaller gains for the 2022 holiday season due to the threat of a recession, but Saks does not expect much change in sales between 2021 and 2022. 61% of survey respondents plan to shop for formal attire with 32% planning to dress up in formal attire this holiday season (doubled compared to 2021 results).

Gifting results ranged from gift cards at 69%, clothes at 64% and hobby-related items at 51%.

Saks online survey reveals consumer spending plans

What: M&S has launched a plea to the UK Chancellor to help the high street face the expected energy bill price increases threatening retailers.

Why it is important: Marks & Spencer CEO Stuart Machin wants Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to slash business rates, another significant burden on retailers which will also rise 10% next year along with energy costs.

M&S CEO highlights the deterioration of the Oxford Steet and the importance of retailers for employment as reasons for the rates to be reduced. The retailer has also been navigating the weakening consumer demand as households face similar economic pressures.

Other UK retailers, such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Greggs, and Iceland, have also called on the Chancellor to freeze business rates.

Marks & Spencer faces energy bill increase of 100-million-pound 

What: Google has announced that it will be possible to use augmented reality in Google Maps to assist in locating any establishment or service within its application.

Why it is important: Google will project an overview of surrounding addresses using augmented reality and its users’ smartphone cameras to help people better navigate and discover stores and services on its Map application.

This new experience will be deployed from the end of November 2022 in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in the United States, but also in Tokyo, London and Paris, on both Android and iOS.

Google Maps adds augmented reality to locate businesses

What: As the resale site seeks to position itself as an eco-conscious player in an increasingly competitive market, Vestiaire Collective bans fast fashion leading to the removal of roughly 5% of listings.

Why it is important: The company is targeting profitability, focusing on bigger-ticket items which could more commission per sale.

Over the next three years, Vestiaire Collection plans to extend the brands banned from its platform, working with an external consultant to establish a robust set of criteria, including metrics like product quality, carbon footprint and supply-chain working conditions. The resale company is also working on a policy position paper with The Or Foundation, a charity working in the Kantamanto market in Accra, Ghana, one of the world’s largest secondhand markets and the destination of millions of discarded clothes.

Vestiaire Collective bans fast fashion

What: Central Retail expects the Thai demand to continue supporting the positive 2022 trend.

Why it is important: Optimism is based on a positive situation in Thailand, but no mention is made of the other markets where Central is present.

Central Retail corporation projects its revenue will grow by 20% in 2022 for the full year, after 9 months of continuous positive performance in every channel (online, offline, omnichannel). The main reason for this renewed optimism is a positive situation in Thailand, with Covid-19-related consumption boosters helps local Thai consumers, in addition to welcoming tourists again now that borders are reopen.

Central Retail forecasts 20µ revenue growth FY 2022 

What: The Shanghai government’s announcement Tuesday of a policy that requires new arrivals in the city to stay away from public places for five days is likely to put even more pressure on the local luxury retail market.

Why is it important: According to a report published by Barclays, the latest round of restrictions in one of China’s most important luxury hubs will bring an additional headwind to China luxury sales in the fourth quarter.

Starting Thursday, people entering Shanghai will be barred from public venues, including restaurants, pubs, shopping malls, department stores, supermarkets, indoor gyms and internet cafes for five days upon entry. They must take three nucleic acid tests three days in a row, the last test on their fifth day in the city, before being allowed to travel freely with a green code.

Shanghai’s announcement is particularly relevant for the luxury sector, as it effectively prevents non-local luxury consumers from making short to mid-length shopping trips into the city.

According to an earlier report published by Barclays in September, non-local clients can contribute up to 50% of sales to malls in major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.

After the new rules were introduced in Shanghai, cities such as Shenzhen, Nanchang, Xi’an, Sanya, Zhengzhou and Harbin followed up with identical policies. Travel restrictions for new arrivals ranged from three to five days. Local governments also urged residents to cancel travel plans if possible.

China reported more than 29,700 new cases on Wednesday, topping a record high since the Shanghai outbreak in April. Shanghai reported nine confirmed COVID-19 cases and 58 asymptomatic cases on Wednesday.

According to a Goldman Sachs report published on Nov. 6, China is likely to exit its “zero-COVID-19” policy in the second quarter of 2023, after the second Congress of the Party next March, when President Xi Jinping will renew his presidency.

New Shanghai Covid-19 restrictions put pressure on luxury market

What: Hong Kong no longer has the world’s most-expensive retail district after rents plummeted due to Covid curbs and restrictions on visitors.

Why it is important: Hong Kong is struggling with a downturn after some of the world’s strictest Covid measures and the closed border with mainland China slashed the number of visitors. The city received just 250,000 arrivals in the first nine months of this year, compared with almost 56 million for the whole of 2019.

Manhattan’s Upper Fifth Avenue is now the priciest street globally for shopping, according to a survey by commercial property firm Cushman & Wakefield Plc. Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui district comes second, followed by Italy’s Via Montenapoleone in Milan. The previously annual survey is the first since 2019.

Annual rents for Upper Fifth Avenue shops averaged $2,000 per square foot, up 14% from pre-pandemic levels, according to the report. Rents in Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon fell 41% to $1,436 per square foot in the period, while those in Via Montenapoleone rose 9% to $1,380.

London’s New Bond Street slid one place to fourth, with average rents down 11%, while the Avenue des Champs Élysées in Paris came in fifth after they fell an average 18%, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Hong Kong loses top ranking for luxury shopping to New York 

What: Macy’s is using space within 35 of its stores to function as mini distribution centers as the retailer positions its e-commerce network to handle an expected influx of shipments ahead of the holidays.

Why is it important: The move gives Macy’s distribution network a presence closer to customers, allowing the retailer to better service demand during the holiday season, but also creates more space at other facilities for new products down the line.

The mini distribution centres are semi-automated and expected to save shipping costs, speed deliveries and reduce the need for split shipments.

The retailer has maintained strict inventory discipline, as well as made investments in data and analytics that has laid the foundation for continued inventory control and is now in the position to buy more product if demand calls for it.

Macy’s establishes mini distribution centres

What: Cos is set to open a flagship store in Mexico City during the summer of 2023 as its first presence in the country.

Why it is important: Cos continues to scale the business globally through new markets as it announces its 2023 plans for a Mexico City flagship store.

The brand’s environmental focus will also be reflected in the design of the store with bamboo wardrobes, recycled acrylic vitrine display cases and a rail system made from recycled aluminium. The concept is also designed to be maintained, repaired and repurposed.

Cos has expanded across Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America and the Middle East since its launch in 2007. The brand now has an established presence in 48 physical markets, 39 online markets and select wholesale partners.

Cos enters Mexico

What: Louis Vuitton announced the opening of a home furnishing and interior design store in Shanghai, a first for the French luxury brand.

Why it is important: The brand is looking to expand the range of products it offers to its wealthy Chinese customers. The store will be accessible by appointment only, making it a new attempt in private retailing.

The store is located in a building near Nanjing Lu, the city's main high-end shopping street.

Louis Vuitton plans a trial period of a few months before making a decision on whether to make the store permanent.

Louis Vuitton tests its first home store in Shanghai

What: In collaboration with its National Business Involvement Group, Marks & Spencer has introduced changes to provide M&S Retail Managers more flexibility in their scheduling to support employee work/life balance.

Why it is important: Following a trial across 100 stores, 75% of managers that participated reported positive impacts on family life by compressing their hours and 73% reported a positive impact on their time for themselves.

In addition to managers being able to compress hours, extend, and opt for part-time or full-time scheduling, M&S has launched ‘Job Share Finder’ which allows for staff to job share. Part-time managers have also been able to access a version of compressed working offers.

Marks & Spencer launches changes for better work/life balance

What: Business of Fashion brings the Happy Returns director and a consumer psychologist together to discuss how companies can transform customer pain points in the return process into growth opportunities.

Why it is important: Competition around having the cheapest and most convenient experience is now conflicting with CSR efforts and the financial and logistical costs of facilitating returns which has led many retailers to consider restructuring their return process.

While many customers report the importance of free returns (87% according to research by PayPal and TRC), the importance of convenience demonstrates greater importance with over 50% of customers have abandoned carts due to a lack of convenient return methods. According to consumer psychologist, Kate Nightingale, the simple act of touching a product increases the sense of ownership by over 20% which influences satisfaction when customers encounter difficulties in the return process. The sponsor of the discussion, Happy Returns, expresses the importance of in-store, package-free returns to provide a convenient and more environmentally friendly method. The stores do not have to be brand owned, however, if customers return to the store, they are more likely to purchase something.

Returns are a pain point for both retailers and customers, thus, gamifying the process for consumers can encourage loyalty and improve attitudes and thinking around returns. For retailers returns should become part of inventory management through processing returns in-store, ultimately eliminating many troublesome steps from receiving packages directly from consumers.

The benefits of improving return processes can be seen through studies and reports that show how customers who frequently make purchases tend to have the highest rate of returns and are likely to increase order frequency when the experience is efficient and positive.

Reimagining returns to drive growth

What: Dillard’s third quarter retail sales and revenues increased 3% over the period with net sales for the quarter reaching 1.5 billion dollars compared to 1.48 billion for the previous year.

Why it is important: Despite facing many of the same economic and supply chain-related issues as other retailers, Dillard’s has managed to maintain growth with their seventh consecutive quarter of gross margin over 40%.

For the entire first part of 2022, Dillard’s reported a retail sales increase of 8% and a comparable store sales increase of 8% as well. Net income is up 11% over last year’s performance with earnings per share up 32%.

The strongest performing categories for the department store group during the third quarter include cosmetics, men’s apparel and accessories, home and furniture and shoes. Juniors’ and children’s apparel were the weakest performing categories.

Dillard’s posts increased sales and earnings in Q3

What: Louis Vuitton has opened ‘The Hall’, its first restaurant in China which is part of the Louis Vuitton Chengdu Maison, opened at the Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li shopping mall.

Why it is important: As part of the restaurant launch, a local rapper was invited to create an original song for the event to help engage with Gen Z, and an interactive game on Wechat was released the morning of the opening.

Chengdu Maison is Louis Vuitton’s third location in China and spans over 2,000 square metres. Giant panda figures and hat air balloons decorated the courtyard of ‘The Hall’ with images of the sculptures having already gone viral on Chinese social media leading up to the opening. The restaurant serves a seasonal bistro-style menu with pan-European flavours created by rotating Michelin-star guest chefs along with wine from the Jura, the birthplace of Louis Vuitton himself.

Louis Vuitton’s restaurant ‘The Hal’ is located across the street from the three-story flagship story in Chengdu, a major retail hub in China. In addition, The Hall is furnished with furniture and objects from the luxury house’s Objets Nomades collection.

Louis Vuitton opens restaurant in China

What: The place “where America shops” has closed its chapter 11 filing.

Why it is important: Sears is now a ghost compared to what it used to be, and remaining with 20+ stores does not bring enough competitive advantage in 2023’s landscape to expect much from them.

Sears has emerged from bankruptcy after 4 years and more than 10,000 court filings, with almost two dozen stores left, down from almost 3,500 at its heyday. The company entered bankruptcy in October 2018 with 687 stores.

Most of them were sold in attempts to resolve debts. Analysts do not expect much from the 20+ Sears stores still open.

Sears out of bankruptcy, with two dozen stores left 

What: The US mall giant is very confident about the future thanks to excellent Q3 postings.

Why it is important: The cost of e-commerce returns in the US makes an argument in favour of physical retail, which is in addition the best way to convey an experience. As a consequence, Simon Property Group is still very confident in the mall business, even though the group has diversified recently by also taking shares in mixed-use retail developers.

David Simon spoke to WWD in order to emphasise to what extent physical retail is still very much alive, especially in malls. E-commerce is of course necessary, but it is not possible to make a full living out of it.

He bases his declarations on the SPG Q3 2022 results, which showed a +14% profitability per sqm year-over-year, as well as a 25% increase of income to $679.9m and an occupancy rate of 94.5% compared to 92.8% last year.

Taking the inflationary context into account, he still believes that SPG is well positioned to weather the storm, as, for him, physical retail is where the action is and the demand for spaces and deals is still very strong.

David Simon sees momentum in physical retail 

What: The Louis Vuitton headquarters is set to become the host of the House’s largest store in the world along with its very first luxury hotel.

Why it is important: Louis Vuitton is planning to transform the fashion house’s historical headquarters into a massive complex that includes the first-ever Louis Vuitton hotel and the brand’s largest global storefront.

The transformation is beginning this month with the launch of a 20,000-square-foot-pop-up exhibition “LV Dream”, spotlighting top art collaborations, a café and a chocolate shop alongside a gift shop. The space is temporary, only open for a year and is the likely location of the future storefront. The hotel will occupy another sector of the 400,000-square-foot building within the next five years.

Louis Vuitton to open luxury hotel inside Paris headquarters

What: Frasers Group has emerged as the winner in the race to buy upscale tailor Gieves & Hawkes, as expected.

Why it is important: The acquisition fits into the Frasers strategy that includes buying ‘distressed’ brands and turning them around; one of London’s oldest bespoke tailors now joins a group that includes a mix of high-end and mass-market brands and retailers, and one that remains heavily committed to physical retail.

As well as operating the brand’s stores, Frasers has the ability to do that for Gieves & Hawkes by selling the label in its existing luxury retail outlets so it would be no surprise if products started appearing in the Flannels chain and the firm’s department stores. It will be interesting to see whether Frasers maintains the brand’s ultra-luxury profile or offers a more hybrid experience with some slightly lower price points such as those seen at Hackett.

Loss-making Gieves & Hawkes has five UK stores with its flagship on London’s luxury bespoke tailoring hub, Savile Row. Its other locations are in Bath, Birmingham, Chester and Winchester. It’s understood that the stores are part of the deal.

Frasers Group is new Gieves & Hawkes owner

What: Ahead of Christmas, Marks & Spencer seeks to strengthen its menswear offering by adding third-party brands including Ted Baker, Superdry, Lyle and Scott and Musto to M&S.com.

Why it is important: The strategy reflects the overhaul of Marks & Spencer’s clothing and home offering, with sales rising 14% in the first half of the year and third-party brands accounting for 4.1% of its clothing and home sales.

In the past year, third-party brands brought in 70 million pounds of revenue.

Marks & Spencer add third-party menswear brands to offering

What: During WWD’s Apparel and Retail CEO Summit, Bloomingdale’s CEO reflected on the changes and events made during the 150th anniversary period and how they demonstrate the future of the department store.

Why it is important: The 150th anniversary of Bloomingdale’s was accompanied by live activities in-store, hundreds of exclusives, vendor & restaurant participation, special events for VIP customers, metaverse activations, pop culture references and a visit to the past with the full department store’s timeline.

Following the principle of “It’s not a moment. It’s a movement,” the 150th-anniversary strategy has carried on into the Thanksgiving period which will continue Bloomingdale’s gastronomic events. Through looking at the history, Bloomingdale’s social support stood out. The retailer will support food charities in Manhattan this Thanksgiving as well.

Bloomingdale’s plans to focus on its merchandise assortment to have a more exclusive curation with less duplication in products. The CEO told WWD during the summit that he’s cautiously optimistic about the holiday results with confidence in affluent customers and an increase in weddings.

CEO talks Bloomingdale’s 150th-anniversary initiatives 

What: The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade returns to the web3 virtual world this holiday season with a new experience including virtual galleries from five NFT projects that will give fans the power to select the first-ever NFT Macy’s Parade balloon.

Why it is important: Launching on the OnCyber metaverse, Macy’s is celebrating the 96th Thanksgiving Day Parade virtually with NFT projects and the opportunity for fans to vote for their favourite creators, helping one design be transformed into a balloon in next year’s Macy’s Parade.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade goes into the metaverse

What: Acquisition-hungry Frasers Group is reportedly nearing the close of a deal to take over the historic Gieves & Hawkes label.

Why it is important: An agreement to buy the Savile Row tailor is imminent following the collapse of Gieves & Hawkes’ Hong Kong-based owner Trinity Group.

The sale has yet to be confirmed by either Frasers Group or Gieves & Hawkes, but speculation appears confident following a shortlist of bidders made in September and Frasers’ recent purchases of stakes in upscale and mass-market businesses.

Frasers Group set to buy Gieves & Hawkes

What: Sephora’s president of Europe & the Middle East shares plans for continued growth in the crowded and competitive beauty retail market.

Why it is important: Sephora plans to focus on expanding online and physical retail with accelerated global development by opening locations in the UK, Latin America and Asia.

The retailer is relying on the ‘lipstick effect’ to play on consumers’ predilection for small luxuries during uncertain times. Reports have shown that since restrictions were lifted post-pandemic, Sephora stores have seen foot traffic rise as high as 45% in some locations. This uptick aligns with competitors such as Ulta and Space NK. With more brand selection overlap in physical retail, Sephora will continue to push the in-store experience as an opportunity to discover brands. Sephora wants to raise its profile as a brand incubator for indie beauty startups and is looking for around 10 small companies to launch with the Sephora platform.

Social shopping is another aspect Sephora plans to develop with more live streams and affiliate links or sponsored content.

Sephora’s plans for growth and expansion