What: CEO Marc Metrick discusses the rationale as well as nuts and bolts of reengineering Saks Fifth Avenue into separate e-commerce and brick-and-mortar companies.

Why is it important: Metrick’s message is that saks.com can get bigger and more profitable faster and serve a larger audience now as a stand-alone company with new financing.

Some insiders saw the split as overly complicated, involving a great deal of administrative detail, and a sign that HBC saw a big future in the dot-com side of the business while diminishing expectations for the stores. Within the industry, there’s been a difference of opinion as to whether the reengineering would benefit the Saks Fifth Avenue brand overall, lead to better experiences for shoppers and position saks.com for an initial public offering, which is a real possibility.

Metrick suggested that orchestrating the split wasn’t as complicated as others have imagined. Hudson’s Bay Co. had already decentralised its shared services structure, enabling its divisions to operate more independently. Metrick said more than 300 agreements were established between the two companies, that saks.com charges fees for the services it provides to SFA, and vice versa, and that the intellectual property is owned by saks.com.

Saks.com’s chief merchandising officer Tracy Margolies handle all the buying and merchandising for saks.com and Saks Fifth Avenue stores. Merchandise planning and allocation for the stores is done by saks.com.Emily Essner, chief marketing officer of saks.com, is in charge all the pricing, promotion and brand image for saks.com and the Saks Fifth Avenue stores. Meanwhile, because SFA is handling such functions and services as buy online, pick up in stores, returns, exchanges and alterations, SFA charges saks.com fees through the operating service agreements. The marketing team at saks.com handles communications to all customers, though style advisers in the stores still engage and communicate directly with their customers.

Customer service doesn’t change. If it’s needed in store, the store team handles it. When customers need support with their online order or experience, they contact the saks.com call centre. Metrick explained how sales associates are compensated. He said if a customer shops at a SFA store and gets helped by a store associate, but makes the purchase online, saks.com gets credit for the transaction. If a customer shops online and gets assisted by an online stylist at saks.com, but then goes to a SFA store to try it on and purchases it there, SFA gets credit for the sale and the store associate gets the commission.

Saks Fifth Avenue’s Playbook on a Split Up 

What:  Alibaba’s subsidiary, Freshippo, is launching 10 Store X hypermarkets in China this year.

Why it is important:  Although seemingly traditional in surface, the hypermarkets opened by Alibaba leverage the use of technology to promote a one to one marketing, in a massified way. This allows to increase the average basked and clearly target affluent Chinese customers and families.

Alibaba is launching a new chain of supermarkets in China called Store X, targeting affluent families, with 2 stores already opened and 8 more to come this year. These stores are larger iteration of Alibaba’s Freshippo stores (approximately twice as large).

The first Store X was opened in Shanghai last October on 18,000 sqm, stocked with 40% of private labels. It became profitable in 2 months, with an average spending of USD 152, and capitalizes on Alibaba’s overall capabilities to pilot ‘hyperlocal retail’, a mix of digital understanding and knowledge of the customer and the possibility to leverage digital capabilities to propose outstanding services such as instant delivery. To that extent, Alibaba claims that this retail proposal is a clear upgrade from the US initial model of hypermarkets, as it relies on a deeply personalized relationship with the customer.

In addition, Store X benefits from the Tmall Global brand offering, therefore proposing a broad access to international brands too.

Alibaba Rolls out Hypermarket Chain ‘Store X’ to Cater to Affluent Urban Families in China 

What: The retailer is investing in DroneUp, a drone services company that it has previously worked with on delivery trials.

Why is it important: In e-commerce quest, last-mile delivery is key and requires new solutions to reduce costs and lead time.

The retailer, whose executives have spent the past year emphasizing its e-commerce ambitions and strategies to shorten delivery times, said it is investing in DroneUp, which offers data collection services using drones.

The company said it would be unrolling its first operations with the company in Arkansas, and indicated plans to scale the operations over time. Drone deliveries, still a while from being scaled to mass use, are being viewed as a way to circumvent traffic, and as part of a shifting retail model.

Walmart Invests in Drone Deliveries in E-commerce Quest 

What: The British department store has opened its second location of The Residence, as it calls its invitation-only culture, events and personal shopping spaces in China.

Why is it important: By all means, Harrods wants to keep in touch with wealthy Chinese consumers.

The new outpost, in Beijing, is located at the The Opposite House hotel, and has its own private restaurant. It plans to offer exclusive products such as haute couture, high jewellery and watches, as well as social events for its local clientele, Harrods said.

The department store has been doubling down on China for some time. In 2019, it held a three-day pop-up The Residence experience in Shanghai, and then set up a permanent version last year. This marked the first time the company had expanded its private shopping service outside of London.

Harrods Opens Second China Outpost 

What: A mall-owner gives away marketing space to local brands and startups created during the pandemic

Why it is important: This is a very efficient way to ride both the increased demand for local consumption, but also to recreate stronger ties with local communities by showing support.

GDR UK, a retail intelligence agency based in London, reported the latest marketing initiative performed by UK-based Westfield shopping centres, the “Side Hustle Heroes initiative.” It provides window space to six local startups, spanning categories from fashion, homeware to beauty, which were created during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Each startup has total freedom and flexibility in terms of windows display and storytelling, which is then reverberated by Westfield through various marketing initiatives.

While Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield promotes this operation as a way to enhance local business, something that 49% of customers request, this is also a very efficient way to weave the mall into the local life, recreating bonds with neighbouring communities.

westfield gives local startups window space in its two london malls

What: John Lewis extends its marketplace operations to fashion brands

Why it is important: The UK department store aims at rejuvenating its brands image through this move.

John Lewis is inviting 40+ brands to “sell their products on John Lewis website”, with a plan to reach 100 brands in the next 12 months. The goal is to increase the number of options for customers to buy branded fashion and the price range. This is the first time that John Lewis does so for fashion, but not as a whole, as the marketplace model was already used for home products in the past.

Pippa Wicks, CEO, mentions that this new step is part of the plans to modernise the brand.

John Lewis to allow fashion brands to sell products directly on its website 

What: The interview of Pavilion Malaysia’s CEO, Joyce Yap.

Why it is important: Experience is now a must-have on all markets across the globe, and no retailer is spared with the necessity to address the omnichannel topic, wherever and whatever the culture.

Even though 2020 has been a challenging year, Pavilion is expecting a rebound in terms of traffic and turnover, based on previous experiences (1997, 2007), the short-lived reopening period in June 2020 (traffic went back to 75-890% of 2019 levels and turnover to 50-60%) and what is happening in China with revenge shopping.

The challenges were not on the tenancy rate (which remained stable thanks to newcomers) but internal negotiations with brands led to putting Pavilion’s cash management on a tight rope.

Malaysian customers are now asking for personalisation and experience, like in the rest of the world. For that reason, Pavilion is planning to use technology to leverage that aspect of the business and know better their customer. This also translates into making e-commerce a complement to brick & mortar which, in Yap’s view, is here to stay due to the customers’ hunger for experience. However, omnichannel, like in the rest of the world, is not anymore a question nor a luxury, but a bare necessity.

In terms of projects, Yap described the new Pavilion Bukit Jalil mall set to open in the southern corridor of Kuala Lumpur. Mixing retail, residential and office space on a gross area of 3,48 million square feet, including a bit less of half dedicated to retail, it aims to provide local community with direct access to immersive experiences and leisure.

It will include the newest Parkson department store in Malaysia, a Dadi Cinema, a new concept supermarket and a series of experiences revolving around the South-East Asian cultures.

How pavilion is connecting with its customers

What:  Two decades after launching its shopping vertical, the search engine giant has become a force in how people shop for clothes.

Why is it important:  Facebook and Instagram are more for brand awareness than getting people to actually convert. With Google, people are looking for specific things.

Google’s shopping function isn’t exactly new. But it was in spring 2020, after the search engine made it (indefinitely) free for brands to list products on its Shopping tab, that the service began to really take off. This drew in many small brands with the promise of appearing on equal footing in searches with bigger rivals. Google Shopping being cheaper than Facebook and Instagram in general, it’s an untapped opportunity for young brands.

For consumers, Google Shopping offers the promise that they can type in a search term and expect to find a comprehensive selection from the site’s enormous database. The site also makes it easier to comparison shop.

In the past year, Google said it saw 80% growth in the number of merchants that use Shopping and a 70% increase in products listed. The tool is helping Google compete with Facebook and especially Amazon, which has gained market share in digital advertising at the search giant’s expense.

Many brands use a combination of free listings and paid ads, which appear on the top panel as the first results but are marked as “ads.” Emme Parsons, a luxury sandal maker, said her return on ads purchased on Google Shopping is nearly 800%, compared with 136% and 30% on Instagram and Facebook, respectively. Larger brands also haven’t been as quick to shift their spending because they have less developed direct-to-consumer channels and prioritise brand awareness marketing over conversions.

Google’s answer to its rivals is its “Shopping Graph,” a database that tracks products, brands and customer reviews. In addition to powering the Shopping search function, Shopping Graph connects with information collected by Google’s other services. Users can now see if a product is available at a specific store location, for instance.

Google is the directory of the internet. Brands say Google Shopping still has its limitations. There are only so many ads that can appear on the site before returns would theoretically start to trail off, while Facebook seems to have a higher ceiling. Instagram also offers more ways to showcase products beyond the standard e-commerce grid. Brands rely on both Google and Facebook. A brand that sees more sales from Google ads might have only acquired those customers thanks to sponsored posts on Instagram.

The Rise of Google Shopping 

What: Hudson's Bay has so far launched large Forever 21 shops inside two Toronto area stores on Friday and plans to significantly widen the distribution of the brand.

Why is it important: Forever 21 represents opening price points at Hudson’s Bay and will help attracting younger generations.

Hudson’s Bay launched two large “full-line” Forever 21 shops within its Yorkdale and Square One Shopping Centre locations in Toronto. Several additional Hudson’s Bay locations across Canada will offer the Forever 21 brand this fall, either through delineated shops-in-shop or integrated into the women’s fashion areas.

Forever 21 will also be sold on thebay.com starting in the mid-summer. As reported, thebay.com in March converted into a marketplace format, enabling the company to quickly list a much broader spectrum of brands and products. In addition, 5 Forever 21 freestanding stores opened in the country.

In February 2020, Forever 21 was lifted out of bankruptcy through an acquisition by Authentic Brands Group and the Simon Property Group, with each acquiring a 37.5% stake, and Brookfield Property taking a 25% stake.

Hudson’s Bay Brings Forever 21 Back to Canada 

What: The new shopping app allowing users to pay at any online retailer in three instalments arrives in the UK.

Why is it important: Klarna’s buy now pay later solution eliminates the need to use a credit card.

Klarna’s in-app shopping experience claims to “cover the whole retail journey, from discovery through purchase and return management”. This new feature allows UK Klarna users to shop at any online retailer, regardless of whether they’re partnered with Klarna or not, eliminating the need to use a credit card. It will also integrate monthly budgets and personal spending limit functionalities for users to set and remain in control of their spending.

Additional features include wish lists and curated content, price drop notifications, thousands of deals, and lists of retailers for users to decide where to buy at the best price.

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna said: “We believe that no one should ever have to pay credit card fees or high interest rates. Shoppers now can interact with their favourite retailers without having to leave the Klarna app. Our one stop shop app is the future of shopping”.

Klarna launches new interest free shopping feature

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• All you need to know about Buy Now Pay Later

What:  A mall launches a marketplace designed for its tenants, as a way to provide support and develop hyperlocal retail.

Why it is important:  IADS members are looking for solutions to prevent their concessions tenants to use click & collect as a way to reduce the variable rent to be paid. Bal Harbour does the contrary and provides the infrastructure to increase overall sales, online and offline, while making sure it controls, or has an eye on, e-commerce operations from brands.

Bal Harbour, the high end mall in Miami, Florida, is launching its own marketplace, Bal Harbour Shops Marketplace, designed to be a store-level solution and not an e-commerce platform. The marketplace will be fully integrated into the mall’s website and newsletter (shoppable) and will be providing solutions to brands with a store in Bal Harbour.

Since the launch, 6 brands joined the initiative, including Ferragamo. Interestingly, in terms of operations, most of the brands fulfil sales on this marketplace (which is very much Bal Harbour-centric, thus hyper local, and not competing with e-commerce giants), with products from their stores, and not their warehouse.

In parallel, Bal Harbour is conducting a renovation project, including a new extension (where it proposed brands to relocate in exchange for continuous rent support during the pandemic) and new services area, such as a relocated car park. The new extension, expected to open by 2024 and currently leased at 65%, will increase the mall total surface, from 45,000 sqm today to 70,000.

Bal Harbour Shops Launches a Marketplace 

What: Target and Walmart have announced sales events that start a day before Amazon’s Prime Day.

Why it is important: The retailers hope to pull some sales away from Amazon, especially from those that do not have an Amazon Prime membership.

Target’s Target Deal Days  will span from 20 June through 22 June and Walmart’s Deals for Days event will last from 20 June to 23 June. Both do not require any kind of membership to take advantage of the deals which will be similar to Black Friday savings.

But the lack of membership requirement on some rival retailers' sales events may pull potential shoppers away from Amazon’s Prime day happening from 21-22 June.

Target, Walmart announce overlapping sales events to rival Amazon

What: The retailer has broadened the responsibilities of Denise Magid and Dan Leppo, both executive vice presidents and general merchandise managers, in the wake of the departure of Stacie Borteck, senior vice president and general merchandise manager.

Why is it important:  Rather than replacing Stacie Borteck, the department store is reorganising its merchandising structure.

Additionally, Jennifer Jones, vice president and divisional merchandise manager of women’s shoes, has been promoted to senior vice president of centre core, a cluster of categories encompassing fashion accessories, shoes and fine jewellery. Jones will report directly to Magid, who adds centre core to her responsibilities while continuing to head up women’s ready-to-wear, concessions and outlets.

Leppo will add the cosmetics division to his responsibilities while continuing to head up the men’s, home and young world (kids) divisions.

Bloomingdale’s Resets Responsibilities of Top Merchant 

What: Department store group owned by the Weston family is said to have received an approach from a potential buyer

Why it is important: The non-solicited offer became a circulating rumour very quickly.

Established by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908, the retailer was acquired by the Weston family for GBP 598 million in 2003 and now comprises 4 Selfridges stores in the UK, Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland, De Bijenkorf in the Netherlands and Holt Renfrew in Canada.

During the lockdown in July 2020, the store laid off 14% of its employees (450 positions)

Credit Suisse has been reported to be appointed adviser after an unsolicited approach. If confirmed, the approach would come at a time of considerable internal change; the family patriarch, W Galen Weston, died earlier this year while Paul Kelly, who had run the Selfridges group since the Westons acquired it, moved to another role in the holding company in 2019. The chairwoman is Alannah Weston, daughter of Galen Weston, and was appointed 2 years ago.

Selfridges up for sale with £4bn price tag 

A new space dedicated to immersive media art opened on the 9th floor at luxury department store Lotte Avenuel in Myeong-dong, Seoul.

The venue, Groundseesaw Myeongdong, is an 800-square-meter exhibition hall with 6-meter, ceiling-to-floor screens covering the walls. The hall features more than 70 high performance projectors and multiplex cinema sound systems.

“Blue Room,” the opening exhibition, designed under the theme of “Trip to Awakening,” will showcase immersive media art that reinterprets images of blooming flowers, clouds, forests, and the night sky.

Tickets cost between 12,000 won to 15,000 won (USD 10 to USD 13).

New media art venue opens at Lotte Avenuel 

What: Sephora and Zalando have signed a long-term strategic partnership starting in Germany in the fourth quarter of this year making Sephora’s entire offer available on Zalando.

Why it’s important: Zalando’s customer experience and e-commerce expertise combined with Sephora’s curated assortment of products will create an unparalleled partnership.

The online platform will be rolled out to other countries in 2022, making the consumer reach immense. At Zalando, three out of five people who buy beauty also shop fashion, and fashion-engaged customers are often highly engaged in beauty. Zalando has 42 million active customers.

Today, Zalando sells more than 13,000 products and 350-plus brands in beauty. Those not in the prestige category will continue to be sold on the platform, just not in the Sephora-related space. Looking ahead, the prestige beauty products sold on Zalando could be tweaked according to geography.

Sephora already moved to aggressive partnership to reach more customers in North America, with its first Sephora in Kohl’s stores due to open in August.

Sephora, Zalando Partner to Sell Prestige Beauty 

What: In China, the physical store could make a comeback as a small, locally focused experiential retail proposition in neighbourhoods with authentic character.

What is important: Further to Nike launching small stores, neighbourhood shop trend is getting more and more important in China as a way to engage in a different way with customers. Such stores are opening in neighbourhoods with an atmosphere, but also in smaller fashion commercial districts and retail complexes.

The space can be more about the pleasures of experiential retail — in line with current retail trends — encouraging communication with consumers and interaction about fashion. Rather than standardised product displays, neighbourhood stores place higher significance on creating a sense of affinity between product and customer and nurturing a special atmosphere.

Chinese online women’s fashion retailer Short Sentence opened its first boutique in Shanghai in January, seeking to create a friendly vibe. The new 100-square-metre store aims to project the warmth of a neighbourhood shop with a small garden at the entrance. The store’s layout recalls a workshop space, presented as a gathering place for creative, innovative people.

The concept of a neighbourhood store offering an experience is extending well beyond fashion and furniture. Nio House, described as a “lifestyle sharing space”, has been created by electric automobile manufacturer Nio. A Nio House has a multitude of rooms for exhibitions, dining, reading and discussion. Nio users can also invite friends for a test drive or to participate in themed House activities. Nio House has been developed to bring a stronger sense of community to the Nio brand, which is best known for its family cars. The lifestyle spaces are typically located in urban shopping malls, where families tend to shop.

There’s a certain degree of randomness to these new local stores and it requires retailers to take risks. While mainstream retail districts and shopping centres attract a certain crowd that can be analysed in advance, a neighbourhood shop may attract all kinds of people. It may evolve as more showroom or digital pick-up space than sales unit. Customers visit for the experience rather than with a particular objective, collecting impressions about products in-store, and probably, buying online.

Welcome to China’s new neighbourhood stores 

What: Dotcom's seventh annual survey reveals consumer online behaviour.

Why is it important: The study shows a demand for greener, more sustainable approaches by retailers and brands. Dotcom Distribution said returns were “revealed to significantly impact purchase decisions”, especially when it comes to apparel.

In regard to sustainability, packaging “is key to customer attraction and retention,” the report said, noting that “sustainable packaging was most likely to compel online shoppers to be a return customer (at 42%).” And among environmental factors such as ethical sourcing, fuel efficiency and product ingredients, sustainable packaging was cited as the “most attractive feature” at 45%. Fifty-three percent of respondents also reported being more inclined to purchase from a business that supports initiatives surrounding diversity, racial and social justice.

Dotcom Distribution found that a returns strategy can have a strong impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Fifty-five percent of the 1,100 online shoppers polled “won’t even shop with a company that doesn’t offer free returns,” while 86% credit free returns “as the return policy that makes them most likely to shop with a brand.”

Sustainable Packaging, Free Returns Top-of-Mind for Shoppers 

What: Lotte Maison Dong Busan is a 23,044 square metres mall gathering 50 domestic and foreign brands.

Why is it important: Home goods business being boosted by Covid, this is Lotte’s first brick-and-mortar shopping complex for furniture, home appliances and accessories.

The new mall is located in the Osiria Tourism Complex in Busan. Stores are set up like real living spaces. Top brands including Hanssem, Simmons, ACE, Tempur and Sealy, as well as a Samsung Digital Plaza and an LG Electronics store are set to open.

Additionally, “Pet Park” tailored to the trends of pet dogs, “Brick Campus” where you can experience Lego exhibitions, and a special skateboard specialty shop are also opening.

Lotte Maison Dong Busan opens in East Busan

What: Following Debenhams’ bankruptcy, some of its stores are attributed a new purpose.

Why it is important:  the project is a good example of the new urban deployments, mixing hospitality with entertainment. With the exception of the 20,000 sqm retail space planned in Paris, this project is similar to what La Samaritaine promises to be once it opens.

The Debenhams store, in the Princess building erected in 1869, closed following to the company’s failure, is set to be redeveloped into a hotel and restaurant, expected to open in 2024. The project will cost GBP 50 million and cover all 10,800 sqm of retail space.

It is widely expected to contribute to the local community and city centre life.

Debenhams' Edinburgh store to convert into boutique hotel 

What: The retailer’s ad business rebranded as ‘Walmart Connect’, saw a triple-digit growth last quarter, a high-margin endeavour capitalizing on mountains of shopping data.

Why is it important: Walmart is leveraging its capabilities by using its data asset.

During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Walmart has continued to expand its access to consumers by ramping up kerbside pickup and delivery services, and unrolling its Walmart+ subscription delivery program. The retailer estimates that each week, roughly 265 million customers visit its stores and online all over the world. The company has increasingly sought to leverage this base by rolling out and expanding offerings beyond retail, including in advertising, financial services and health care.

Walmart has been in the advertising business in some form for decades, where its thousands of stores in the U.S. facilitated various exercises in brand advertising. Having a specific new branded platform around those advertising efforts makes it easier to promote that advertising business in a more focused way.

What Walmart has sought to highlight to brands is not just its access to consumer data based on shopping transactions, but also the technology to process that data. Such technology can help to draw connections between the on- and offline behaviours of consumers, and to analyse the purchase journeys of millions of consumers to identify patterns and anticipate needs. The appeal of such a service is especially strong for small businesses whose marketing resources are limited.

This kind of ability to synthesize a large volume of consumer information also introduces some privacy and security concerns for consumers. Walmart said in a statement that the retailer neither provides data about individual customers, nor sells that information.

Walmart Leverages Tech, Proximity to Shoppers to Boost Ad Business 

What: Bob Kupbens, NM's chief product and technology officer, says omnichannel luxury is challenging to execute but his company has a huge opportunity to engage customers in really different ways.

Why is it important : The Neiman Marcus Group is in recovery mode and prepared to be the only multibrand, true omnichannel luxury retailer.

So said Bob Kupbens, the company’s executive vice president, chief product and technology officer, at the Fairchild Media Group Tech Forum, in a discussion on initiatives and challenges at NMG.

Before the pandemic, the Dallas-based luxury retailer rolled out Connect, a digital tool for associates to personalize their communications with customers and communicate the way customers want, through either email, phone calls, or texting. Associates can also send photos and set up in-person appointments. Further helping NMG manage was the fact that the Bergdorf Goodman e-commerce website “did a really significant refresh before the pandemic, and an incredible job of pulling their customers through that period,” said Kupbens.

“Now as people are coming back to stores, we are starting to see strong recovery in traffic and sales. But our vision is less about individual transactions, and individual spaces and individual channels. It’s really about the connected end-to-end experience that spans physical and digital channels.”

With technologies, “We don’t have to be the cutting edge of everything…So when we think of places where we should be cutting edge, it’s about personalization, truly knowing our customers and acting on that. We’ve got some great wins around data science, and [product] recommendations.”

Months ago, NMG revealed plans to spend $85 million to upgrade its supply chain and modernize physical facilities, systems and technologies. “At the core, it’s way more about customer experience,” said Kupbens. “It’s things like faster shipping options, new capabilities, providing insight into inventory availability, reliable delivery estimates. It’s ultimately a key part of providing key services.”

In mid-June, NMG revealed its acquisition of Stylyze, a machine learning SaaS platform for advancing personalization, which has been integrated into NMG’s Connect clienteling tool. NMG also disclosed that it intends to spend more than USD 500 million over the next three years in technology and digital capabilities and partnering with more than 25 “key” technologies such as search and browse, product recommendations, financing, order tracking and returns, promotions, loyalty and ratings and reviews.

Connecting With Customers Through Technology at the Neiman Marcus Group 

What: After announcing Glossier would permanently shutter its stores last summer, the brand plans to open stores globally.

Why is it important: Despite an online business share of 80%, the brand, addressing to Gen Z, wants to cater to their physical experience expectations.

When other beauty retailers reopened their storefronts last summer with modified protocols,  Glossier announced it would be shutting its stores permanently. But quickly, the brand realised that customers wanted stores back. Despite the fact that 80% of Glossier’s sales come from its own website (while traditional beauty retailers see the inverse), the brand’s brick and mortar stores and pop-ups have become destinations.

The company has ambitious retail plans, starting with the opening of three permanent stores during the second half of the year in Seattle, Los Angeles and London. A New York City door will open next year, as well as several more. Glossier plans to tailor every retail space to the city it’s located in.

Glossier Set to Return to Physical Retail, Open Stores Globally 

What: The Toronto-based luxury retailer is seeking to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is dropping fur and exotic skins.

Why it is important: Holt Renfrew wants to be seen as the most environmentally friendly retailer in the country, if not the world.

The Toronto-based Holt Renfrew said it’s the only retailer in Canada to have emissions reductions goals approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, which provides guidance to set science-based emissions reduction targets, consistent with goals of the Paris Agreements.

Holt Renfrew is working to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 65% by 2030, from a 2019 base year. Holt has also targeted a 28% reduction in Scope 3 GHG emissions (generated by vendors and suppliers) by 2030.

In addition, Holt said 67% of its purchased goods and services, and upstream and downstream transportation, will have science-based targets by 2025. The most environmentally impactful materials — cotton, leather, down and feathers, plastic packaging, palm oil, and forest-derived fibres such as paper, wood and cellulosic — will come from certified/verified sustainable sources by the end of 2025. As part of a “zero waste strategy,” Holt said 85% of waste generated in its stores will be recycled rather than sent to landfills.

Holt already started to close its fur shops and has also been working with the Humane Society International/Canada on the wind down of Holt’s businesses in animal fur and exotic skins.

Holt Renfrew Gets Aggressive on Sustainability