What: Selfridges has backed M&S in their plans to demolish the Oxford Street store as part of a plan to redevelop the location.

Why it is important: M&S and its neighbour Selfridges will be required to defend the controversial redevelopment plan against environmental campaigners and historic building fans.

Arguments from the opposition are likely to focus on the 90-year-old building being refurbished rather than demolished. In terms of environmental impact, opponents say the redevelopment would release almost 40,000 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere.

M&S has addressed the opposition by stating that the new building will use a quarter of the current building’s energy as well as be built using 95% of existing materials. In addition, the retailer has argued that a refurbishment would not deliver the kind of experience modern shoppers want which it believes could potentially influence customers to move away from Oxford Street.

Marks & Spencer to demolish Oxford Street store

What: Customers can bring any Zara garment into one of its 60 UK locations or send it online to be repaired for a fee that covers the service and shipping.

Why it is important: Zara is also entering into the resale market by offering customers the ability to sell their pre-owned Zara garments through their own platform.

Customers can scan the barcode on either the hangtag or interior tag to have the photos and product information automatically uploaded. Sellers do not have to pay, but buyers will be charged a 5% service charge and a 1-pound fee.

In addition to the platform and repair services, Zara is extending its clothing collection and donation program.

Zara UK launches repair and resale services

What: Previously having used only selected staff as influencers, the move of adding an AR-powered virtual influencer has left customers divided.

Why it is important: As part of a strategy to reach younger and ‘tech-obsessed’ consumers, the retailer has launched one virtual influencer to join M&S Insiders (covering menswear, kidswear, home, fashion and beauty), which includes store assistants, stylists, buyers and designers.

The retailer says they beat external influencers with an average 30% higher engagement rate. Mira, the virtual personality for the brand, will create M&S content for fashion and home. She has received a mixed review on Instagram despite around a quarter of British consumers reporting the positive impact of social media on their likelihood of purchasing products.

Marks & Spencer launch virtual influencer

What: The Nikeland metaverse hosted by Roblox has gained huge popularity despite rumours that digital worlds of this kind are losing steam.

Why it is important: Launched in November 2021, the Nikeland metaverse is a symbol of the continued interest consumers have in experiencing brand universes within gaming platforms as the space has already welcomed 21.6 million visitors.

Nearly 119,000 Roblox players have saved the space in their favourites folder.

Nike’s metaverse welcomes 21 million visitors

What: The oldest Indian retailer is accelerating with a number of new stores planned to open each year.

Why it is important: India is the new land of opportunities: many international retailers and online players are looking at this market which has also given birth to some of the most powerful “everything apps” such as Jio. It is interesting to see Shopper Stop accelerate their development in this context.

Shopper Stop is ramping up its expansion in India by opening 12 to 15 new stores every year, in addition to 15 to 20 beauty stores as well (under the brands SS Beauty and Estée Lauder Company). The retailer, founded in 1991, is the oldest department store company in India and operates 87 stores in the country, usually on a format which is less than 10,000 sqm.

Shoppers’ Stop to open 15 stores per year 

What: RH is unveiling its exclusive RH Guesthouse in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, starting at 3,500 dollars per night and available only by approved request.

Why it is important: The RH Guesthouse represents both the newest entry into hospitality for companies in the home and fashion sectors as well as the retailer’s latest quest in becoming a luxury brand across various formats and disciplines.

Surprisingly enough, there will be no RH furniture among all the luxurious offerings. The retailer has strategically chosen not to use the space as a promotional showroom but instead to start a network of residential properties under the RH brand that deliver exclusive experiences and services to a handful of affluent customers.

The lodging property has five stories which start with the cellar-level speakeasy-style Champagne and Caviar Bar, a restaurant on the ground floor, six guest rooms, three suites, an owner’s apartment and a rooftop pool and lounge area that looks out at the nearby Whitney Museum and Highline.

Booking a room must be done through request which will then be approved by RH. There are no children, no pets, no bad attitudes and no photos allowed.

The RH Guesthouse is not a promotional showroom

What: Flipkart is experimenting with Web3 to supercharge its customer experience by launching a metaverse offering for consumers to discover and shop new products more interactively.

Why it is important: The offering is called Flipverse and is a gamified, interactive and immersive experience for its consumers. They will be able to collect the company’s loyalty points — Supercoins — as well as digital collectables from partner brands as they make purchases. Flipverse also features several casual games.

Flipkart is increasingly broadening its offerings to reach new customers in the South Asian market and retain loyal base, Flipverse is part of this initiative.

The launch of Flipverse will continue to have an impact on innovative industries like e-commerce and enhance the customer experience while delivering a gamified and immersive shopping experience, especially in light of the adoption of the metaverse and web3 platforms by multiple brands in India.

Flipverse is still in the pilot stage and aimed to garner interest during the festive season this month.

Walmart-backed firm launches metaverse shopping experience

What: Decathlon renamed its e-shop, social media handles, and the front of three stores in Belgium to ‘Nolhtaced’ to bring awareness to the idea of ‘reverse shopping’.

Why it is important: The retailer has taken a loud approach to alert customers of its shift into reselling and second-hand by changing its name for October.

Customers can now bring back articles to give them a second life through repair or recycling. The initiative also opens the possibility of targeting clients with a smaller budget by selling used equipment at a lower price. Customers who participate by bringing back sporting goods from all brands will be rewarded with vouchers valid for two years.

In Belgium alone, they have already collected 26,000 products.

In Belgium, Decathlon renames itself for second-hand awareness 

What: Off-price expects to get a fair share of the Christmas cake.

Why it is important: Customers are expected to be more price-point conscious and gravitate to flash promotions during the coming Christmas due to economic pressures.

Saks Off 5th Chief believes in the power of the assortment as relevant and seasonally appropriate being a major advantage this holiday season as customers flock to stores with the best deals. As part of its holiday push, the retailer is offering an expanded assortment of fine jewellery which is a differentiating category for Saks Off 5th within the off-price sector.

Saks Off 5th expects strong gift-giving

What: Bottega Veneta highlights the durability and craftsmanship of its bags through the launch of an unlimited maintenance service offer.

Why it is important: Customers who purchase iconic bags from Bottega Veneta boutiques will receive a certificate of craftsmanship in the form of a physical card associated with the serial number of the product, thus, providing free access to an unlimited number of refreshments and repairs.

Starting from mid-November, the service will begin with its iconic bags and extend later to all bags and other product categories.

Bottega Veneta launches lifelong warranty service

What: Macy’s Inc. will move into India through a partnership with local distributor Myntra in which the US department store’s private label brand portfolio will be sold online via Myntra’s multi-brand platform.

Why it is important: 600 options from Macy’s private label brands will be available on Myntra’s online platform.

Around 40% of Indian consumers typically purchase clothing and footwear from foreign or global multinational brands, which is higher among 25-34-year-olds (49%) and 35-44-year-olds (45%). Consumers also have a growing inclination to shop for clothing and footwear online with around one in five Indian consumers purchasing products through e-commerce platforms.

The partnership supports both companies by offering Macy’s an opportunity to attract a wide range of customer segments and Myntra the possibility to consolidate its international brand offering.

Macy’s enters Indian market through Myntra partnership

What: Customers are increasingly preferring in-person returns at a store over mail-in ones.

Why it is important: Mail-in returns are expensive and dent profitability, and should the market be shifting thanks to new customer preferences this could be a way for department stores to reduce the hit on margin. The NRF expects that this could help reduce the return costs by 40%.

Forbes reports that shoppers are increasingly making buying decisions according to return policies, especially when it comes to online buying.

In-person, box-free returns are now the favourite method according to customers, while mail-in returns are ranked in the 4th position. This is due to a fatigue related to the need of printing a label, finding packaging material and going to a shipping station. As a consequence, 54% prefer simply going to the store over 21% favouring in-mail returns.

Returns represented 16,6% of total retail sales in the US in 2021, with online returns at 21%.

Hassle-free returns are more important than ever 

What: Peek & Cloppenburg celebrated the opening of its renovated sales outlet in Zurich’s Sihlcity shopping centre.

Why it is important: The reopening of the renovated 4,100 square metre shopping centre included live music, textile customization, drinks and promotions.

The fashion retailer takes up three floors with the ground floor housing casual styles for men, women’s wear on the first floor and formal and business attire on the second floor alongside a 400 square metre cocktail department.

Peek & Cloppenburg opens in Zurich

What: The group delivers USD5 billion in gross merchandise value in fiscal year 2022, demonstrating strength of integrated luxury retail model.

Why it is important: Neiman Marcus delivered year-over-year meaningful gross margin expansion supported by healthy 80% full price selling. Sales are up 30% versus the previous year and USD495 million in adjusted EBITDA (11% EBITDA margin).

Top customers are highly loyal and drove 40% of total sales in fiscal year 2022. Top 2% of customers drive approximately 40% of total sales. 80% of top customers have at least USD1 million of net worth. Their average spend is over USD25,000 annually.

The company's new loyal customers tend to be younger, spanning from Gen X to Gen Z, as younger customers entered the luxury market during the pandemic. They migrate up the engagement spectrum, reflecting growing incomes and desire for luxury.

Neiman Marcus 2022 results

What: RSR questions the relevance of Black Friday in the digital age

Why it is important: Many IADS members keep on combining Black Friday (and other “institutional” sales dates) with their own labelled-sales campaign. Maybe it is time to review the efficiency of such institutional dates and trade them for more CSR clout?

RSR is arguing that Black Friday is a tradition from the past, which has been made outdated by customers’ behavior changes, the Covid-19 pandemic, and more importantly, the way retailers have acted on the US market, by starting deals and sales way ahead of the date of Black Friday itself. With the rise of online retail, there is no more point for customers to queue up outside early morning to snag deals that they could get from their home. In addition, Black Friday is now competing with retailers’ own labelled sales, Target’s Deal Days or Amazon’s Prime Days.

US retailer REI is going a step ahead and decides to give Black Friday as a day off to its employees, ‘forever’, instead of opening stores and trying to lure in customers. RSR remarks that this move is not so much about saying goodbye to a worn-out practice as it is another indicator that retailers are looking to be, or look, virtuous. In REI’s case, this means showing care to its employees, and RSR bets that this will strike a bell to Millenial and GenZ customers who are increasingly asking retailers to be good citizens.

Is Black Friday still relevant? 

What: Comparing the economic performance of German, Scandinavian, Benelux and US brands, McKinsey reports on the pessimistic view of German brand companies.

Why it is important: While rising energy costs, supply chain challenges and an unfavourable consumer climate are affecting most companies, German brands remain the most positive about the competitive advantage of their brand (80%) compared with the other countries surveyed (approx 30%).

However, only 3% of German brand companies rate their situation as very good at best, and 39% reported that their situation was good. The contrast is apparent when considering that 28% of Benelux and Scandinavian brand companies and 26% of companies in the US rated their current situation as very good.

German brand economy struggles according to McKinsey

What: Falabella’s department store chief has reported that the Chilean retailer may close between 5% and 10% of its department stores in Peru, Colombia and Chile.

Why it is important: While the closures have not been finalized, the announcement is part of a constant evaluation of the profitability and changing consumer demands of Falabella.

Falabella may close 10% of stores this year

What: Boston Consulting Group and Vestiaire Collective report the impact of the secondhand fashion and luxury market.

Why it is important: BCG and Vestiaire Collective estimate the value of the apparel, footwear and accessories resale market is between 100 and 120 billion dollars worldwide which is triple the size it was in 2020.

The report further states that the secondhand market is already worth 3 to 5% of the overall apparel sector which could grow to as much as 40%.

Resale market tripled in two years

What: The virtual store has an open format allowing customers to browse and explore the fantasy land created to house digitally modelled products.

Why it is important: Printemps is offering visitors who purchase a product from the immersive store a chance to enter a prize draw to win one of 30 NFTs created in collaboration with the artist Romain Froquet.

Those who receive an NFT will also give the holder the ability to receive the original painting by Froquet, exhibited in the atrium of Printemps Haussmann during the campaign.

Printemps opens virtual store in the metaverse

What: “Make the Moment” is the theme for Neiman Marcus’ holiday campaign.

Why it is important: Neiman Marcus will also launch a ski category in select stores along with its 360-degree campaign encompassing advertising, in-store visuals, special events, social media, digital content, video, email and the group’s popular Christmas Book catalogue.

The front of the Christmas Book includes augmented reality to place your face on the cover of the catalogue or virtually present the Neiman Marcus Christmas tree in your home or office. It features 260 luxury fashion and accessories brands. The products range from holiday decorations to fantasy gifts in the seven-figure price range. It continues to follow the new positioning of “Live Your Luxury” by taking the traditional Christmas tropes and twisting them in unconventional ways to show greater inclusivity.

Neiman Marcus’ Christmas campaign

What: Apple continues its foray into personal finance services with a new savings account opened in partnership with Goldman Sachs.

Why it is important: Credit card programs are not new for retailers, however Apple is becoming a significant challenge as their offering arrives in complement to a whole ecosystem allowing them to track and trace every customer move before, during and after the purchase, which is something most department stores can not do. In addition, they will be increasingly forced to team up with Apple, therefore abandoning access to the data.

Apple has teamed up with Goldman Sachs to propose a no-fee, high-yield saving account for its credit card customers, as a natural follow-up of its 8-years old initiative which started with Apple Pay.

This new saving account will complement the already existing perks of the Apple credit card (1% daily cash rewards), which was launched in 2019 and for now is only available in the US.

Apple financial services are part of the general services unit, which posted a 12% growth last quarter to $19.6bn.

Apple launches a high-yield saving account

What: Despite inflation, earthquakes, and global tensions, Mexican customers continue to shop amid new store and mall openings.

Why it is important: Following relaxed health restrictions and the end of lockdowns, Mexican consumers have increased their shopping in-store. Malls continue to open at an increased pace with forecasts for 30 new locations by 2025.

El Palacio de Hierro recently opened an opulent location even after having suffered damages from the recent earthquakes one week before opening. They continue to see strong demand like Liverpool and Suburbia.

Boutiques selling men’s tailored fashion on the other hand are struggling as consumers’ buying habits move towards casual looks and international brands. Still, Mexican designer brands such as Benito Santos are performing strongly. Concept stores are also popping up in trendy quarters such as La Roma or in La Juarez, giving a chance to young talent to showcase their work.

Unfortunately, such buoyant sales are unlikely to last as a large portion of the country’s population remains poor or is living in extreme poverty. Inflation in Mexico is running at 8.7%.

Mexican retail booms

What: The German company has already received €680mn in the past two years from the German state.

Why it is important: We unfortunately need to be prepared to more news like this as we live in a time of continuous crises. However, in the case of Galeria, the group needs to accelerate harder on its transition, probably at the cost of closing a number of stores.

The German department store chain Galeria Kardstadt Kaufhof has been impacted, like other players in Europe, by the war in Ukraine, energy crisis and low consumer confidence, which leads to unplanned additional spending (€115mn in the next 2 years for energy alone). As a consequence, the company has to apply for German state aid for the third time, after having already received €680mn in the past two years.

This raises some criticism from experts, who lament that the optimisation of the group (with the merger of Kardstadt and Kaufhof) has not been fully finished, and the store fleet is still too large, with 131 stores in Germany.

The group also owns Inno in Belgium.

Galeria Kardstadt Kaufhof is applying for state aid for the third time 

What: Lotte, Shinsegae, Hyundai and other department stores are opening special stores for used items and investing in online second-hand marketplace apps to attract younger customers.

Why it is important: Korean department stores used to deal with up-to-date and pricey merchandise to differentiate from other retailers. Due to young customers' increasing demand for used items, they now must differentiate in new ways.

Hyundai in Sinchon (Seoul), has turned its whole fourth floor into a second-hand marketplace, opening various stores selling used clothes and luxury watches and handbags.

BGZT Lab, an offline store from popular resale marketplace app Bungaejangter, saw 400,000 visitors last month at Hyundai Yeouido.

In January 2022, Shinsegae Group invested USD57.17 million in Bungaejangter. In August, the company collaborated with Bungaejanger to open BGZT Collection, its luxury goods store, in the retailer's online shopping mall SSG.com.

On their side, Lotte in Busan also opened a second-hand pop-up store to sell clothes from both domestic and international brands at discounts of up to 70%.

Korean department stores enter second-hand