What: Athens is going to have one of Europe’s largest retail space with Ellinikon, slated to open in 2026.

Why it is important: Attica, a major department store in Greece (and the leading one on the luxury segment) plans to open a new door in this project. Soon we will be reviewing how the company had evolved over the years.

Ellinikon is a new real estate project being built just outside Athens, and a bet that it will soon become a must-see destination both for locals and tourists. The €8bn project will span over 200,000 sqm along the sealine, and will include a mall, stores, restaurants, entertainment, office spaces, and a retail park including big-box stores such as Ikea.

It aims at developing a distinctly Greek flavor to make sure it can attract more than a million tourists a year, and the first phase is planned to open in 2026

Ellinikon, Greece’s largest shopping mall to rise near Athens 

What: Dr Barbara Sturm Molecular Cosmetics will go live on Amazon’s Luxury Stores.

Why it is important: Dr Barabara Sturm’s line, which is sold at Harrods, Saks Fifth Avenue and Space NK, will be the first high-end skincare brand to be added to the app-only storefront.

Amazon’s Luxury Stores, launched in 2020, is set to carry established and emerging luxury beauty brands to complement the existing ‘Premium Beauty’ selection which stocks widely distributed masstige brands. The company hints at providing more independence to brands for inventory, selection, pricing and imagery in order to appeal to luxury brands hesitant to join online marketplaces.

While Amazon cites consumer demand in Europe has led to the expansion of the beauty offer for Luxury Stores, some brands may still be cautious as the e-commerce giant has had a history of grey market activity, selling goods without the approval of the trademark owner.

Amazon expands luxury beauty brand offering

What: Macy’s has announced new initiatives to drive circularity through its social purpose platform, ‘Mission Every One.’

Why it is important: The newest goals of Macy’s are set around recycling which they hope to achieve by using RFID technology.

The report outlines the circularity-based solutions and services that the department store has implemented in the past few years, including reducing waste and packaging. As well, they have standardized the sizing and materials of their packing cartons.

The group’s beauty product team is launching a pilot program to ship outdated items to a third-party recycler. Macy’s has also partnered with ‘Give Back Box’ to enable customers to resell or recycle their clothing.

Macy’s sustainability initiatives

Macy’s sustainability initiatives - Source 2

What: Balenciaga launched a resale program in partnership with resale startup Reflaunt which has already partnered with Saks Off 5th, Yoox Net-a-porter, Ganni, COS, Harvey Nichols and more.

Why it is important: Balenciaga is offering customers the chance to receive higher credit in participating Balenciaga stores in Italy, France, the UK, the US and Singapore, rewarding customers for participating in circularity while also fueling new purchases.

Products can be dropped off at participating Balenciaga stores or collected by scheduled service available through Balenciaga.com.

Reflaunt offers an efficient service through handling the documentation, authentication, photography and merchandising of goods while allowing customers to list items across some 25 resale marketplaces. Reflaunt users receive credits or a cash payout depending on the brand’s directive.

Balenciaga launches resell program

What: Bloomingdale’s and the Fashion Institute of Technology are partnering in launching initiatives to raise money for educational programs and future-oriented projects to bring sustainability to the forefront of the fashion industry.

Why it is important: Throughout the year, Bloomingdale’s will organize and host various online and in-store events with the goal to raise 2 million USD for philanthropic endeavours.

The collaborative initiative will be used to launch educational and mentorship programs, open innovation labs, sustainable fashion showcases and more. The department store also launched ‘b the change’ a social purpose and philanthropic platform centred around sustainability initiatives, inclusivity and innovative educational programs.

The goal of the partnership is to create new spaces and resources that support teaching, learning and research while offering activities to educate students, faculty, alumni, industry partners and the public about sustainability.

Bloomingdale’s & FIT’s sustainable innovation fund

What: The Southwestern hub of Chengdu was put under sudden lockdown Thursday evening due to covid outbreaks.

Why it is important: As a result, major luxury shopping malls, such as Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu and Chengdu IFS, were forced to close.

Due to the strict lockdown control, upcoming events and pop-up events have been cancelled by retailers and department stores.

Chengdu is one of the most important luxury hubs in China with roughly 6% of mainland China’s luxury stores in Chengdu. The megacity contributes about 7 to 8% to mainland Chinese luxury retail.

Retail centres in China still affected by lockdowns

What: Frasers Group has announced its intention to return to the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index after six years, leaving the FTSE 250 Index.

Why it is important: After dropping out in 2016 due to a period of poor financial performance, the retailer has made a series of acquisitions and takeovers that have pushed the company back into the 100 Index.

The group is currently working on rebranding the company through a transformation strategy to elevate its brand under the new CEO Michael Murray.

Frasers returns to FTSE 100 Index

What: The French department store will open a flagship location in the historical One Wall Street building as part of its expansion and rebranding plan.

Why it is important: As the American spending power and interest in luxury grows, Printemps’ plans to open in New York will allow the company to tap into the intense touristic flows of the city which could also raise brand awareness for when American tourists visit Paris.

The luxury retailer is planning to utilize the recently renovated and refurbished landmark space to its advantage, bringing a curated mix of brands to the 54,365-square-foot allocation across two levels in the Financial District’s One Wall Street building. The Art Deco landmark has recently undergone a $30 billion overhaul to convert the former bank headquarters into a mixed-use retail and residential tower.

Recovering from Covid and leveraging the returning power of physical retail, Printemps has more plans for overseas store openings and rebranding over the next decade. The company has also been working to grow its global e-commerce footprint, making New York ideal to capture the US while maintaining visibility. The New York location will be the second in its overseas expansion as Printemps is on track to open in Doha, Qatar, this October.

The New York store is expected to open in early 2024.

Printemps to open New York flagship

What: The John Lewis Partnership reveals its ‘How we shop, live and look’ report highlighting annual insights into consumer trends of 2022 which has sparked the retailer to scrap its 97-year-old ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ price pledge and shift to a new brand promise: ‘For All Life’s Moments’.

Why it is important: John Lewis’ findings show that consumers self-reported their plans to continue shopping despite rising living costs, citing the importance of celebrating special moments with family and friends

Shopping itself became more of an enjoyment, as 60% of people surveyed said they went shopping ‘for the joy of it’, 72% said they don’t have to spend a lot of money to be happy, and 77% of respondents said that despite the rising cost of living, it was still important to experience moments that make them happy.

People want to return to in-person events because of covid lockdowns and living in an increasingly digital world. This shift has been linked to hat sales increasing 169%, occasion shoe sales rising 38% and bridesmaid dress sales increasing 19%. The indication that people are ‘reclaiming their homes’ was linked to a decrease in soup makers and bread bins, while commute-ready laptop bag sales rose 20% and travel mugs rose 65%.

John Lewis’ report on consumer shopping trends sparks rebrand - Source 1

John Lewis’ report on consumer shopping trends sparks rebrand - Source 2

What: The celebration places playful pop-ups throughout the store that use the signature orange colour and which are filled with limited edition products.

Why it is important: Through fun store animations, limited edition products, experiences in beauty, F&B and even a theatre event, Le Bon Marché is celebrating its 170th birthday with an unconventional and immersive celebration for its customers.

Brands including Acne Studios, Roger Vivier, Cartier, Chloé and Moynat have designed orange ready-to-wear, bags and shoes, especially for the anniversary event. The spirit of celebration spreads throughout the store with a banquet table of colourful tableware designs, a La Fabrique Popcorn stand, a coffee bar run by Le Café Nuances, a maze and tombola, a Kure Bazaar nail art bar, a Kevin Murphy hairstyling station and a makeup bar.

The highlight of the celebration is the weekly immersive theater performance staged across the store on Friday and Saturday nights from Sept. 2 through Dec. 30. Some 30 actors will recreate the story of founders Aristide and Marguerite Boucicaut, who famously helped inspire French author Émile Zola’s 19th-century novel “Au Bonheur des Dames."

Le Bon Marché’s 170th anniversary: ‘Orange You Glad’ pop-up

What: Fashion for Good and the Dutch Circle Economy foundation researched to provide insight on the value of investing in scaling up their sustainability efforts.

Why it is important: The study of six European countries looked at the textile volume of post-consumer waste, the composition of recyclable textiles, and the capacity to sort and store the textile waste.

The research found that 494,000 tons of post-consumer textiles are available and usable for recycling. The study was conducted in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK. Despite the varying volume of textiles collected across these six countries, the research concluded a connection with the local sorting capacity.

Fashion for Good calculated the potential price per kilo for the recycled material equaling 74 million euros in total. There remains a need to invest financially in improving recycling technologies and the automation of sorting.

Textile recycling could bring 74 million euros to EU countries

What: Neiman Marcus is taking their partnership with Brunello Cucinelli to another level with a 360-degree campaign called “Muse of the West” which launches Monday.

Why it is important: The campaign is part of the company’s strategy called “retail-tainment” where they come up with more imaginative and complex experiences and presentations for shoppers that goes above and beyond the usual retail experience.

This collaboration with Brunello Cucinelli is a full-blown collection across women’s ready-to-wear and accessories- 30 different styles, and not a constructed capsule collection.

The Muse of the West collection draws inspiration from the American West with an Italian twist, blending classic imagery and elements of the West (plains, ranches, and horses) with Italian landscapes and autumnal colours.

Marketing initiatives include a lookbook and a first-time video with Carolina and Camilla Cucinelli. The video shows a dinner and fashion presentation for VIP customers and influences spending a day at the 100-acre RoadRunner Ranch in Dallas, mingling with Neiman’s executives and the Cucinelli sisters.

“Muse of the West” campaign by Neiman Marcus and Brunello Cucinelli

What: H&M and Decathlon were found to have used unclear and insufficiently substantiated sustainability claims.

Why it is important: The two retailers have pledged to inform their consumers more clearly in order to minimize the risk of misleading practices, as well as donating a total of 900,000 euros to different sustainable causes as compensation.

H&M and Decathlon were offering products under general terms, such as “eco-design” and “conscious.

H&M and Decathlon forced to stop sustainability claims

What: To help customers with the cost of holiday shopping amid rising inflation, the retailer has changed its return policy and minimum spend threshold for click-and-collect orders.

Why it is important: This is the first time the retailer has launched such an initiative in September, answering new customer shopping behaviours caused by inflation concerns.

Customers who make purchases now have until January 28th to make returns. As well, the minimum spend for orders to qualify for click-and-collect has been lifted until October 19th.

John Lewis extends return policy & removes click-and-collect minimum

What: The Economist takes stock of the new standards in the Beauty category and how DTC brands are performing.

Why it is important: DTC are attractive on paper: they are smart, lean, digitally-native and able to talk to the younger customers. But their model, adapted to a pre-Covid context, might not be able to pass the test of time without the support from older companies.

The Economist reviews how the $500bn beauty market has evolved in the recent years, with well-established groups, which have a time-honored marketing strategy and often in-house production capability in addition to a dual sales channel (wholesale, retail), are being challenged by Direct to Consumer brands.

They have been the cool kids quite for a while, as they came in with a new business model: direct online sales, lower margins, better knowledge of the customer, leaner organizations. However The Economist suggests that this might be a model adapted to a context only, and might not be relevant in the “new normal”: influencer-based marketing strategy works well to encourage initial purchases but not to repeat them, outsourced production capability might prove difficult in a world with inflation and supply-chain difficulties, and physical stores remain the place where customers purchase their products.

This might explain why new brands are being purchased (or sold to) beauty giants, who find in them interesting and cool brand names, while the brands themselves find a way to continue their expansion which might be otherwise difficult.

The truth about young beauty brands’ business model 

What: To reward environmentally friendly behaviour by producers, the French government is working to establish a system which supports sustainable companies.

Why it is important: The proposal is set for review by industrialist representatives NGOs and the public to decide on the future of textile production by setting aside 600 million to promote the repair, reuse and recycling of clothing and textile waste. 350 million has been set aside for benefiting eco-designed products via bonuses.

The government is proposing five avenues: bonuses for more ‘virtuous’ products, reducing the cost of repairing textiles, developing new solutions for collecting used textiles, financing the sorting and repair of textiles and setting up a French recycling sector.

French government proposes sustainable fashion bonus system

What: South Korean retail giant Lotte Group has revealed plans to build an eco-friendly ‘smart city’ complex, along with a separate ‘smart logistics’ hub in Vietnam.

Why it is important: Along with plans for retail centres and residential spaces, the group intends to provide digital healthcare services using big data analysis and artificial intelligence.

The project will have a total floor area of 680,000sqm, five basements and multiple towers. The complex includes a shopping centre, cinema, office space, hotel, residences and apartments. Local sources stated that Lotte also plans to build an “Integrated Smart Logistics Center” in Dong Nai Province to improve logistics capacity and support Lotte’s business development in Vietnam. As for the promise of digital healthcare services, some examples of capabilities will be home care and IoT telemedicine, including remote diagnoses.

The group announced its plans to invest around 900 million USD into the project during its ground breaking ceremony in Thu Thiem on September 2nd.

Lotte Group plans futuristic smart city in Vietnam

What: OpinionWay and IloveRetail.fr conducted surveys listing the main expectations for website and marketplace portals that consumers prioritize.

Why it is important: The surveys list the highest ranking features for customers ranging from the possibility to return in-store to the possibility of a ‘one-click’ payment, generating a ranking of the best store portals for fashion, beauty and accessories.

Un-surprisingly, 87% of respondents said that security of payments comes first, ahead of costs, delivery times and methods, return conditions, store list and preferred store memorization. The option for a one-click payment was only considered useful by 63% and 31% of respondents.

The top sites ranked per their categories were: Kiabi, Louis Vuitton, Sephora, Decathlon, Histoire d’Or, and Marc Orian.

Most popular beauty & fashion ecommerce features

What: Bloomingdale’s reflects on 150 years of business and its history of propelling menswear brands as it finishes renovations on the 59th Street men’s store flagship.

Why it is important: Keeping the evolving menswear market in mind, the Bloomingdale’s team reconceptualized the space to provide increased space and a wider offer. IADS has also recently held a meeting regarding menswear which can be accessed through this link: https://www.iads.org/web/iads/5067-iads-merchandising-meeting-6-mens-fashion.php

A 13,000-square-foot shoe department that is 70% bigger with a more varied assortment of casual and dress shoes from designer to performance brands is only the beginning. That floor includes accessories, select fragrances and a gallery of hats. As well there are new areas for denim and advanced contemporary vendors.

The re-imagined store reflects the emerging post-pandemic trends for men’s fashion and shopping habits by adjusting the flow and assortment to meet the new customer demands.

Home and cosmetics are two other categories that Bloomingdale’s is looking to grow.

Bloomingdale’s modernizes menswear

What: European, US and UK shoppers are pulling back on vacation plans due to inflation as reported by First Insight.

Why it is important: Data has shown that inflation is a key driver of deflating consumer confidence as shoppers from the EU, US and UK report increased cost of living expenses causing many customers (40%) to cut back on name-brand products.

Entertainment spending, alcohol and spirits, meat and seafood are other categories in which consumers are pulling back spending. Many respondents have stated that they are staying home to avoid spending on ‘nightlife’ related expenses. In addition, vacationing less has been a way consumers reported how they save.

92% of all respondents are concerned about the recession yet one-third are saving less.

Shoppers pull back on vacations and entertainment

What: Klarna saw its losses more than quadruple to 502 million pounds in the first quarter, blaming consumer slowdown.

Why it is important: Despite a 21% rise in the number of goods it helped to sell with revenues jumping 24% to 816 million pounds, the BNPL company pointed to higher credit losses in new markets, global expansion efforts and a rise in employee costs as the reason for not having recorded a profit in the last four years.

A slowdown in consumer spending amid soaring inflation and a looming financial authority crackdown in the UK to attempt to regulate BNPL products have significantly affected the environment in which Klarna operates.

Klarna’s value has fallen from 39.2 billion pounds in June 2021 to 6 billion pounds this quarter, following the company being caught in a technology stock sell-off due to market panic about its growth prospects.

Klarna losses quadruple

What: Fast-fashion e-tailer Shein continues to cement its brick-and-mortar strategy with its most recent pop-up in London’s West End that will house a curated collection of its seasonal lines, wardrobe staples and partywear.

Why it is important: Despite continued criticism around health and safety violations, plagiarism accusations and sustainability concerns, Shein focuses on targeting its young audience of teenage girls who are attracted to its on-trend designs at affordable prices.

The pop-up will open just in time for London Fashion Week. Younger shoppers can purchase Shein’s curation of styles from September 16th to the 18th.

Shein opens pop-up in London

What: The Korean government is lifting quarantine restrictions for tourists leading to sales recovery for department stores and retail centres.

Why it is important: Since the lift of COVID travel restrictions on tourists visiting Korea, the number of visitors jumped from 80,000 to 260,000 at the start of 2022, to now 400,000 just in September.

While the pandemic caused a 70% drop in tourist shopping, the Hyundai Department Store has seen a 198% year-over-year increase between July and August. In the second half, the department store saw a 129% increase year-over-year for tourist shopping.

To capitalize on the increased traffic, Hyundai is collaborating with local entertainment firm HYBE to host a K-pop event at its Yeouido brand. Lotte Department Store is also taking steps at its main store in Myeong-dong to prepare for the increasing number of international shoppers.

Reports from retailers have shown that foreigners mainly purchased cosmetics and fashion items. Theirs in each category increased 218% and 233%, respectively, in July.

Korean department stores recover as tourism returns

What: Nike’s shares went down due to weaker margins, a build-up of inventory, and fallen revenues in China.

Why it is important:  It became clear to Nike that the conditions in North America are shifting again.

Nike’s inventories were valued at 9.7 billion USD at the end of the quarter, up 44% from a year earlier. However, revenues in Greater China fell by 13% to 1.7 billion USD as the country continued to struggle with COVID-19 restrictions. Gross margins declined which raised concerns about just how promotional the market could become as the fashion industry and consumers muddle through a weakening economy.

Nike shares decreased by 9.2%, resulting in investors’ skittishness thanks to a dicey market complicated by supply chain troubles, inflation and the threat of recession.

Nike shares are impacted by economic turmoil