What: Flannels is doubling down on its partnership policy: after the Barry’s gym club, a ESHO clinic.

Why it is important: The partnerships are especially well chosen when it comes to targeting a specific demographic or customer.

Flannels has made a partnership with ESHO, a DTC cosmetic brand launched in 2021 renonwed for its non-injectable treatments for lips, to open a social media ready clinic with live streaming screen which will transmit to the shop, a Hydrafacial bespoke suit, a champagne recovery room for non-injectable customers, and customers will also have the possibility to buy in person the products, which is a premiere.

The Flannels store in Liverpool will span over 12,000 square meters and will also include two restaurants and a roof top.

Flannels to open a cosmeceutical space in partnership in its new Liverpool store 

What: Online retailers have competed to offer cheaper, more convenient shopping experiences but one of the world’s biggest apparel sellers may stop the trend.

Why is it important: Zara had earlier this month begun charging UK customers GBP1.95 to return online purchases by mail. The policy, in place in 37 other countries, doesn’t apply to online orders returned in stores.

Many shoppers took to social media to complain. Some talked about long queues and slow service when they attempted to bring items back to Zara’s stores. Others argued that Zara should improve its sizing and fits if they were going to charge for returns. A few applauded the new policy, saying it would nudge consumers toward more mindful consumption habits.

The environmental case for Zara’s switch is iffy as a delivery van picking up multiple returns will likely generate fewer emissions than individual customers driving to stores to avoid the fee

Online shopping, which boomed over the pandemic, has a much higher rate of customer returns than in-store purchases. Shipping and processing returned items create mounting logistical costs, as well as carbon emissions. However, many shoppers have become accustomed to free and easy returns.

Cutting overproduction, or the volume of clothes discounted at end of season, from 40% to 30% every year could save 158 million tonnes of carbon emissions. While reducing an e-commerce return rate from 35% to 15%, could save 12 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year.

Regardless, charging for online returns will no doubt reduce the number of orders sent back. Incentivising in-store returns, which immediately puts products back in circulation, can also prevent waste.

Other tactics include improving product pages and virtual sizing technology, or letting customers know about fit and styling advice if they start to add multiple sizes of the same item to their online cart. Some retailers offer repair and alteration services, hoping some minor adjustments to fit will ward off some returns.

Are free returns coming to an end?

What: A luxury store is not only for shopping anymore, but can also involve dining, drinking, having a cultural experience, or showing off on social media.

Why is it important: Social media and pop culture increasingly turned luxury brands into key signals that “you are living your life well.” This desire to spend time with the brand coincides with the need to sustain and increase the traffic in the stores. For large brands, the increase in productivity of existing stores has become as important as opening stores and it starts with generating additional traffic.

Flagships are key places to host the most exclusive clients, who need more than amazing products and a VIP salon but experiences that will make the moment memorable. The “right” experiential feature is the alchemy of a specific narrative that both fits the brand DNA, and the flair of the specific store location, as it creates the sense of cultural depth that makes for a truly satisfying lifestyle experience. Cafés, art galleries, concerts, barbers, clubs, and experiences that are meant to be relived several times are recommended.

Experiential flagships are the next big thing

What: The Neiman Marcus Group communicates on its social and environmental commitments, as an illustration of its ability to reinvent itself through employees empowering.

Why it is important:  The group has released its first ever ESG report in March 2022, confirming that sustainability and social commitments are now must haves for all retailers.

The Business of Fashion makes an extensive coverage on how Neiman Marcus is nurturing a growth mindset within its organisation, to make sure that the USD $600mn investment planned in technological, store and supply chain areas will be exploited at its fullest potential by the teams. This involves:

• The adoption of Farfetch’s technologies to power the Bergdorf Goodman website and app (following an investment of USD $200mn made by Farfetch into the group). This also involves upskilling employees to make sure they use the in-house digital tools,
• A focus on sustainability and social commitment, through a majority women-led leading team and the use of ESG KPIs in daily operations. The company has released its first ever ESG report in March 2022.

Geoffroy van Raemdonck, the CEO, has formalized this mindset under the name “the NMG Way”, based on 5 pillars: be bold, be memorable, be trustworthy, be all heart and be the best. He also encourages what he calls “micro-ideas”, i.e. making sure that everyone in the teams has the possibility to voice new ideas and put them into action.

Digital and cultural transformation at Neiman Marcus Group 

What: M&S has just launched on Europe-wide premium activewear site The Sports Edit, where it will sit alongside more than 50 brands on the platform.

Why is it important: Since the launch of Goodmove in 2020, M&S said it has become the UK market leader for full-price sales in the women’s activewear category selling 1.6 million Goodmove items annually.

The Sports Edit will offer Goodmove’s best-selling womenswear products including the ‘Go Move’ “squat-proof” leggings in a variety of styles and colours, which M&S claims it sells 5,000 in black every month, as well as the Extra High Impact sports bra.

M&S Goodmove makes Sports Edit debut

What: Neiman Marcus is establishing regional "corporate hubs" but will still maintain a significant corporate presence in Dallas.

Why is it important: The majority of the NMG corporate workers will remain in Dallas, though hubs are being established in New York City, as well as in Bangalore, India, where NGM has its shared services functions, and elsewhere.

In Dallas, NMG is expected to receive USD5 million in incentives to open a corporate hub in Tower at Cityplace on North Central Expressway just north of downtown.

However, the luxury retailer will maintain its three levels of office space at the downtown Dallas Neiman Marcus store.

NMG’s leadership team meets physically at a different store around the country every month. For example, the team met last week in Florida, at the Bal Harbour store, as well as at the Coral Gables unit.

Neiman Marcus decentralizes

What: The Wangfujing Group is set to spend USD134 million to buy the outlet business outright, paying USD24 million in cash and assuming USD116 million due in shareholder debt and interest.

Why is it important: The Hainan Outlets Tourism Development business was listed for sale by its former owner Juyuan Xincheng, , after suffering a loss of USD4.5 million last year on a turnover of about $USD10 million.

The investment marks Wangfujing Group’s entry into the travel retail and duty-free sector. The company was granted a duty-free licence in June 2020 but has yet to use it.

China’s Wangfujing Group acquires Hainan Outlets Tourism Development

What: Galeria is strengthening its team in order to accelerate the Covid-19 recuperation.

Why it is important: Galeria is turning back to former talents in order to steer the changes within the company.

Olivier Van den Bossche is leaving the Dutch cosmetics player Rituals where he was COO, to join Galeria as the Managing Director Sales for the group. Van den Bossche had already been CEO of Inno (part of the group) from 2014 to 2017, and then of Galeria Kaufhof from 2014 to 2017, prior to the merger with Karstadt in 2018.

The current Sales Director, Engelbert Thulfaut, will be dedicated to the store concept, while a new head of e-commerce, Michael Drexler, has been recruited to launch the webshop during the summer 2022.

Changes at Galeria management 

What: In a pop-up format, Nordstrom Local will occupy an 850-square-foot site in Southampton, from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend.

Why is it important: The pop-up will provide pickups of online orders made on nordstrom.com and nordstromrack.com, returns, alterations, fashion advice from a stylist and gift wrap, and take-in used clothing and shoes for donations to Housing Works, and empty beauty packaging for recycling.

The ‘Closer to You’ strategy leverages the physical assets of Nordstrom’s full-line department stores, Nordstrom Rack, and Nordstrom Local to increase services, conveniences, merchandise choices, and speed deliveries. For example, shoppers can return items bought online or at Nordstrom department stores to a Rack or Nordstrom Local location, which may be closer to them. Nordstrom sees the strategy as strengthening customer engagement and the company’s customer-centric culture.

Nordstrom Local pops up in the Hamptons

What: EBay is opening a pop-up store dedicated to sneakers on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles.

Why is it important: “Wear ’Em Out Store,” offers lower pricing for customers who wear purchases out of the store.

EBay previewed the Wear ’Em Out Store’s inventory at the Sneaker Con in Anaheim, California, and has collaborated with rapper Offset to help curate the offering.

The store is set to open for the duration of the Memorial Day weekend, from May 27 through May 29.

EBay to open sneaker pop-up 

What: The electronics retailer is adding electric transportation, outdoor living, and health and wellness products to its in-store assortment.

Why it is important: Best Buy is moving beyond its core product offerings with this latest assortment expansion.

Following the acquisition of Yardbird in November 2021, which signaled the retailers pivot away from inside living spaces, Best Buy has partnered with Traeger, Weber and Ooni to showcase cooking and grilling products in stores.

Best Buy also kicked off its electronic transportation push last year as it started selling products like bikes, mopeds and scooters online featuring brands such as Super73, Unagi and Segway-Ninebot. Now this category will also be offered in stores.

As mentioned in the 2nd IADS CEO Exchange of 2022 with former Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly, in March 2021, the Best Buy teamed up with Apple to release health and safety tools for elderly consumers via the Apple Watch. Best Buy acquired Current Health, a home care technology platform, last October for an undisclosed sum, which came about three years after its acquisition of connected health and emergency response provider GreatCall.

Best Buy has also expanded its skincare technology assortment from brands like Foreo, Vanity Planet and PMD Beauty to nearly 300 stores, including electric facial cleansers and products that use LED light therapy.

Best Buy expands in-store assortment of beauty and e-transportation products

What: European shopping malls are rebranding to become closer to their customers.

Why it is important: Working out the retail branding is key to create awareness, generate trust and drive traffic.

Unibail Rodamco Westfield, owner of Westfield shopping malls, is rebranding 3 flagship destinations in Spain (Parquesure, Madrid), Sweden (Taby Centrum, Stockholm) and Poland (Galeria Mokotow, Warsaw). The goal is to drive new revenue through media advertising and brand experiences across its destinations.

It is also a way to catch two birds with one stones: make the most of the resilient European market, and also position these malls as local, an increasingly valued feature by end customers.

Westfield rebrands three European malls 

What: Kohl’s is reinvesting in its four-wall footprint and trying to modernize it.

Why is it important: Kohl’s is accelerating the opening of smaller store formats that have successfully been piloted; introducing what it calls “zones” for diverse, female-owned and emerging brands; testing self-serve return drop-offs; testing self-checkout, and reflowing key active and casual brands such as Calvin Klein, Draper James RSVP and Under Armour, in proximity to the in-store Sephora shops for better exposure.

They are also continuing to roll out self-serve stations for picking up online orders and already offer the ability to drive up and pick up packages and make Amazon returns.

Kohl’s said its new zones for diverse and female-owned companies will provide an element of “discovery” to its stores. It will also offer some differentiation from the preponderance of major national brands and private brands.

Kohl’s self-serve buy online, pick up in-store service will by the end of the year be available in all stores. Self-serve returns are being tested in over 100 stores, but there are more planned through the next 18 months. The self-return experience is unique to Kohl’s, offering a simple in-store drop-off process.

Kohl’s doubles down on store experience

What: Dillard’s reported that total retail sales (excluding the company’s construction business) rose 22% to USD1.6 billion, with store comps up 23% year over year.

Why is it important: Retail gross margin expanded to 47.3% of sales, a record high, from 42.6% a year ago, per a company press release. The strongest categories were men’s apparel and accessories, women’s apparel, and junior’s apparel.

Net income rose 59% year over year to USD251.1 million. Dillard’s ended the quarter with USD862 million in cash after the share repurchases.

Dillard’s apparel sales strengthen Q1 revenue and margins

What: Alannah Weston, chairman of Selfridges Group, is moving on after nearly 20 years of family ownership.

Why it is important: Weston’s late father Galen Weston purchased the store in 2003. Last year, the Weston family sold the store to Thailand’s Central Group and Austria’s Signa. Alannah Weston will be taking a break before working on her environmentally focused projects.

Selfridges’ chairman is leaving the company 

What: As Shanghai and other Chinese cities continue their weeks-long lockdowns, fashion and beauty brands are having to adapt the way they do business.

Why is it important: From Hong Kong to Shenzhen and Shanghai, businesses in cities that play a key role in the fashion economy have been halted or hampered by the pandemic one after the other.

Shenzhen, along with Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, has formed the front rank of China’s fashion industry, becoming an important symbol and contributing to the improvement of the country’s fashion image on the global stage, marking its progress toward becoming comparable to Europe and America. Meanwhile, Shanghai, as the city with the country’s largest economic output, is the window of Chinese fashion to the world and the center of the supply chain for the domestic market.

At this critical moment, fashion companies headquartered in Shanghai have strategic layouts. For example, K-Boxing menswear has done research and development into a product called the “Angel’s Armor,” which can accommodate all kinds of nucleic acid testing sampling items in a timely manner.

Department store group Lane Crawford provided free outdoor electronic advertising screens for charity promotion, prepared fresh vegetable gift packs for Shanghai customers who are self-quarantining at home, provided gift boxes for customers containing Protector Daily masks with professional-level filtration and elegant designs and protective spray sets from Bondi Wash, an antibacterial plant brand from Australia. It also enhanced training for staff on communication with customers remotely during the closure.

These actions are similar to what occurred in the West in 2020 and 2021 during its various lockdowns as a result of COVID-19. Luxury, fashion, and beauty groups from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton to Clarins pivoted their operations to producing sanitizer or personal protective equipment, while retailers including Walmart Inc., Target Corp., Macy’s Inc., and Costco saw their online sales boom.

For customers who are unable to visit stores, Lane Crawford provides personalized services through online channels such as live streaming and online communication with style consultants. To provide customers with a convenient and diverse shopping experience, it continues to improve its online services by launching initiatives such as holiday wish lists and membership of WeChat apps.

How Chinese fashion companies adapt to three years of the pandemic

What: Net sales across Nordstrom stores exceeded pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter with a 23.5% jump thanks to Americans buying designer apparel and footwear as they return to offices and social events snapped up. Both Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack banners post double-digit sales growth.

Why it is important: Counting on demand from affluent consumers to help overcome inflation, Nordstrom shows confidence by raising its annual profit and revenue forecasts.

Nordstrom, which also authorized a new $500 million buyback, projected fiscal 2022 revenue to rise 6% to 8%, compared with a prior forecast of 5% to 7% growth. Full-year adjusted profit per share is expected between $3.38 and $3.68, higher than $3.15 to $3.50 earlier.

Meanwhile, its off-price division, Nordstrom Rack, posted a 10.3% increase in quarterly sales.

Total revenue rose 18.7% to $3.57 billion in the first quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates of $3.28 billion. The retailer said net income for the quarter ended April 30 rose to $20 million, or 13 cents per share, from a loss of $166 million, or $1.05 per share, a year earlier.

Nordstrom Q1 results 

What: Through a new partnership with Trust for Public Land, Macy’s customers raised nearly USD1.5 million to help fund the organization’s Community Schoolyards projects.

Why is it important: To advance its sustainability priorities, Macy’s highlights new initiatives and introduces new partnerships with Better Cotton, Trust for Public Land and HERproject.

Through Mission Every One, the company’s social purpose platform, the company is increasing the use of sustainably sourced raw materials and fibers incorporated into the design of Macy’s exclusive brand products – including cotton, synthetic and all wood-based materials.

Macy's and its customers helped communities across the country become more resilient to climate change and empowered youth through a new partnership with Trust for Public Land (TPL). These projects help transform barren public parks into green spaces to help create healthy, livable communities for the public.

To champion the advancement of women's rights, women's equality, and family well-being, Macy’s, Inc. is partnering with Business for Social Responsibility’s (BSR) HERProject to empower women to improve health, well-being, confidence, and economic potential of women working in our factories globally.

Focused on circularity innovations to help reduce, reuse, and repurpose materials to eliminate waste, Macy’s introduced a partnership with the Give Back Box.

Through a well-established program overseeing the production of Macy’s private brand product ensures labor and environmental standards are met and that suppliers follow those standards. To enable customers to find and choose more sustainable products, Macy’s is making sustainable style more accessible by making it easier to find and shop at Macy’s for products that are independently certified as responsibly made.

Macy’s, Inc. proactively and continuously engages with stakeholders on issues that span the breadth of the company’s operations including transparency, product responsibility and supply chain management, energy management, diversity and inclusion and building resilient communities.

Macy’s raises nearly USD1.5 million 

What: John Lewis Partnership has been diving deep into digital and has announced that it’s recruiting for more than 150 roles as part of a big new investment in digital.

Why is it important: The specialist roles will help keep John Lewis and Waitrose the go-to brands for customers who want omnichannel access to quality, value, and sustainability.

Its Software Engineer and Delivery Lead roles will help to deliver customer-facing projects on both of its brands’ web stores that between them attract more than 55 million visits each month.

John Lewis was being held up as a pioneer for the fact that 40% of its department store sales happened online. But e-sales now contributes to almost 70% of John Lewis chain sales and nearly a fifth of Waitrose sales. That 40% figure for the chain is a distant memory from two years ago, while Waitrose at the same point in time saw only 5% of sales happening digitally.

The new roles will support the growth and development of the Waitrose and John Lewis apps, which now account for almost a quarter of sales for the two brands.

John Lewis launches digital recruitment drive 

What: Macy’s expands its relationship with Reebok which includes the creation of an exclusive product.

Why is it important: Starting in the spring of 2023, Macy’s will deepen its relationship with Reebok through a newly inked partnership covering sportswear and activewear for men, women, and children.

The deal will include the development of an exclusive product for the retailer that will be sourced from the Reebok Design Group, the brand’s global design and development arm for apparel and footwear.

Macy’s and Reebok are creating a closer bond

What: Kohl’s Chief Marketing Officer Greg Revelle will depart the company June 1. Chief Merchandising Officer Doug Howe’s departure is effective immediately.

Why is it important: As the company searches for their replacements, Christie Raymond, who leads customer insights, analytics, and engagement, and longtime Kohl’s merchant Ronald Murray will step in.

Kohl’s stated that it has received non-binding proposals to be acquired and has requested fully financed final bids to be submitted in the coming weeks.

In that report Kohl’s said Q1 net sales and comp sales each fell 5.2% year over year, total revenue fell 4.4% to USD3.7 billion and gross margin contracted 69 basis points. Operating income tumbled 70%, as net income stayed flat at USD14 million. Inventory was up 40%, per the filing.

Two top Kohl’s executives step down

What: Harrods, in partnership with Qatar Duty-Free has announced the launch of The Harrods Tea Rooms Doha in Msheireb Downtown, the largest open-air square in the Mena region.

Why is it important: The Harrods Tea Rooms Doha, builds on the success of The Harrods Tea Room at Hamad International Airport. A Qatari-owned iconic brand is proud to bring the ultimate Afternoon Tea experience to the citizens, residents, and visitors of Qatar.

Guests will discover an authentic Knightsbridge experience at one of Doha’s top tourist destinations and historical landmark.

The Harrods Tea Rooms Doha

What: The real estate company reports that the leasing activity is soaring again.

Why it is important: More flexible lease terms might become the norm, and this might impact in turn the types of conditions that department stores can negotiates with brands leasing locations in their premises.

Simon Property Group reported a strong momentum in leasing and sales during Q1 2022, with an occupancy rate of 93.3%, compated to 90.8% a year ago. This represents more than 900 leases and more being discussed with new potential partners. As a consequence, SPG gross annual rent revenue rose to 5.4% this year from 4.2% a year ago and 1.9% in Q4 2021.

More flexible lease terms are offered to tenants, with “overage rent” based on sales, on top or instead of a fixed base rent.

Simon Property Group reports a rise in short-term leases in the US 

What: Lacoste Arena flagship opened this week at 17,200 square feet, four times bigger than its current door.

Why is it important: A two-year overhaul was needed to redesign the space, which was once a cinema. The result is a series of interconnected spaces where the full extent of the brand’s offering unfolds.

An interactive tunnel, with tennis balls projected onto the floor that can be kicked and heard bouncing away, lead to another room dedicated to the brand’s tennis, golfing, and activewear offerings.

A neon sign stating, “Lacoste fait son cinéma,” a play on the store’s lieu and a French expression that loosely translates to “Lacoste’s antics,” leads to a cavernous basement space with another XXL screen.

For the opening, it will be home to an exhibition around Gaumont, the first of a rotating program of exhibitions and activities like an indoor tennis court or a golf simulator.

A space dedicated to sustainability offers a take-back program and the brand’s circular designs, shown on hangers made from recuperated material. But the real heart of the matter is product durability.

Shoppers will be able to compare existing shirt designs thanks to a carrousel inspired by the machine used to make its signature piqué knit and browse that rainbow of shirts seen upon entering.

Lacoste’s largest flagship opens on Champs-Élysées