Blondie Tsang will become President of Hong Kong-based Lane Crawford and Joyce, starting next January. Tsang began as an assistant buyer at Lane Crawford in the 90s and was working as managing director of Celine Asia-Pacific for the past seven years. She is succeeding Andrew Keith who spent ten years in the role.

For the 2020 edition of Pink October, a month dedicated to breast cancer, the Parisian department store teams up with the Pink Ribbon organisation through a partnership with its two founding members Marie-Claire and the Estée Lauder group. A special interactive space decorated in the colours of the organisation is open until the end of October, with the aim of raising awareness and funds for the research. The 350m2 space, located on the 1st floor of the store, welcomes event, talks and workshops given by brands.

Pink October at Le Bon Marché

What: A study jointly coordinated by McKinsey and mobile solution provider, to draw lessons from current Chinese retail recovery

Why is it important: As expected, there is a post-pandemic shift in China to online, but not as massive as once predicted as convenience shopping is still here, contributing to a slow recovering of offline shopping. Combined with a confirmed appetite for health and fitness, it suggests that successful retailers will be the ones following consumer trends: healthy (or sustainable), local, and delivering value.

Retail news Asia is drawing lessons from the latest study from McKinsey regarding chine recovery. Their conclusions are:

• Offline shopping recovers only for the convenience part. Discretionary spend is lagging
• Offline convenience and convenience stores are still performing well, even compared with online
• Category-wise, customers favor health and fitness products, including local food

Among the many pieces of advice the newspaper is providing, they insist on the fact that selling online is not enough: customers have to be engaged digitally end-to-end, which sums up all the difficulty of the exercise.

China retail is rapidly changing, brands need to adapt

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is looking at fewer stores stocked with less stuff as a way to limit the amount of cash trapped in its operations. The company is in the process of reducing the number of stores, bringing down its inventory and building out its distribution channels.

Bed Bath & Beyond wants to close 63 stores by the end of its fiscal year in February 2021, for a total of 200 over the course of the next two years. The home-goods retailer has been struggling with falling sales for years and had to temporarily close about 90% of its stores in the early days of the pandemic.

Its stores have since reopened, and digital sales are up 89% in the three months ended Aug. 29. Still, revenue in its fiscal second quarter fell to $2.69 billion from $2.72 billion in the prior-year period, Bed Bath Beyond said earlier this month.

The retailer plans to reduce the range of items in some categories and a new store format will be unveiled at the end of October, with less inventory.

Bed Bath & Beyond CFO Looks to Declutter Shelves, Reduce Working Capital

What: the traditional Santa Claus meet-and-greets at Macy’s in going virtual this year

Why it is important: for the first time in 159 years the department store won’t be able to let children meet Santa instore so it reinvents tradition

No miracle on 34th Street this year, as Santa Claus won’t be visiting Macy’s. The tradition, which started in 1861, won’t be taking place in 2020 for safety reasons. Instead, Macy’s is launching an interactive virtual experience for kids: Santaland.

It starts in Santa's village and workshops with a greeting from virtual elves where you can see the sights and play interactive games. Then children will meet Santa virtually, being able to share their holiday wish list, and take a selfie to be downloaded. The experience is limited to three children at a time.

The pandemic is forcing a change on many things and it’s not the first tradition that Macy’s had to shift: last month the department store announced a reinvented Thanksgiving parade, to suit the safety measures imposed by the pandemic.

Macy’s Santaland Comes Home for the Holidays

Macy's Santaland at Home website

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IADS member Magasin du Nord implemented an interesting initiative to ensure customers were safe when navigating the floors, and respecting the legal distance imposed by Danish health department: “Distancing Guides”. In addition to the entrance staff dedicated to welcoming customers while reminding them about procedures (mask, gel and distance) the Distancing Guides are here to enforce customers dispersion on all floors of the stores and avoid unwanted gathering. 54 of them have been deployed so far (more to come for Christmas period) and this was noted by the Danish government: the Danish Minister for Commerce spent 30 mn instore in the Copenhaguen Kongens Nytorv flagship, and this generated a TV coverage. Magasin du Nord kindly shared with us their guidelines as we do believe this initiative could be interesting for other IADS members.

Magasin du Nord distance guidelines

Nordstrom is launching a sustainable program named ‘BeutyCycle’ in partnership with TerraCycle, allowing customers to bring their empty beauty product packaging to be recycled at any of Nordstrom's full-line stores or Nordstrom Local service hubs in the U.S. Nordstrom will send the recyclable goods to TerraCycle where they are cleaned and separated into metals, glass and plastics, to be then recycled.

Nordstrom Launches BEAUTYCYCLE Nationwide

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• The end of fur?

What: two major brands entering the resale market, with two different methods

Why is it important: what you get with the resale model is not a margin, but traffic instore and customer data.

Both Gucci and Levi’s announced on the same week they were entering into the resale market, following other brands with take back programs such as Patagonia (2017) or North Face (2018). They have however a different approach. Levi’s is proposing its customers to bring back second-hand products in its own stores in exchange for a voucher, and resell the pieces in a new dedicated online store. Gucci however is not setting up such a complex process, as they are partnering with The Realreal, a second-hand marketplace. Teaming up with a brand is a way for the Realreal to escape accusations of selling counterfeit products, while this association provides Gucci a smart marketing angle (millennials, sustainability) with very low investments. The Business of Fashion notes that, more than the (low) margins that will be proceeding from these operations, the data collected, i.e. the consumption pattern for each product, will prove quite useful for real-time adjustments of instore merchandising for both brands.

Why Gucci Is Getting Into Resale

Levi's wants your old jeans back

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Nordstrom is the latest retailer to announce that it will stop selling products that are made with animal fur or exotic animal skins by end of 2021. It will impact all the chain’s outlet from namesake department stores to off-price banners Nordstrom Rack and Last Chance, and to the website. The commitment was done in partnership with the nonprofit organisation Humane Society of the United States, which focuses on animal welfare.

This news comes at the same time as French government announces the end of mink fur farming in France. The country’s last four remaining fur farms will have to close no later than 2025.

These information follow the lead of several retailers that already took that commitment: a year ago Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s said they will stop selling fur by February 2021; and Selfridges has ended the sale of exotic skins, and sells only leather derived from agricultural livestock.

Nordstrom Bans Fur and Exotic Animal Skins

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What: a shop-in-shop dedicated to wellness.

Why it is important: just a few days ago, US Kohl’s announced it would review its assortment to put the focus on casual wear, and launch a new athleisure private brand. Following this lead it is now opening a space dedicated to wellness.

With consuming habits continuing to shift toward a more healthy and casual lifestyle with a focus on home, cares and casual wear, Kohl’s is now piloting a new essential goods concept: Kohl’s Wellness Market. The shop-in-shop experience features an assortment of products across home, beauty, personal wellness, baby and pet care; with a focus on clean, natural or sustainable products.

The new concept launches in 50 store locations as well as online, and is part of Kohl’s strategy to further establish itself as a leader in active, casual and wellness lifestyle.

Kohl’s Introduces Essentials with the Wellness Market

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What: Macy’s has decided to close 2 of its 546 stores in the US to convert them into fulfillment centers for the Christmas season.

Why it is important: In the Dover Mall, closing Macy’s will leave open only 2 of its initial 4 anchors: JC Penney and Boscov’s. Sears closed in 2018 and Macy’s has not communicated on a date, not even on an “if” they will reopen this unit. The acceleration of giant department stores chains into smaller formats forces them to review what to do with their larger units, which has a domino consequence on malls in the US.

Macy’s launched a pilot operation in prevision of the Holiday season, by converting 2 stores into fulfillment centers. They expect traffic instore during the season to lower by 22 to 25% YoY and therefore are exploring new ways to make the most of their spaces. One can wonder how this translates into the management of the workforce, and if sales staff are replaced, or converted, into warehousing teams. Macy’s remains vague on the number of stores it is planning to convert, as well as on the return to their original functions after the season. It could also be seen as a last chance opportunity for losses making units, to see if they can cater to other needs, before considering total closure at a moment when Macy’s and sister company Bloomingdales are going into smaller, more local stores.

Dover Mall Macy's serving as fulfillment center during holiday season

What: Lotte Group launched a data governance task force to reinforce its e-commerce business.

Why it is important: Data management is now becoming critical.

South Korea’s retail conglomerate Lotte Group launched a data governance task force under direct control of Kang Hee-tae, Lotte Shopping vice chairman and head of the group’s retail business units, to reinforce its e-commerce business through better use of massive consumer data. It is also part of its efforts to maintain its leading position in the retail market increasingly threatened by emerging e-commerce and online shopping players. The group has established the team to integrate management of the massive amount of data garnered from so many different places to create synergy and discover customers’ need as fast as possible. The group is expected to first use the data processed at the new team to upgrade its online shopping platform Lotte ON launched in April.

Lotte has the highest number (40 million) of subscribers to its membership service Lotte Members among the nation’s retailers. More than 60 million data is collected every month via its retail units.

Lotte going all-out to bolster data power to survive ecommerce competition

What: the department store is shutting down its two last units in Singapore

Why it is important: with the closure of this two units, the retailer will exist the country after 162 years

Robinsons liquidates its two department stores in Singapore (located at at The Heeren and Raffles City Shopping Centre), exiting the country after 162 years. Owned by the United Arab Emirates-based Al-Futtaim Group since 2008, Robinsons has been suffering losses for the last  years from shrinking sales. Danny Lim, Robinsons' senior general manager, said: “We regret this outcome today. […] However, the changing consumer landscape makes it difficult for us to succeed over the long term and the Covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated our challenges.” The two Robinsons stores in Malaysia will also undergo a similar liquidation process.

Robinsons to close last stores at The Heeren and Raffles City

In a podcast for Business of Fashion, founder of Retail Prophet Doug Stephens investigates the future of experiential retail in the wake of the pandemic. Guests include Neighborhood Goods’ co-founder, Story founder, and CEO and co-founder of CAMP.

Listen to the podcast below:

BoF podcast: Will covid-19 kill experiential retail? Not so fast

article: Will covid-19 kill experiential retail? Not so fast

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Hideyuki Murakami has been appointed as the new chairman of Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store Co. of Taiwan. Murakami, the company's vice chairman, will be moved up to fill the position, which became vacant when its founding chairman Wu Tung-hsing died on 20 August, according to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi. The board also appointed Wu's son Richard Wu, currently the company's president, to double as its vice chairman.

The department store chain, which posted sales of NT$ 80.7 billion (US$ 20.78 billion) in 2019, is a joint venture established by Taiwan's Shin Kong Group and Japan's Isetan Mitsukoshi Ltd. in 1989. In the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi chain, there are 15 stores in Taiwan.

What: After 19 months of contraction, September seems to be inverting the trend

Why is it important: The market is sensing light at the end of the tunnel, and all local players are imagining new promotion systems, including Sogo, to seduce local customers. There might be some of these systems that could be worth watching for other markets.

Due to low national tourism (-99% in August) and pandemic, adding up to political issues, Hong Kong has gone through difficult times in terms of retail sale this summer (YTD sales until August were 30% behind last year at €23.4bn vs. €33.5bn last year). However, it seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel, with a rebound sensed in September (also confirmed by IADS member Sogo) thanks to promotion actions led by almost all players on the market. There is currently an agility and creativity into addressing local customers in new ways that are the direct consequences and learnings from the crisis.

Hong Kong retail sales fall again in August

Hong Kong Footfall Soars: How The City’s Retailers Witnessed A ‘Christmas’ Miracle, And Why Shopping Malls Aren’t Dying

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One of the few companies able to develop and manufacture its own corporate face masks for staff, El Corte Inglés is rolling out an updated new version of it, improved based on the feedback from the users. These masks are safer and more comfortable. They are also reusable and sterilisable, making them a sustainable and environmentally friendly product.

Ya están aquí las nuevas mascarillas corporativas

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The other iconic Hong Kong department store along with Sogo, Lane Crawford, is turning 170 and also launching a round of celebrations this year. They are collaborating with seven brands and propose exclusive activities and capsule collections. Like many retailers, Lane Crawford was severely hit by the pandemic, worse than SARS and 2008 global financial crisis combined, as reported by Apple Daily last May. Lane Crawford belongs to Joyce Group, listed in HK, which posted in 2019 an annual revenue of €92,3m, -2% vs. 2018, for a gross profit of €8,6m, +77% vs.2018. 2020 data is not available yet.

Lane Crawford Celebrates 170th Anniversary With Seven Exclusives

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What: the acquisition of a rival in the resale market.

Why it is important: the trend of resale and second-hand fashion has been growing over the past years, and especially in the latest months. Lithuanian Vinted is dominating the European peer-to-peer selling market.

The resale market has been skyrocketing in the past months. For consumers it is as much a sustainable move than an economical one. Start-up Vinted, with more than 1.3 billion euros in sales in 2019, has bought its rival Dutch peer-to-peer resale service United Wardrob. With this merge they will bring together 34 million users buying and selling online. The two platforms will gradually be integrated, and users of United Wardrobe will to easily migrate their user accounts to Vinted, accessing a wider variety of items and a larger community of potential buyers.

Vinted became Lithuania's first tech unicorn in November 2019 -- an industry term for a start-up valued at more than $1.0 billion.

UW and Vinted are joining forces!

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What: a focus on casual assortment and a new private brand for a US department store.

Why is it important: with more brands rethinking their relationship with department stores, betting on a private label could be the next option for them; especially in a category that performs well at the moment.

US department store chain has announced that it will review its stores’ assortment to become a “destination for active, casual, and beauty for the entire family”. Thus it will extend its active and outdoor categories, and building a bigger beauty business.

On the same day, the brand announced the launch of a new athleisure private label. Dubbed FLX, it will launch online and in selected stores in March 2021 and will cater to both women and men.

Kohl’s Outlines New Strategic Vision with Heightened Focus on Active and Casual Lifestyle

Kohl’s Announces Launch of New Private Label, Specialty Athleisure Brand

What:  A new organization at travel retail giant Lagardère.

Why is it important: Lagardère is restructuring, by promoting in-house seasoned veterans to key positions, designing a new ad hoc Asia Pacific management structure, and frontally addressing key business model topics

Lagardère Travel Retail is reshaping following the departure of Ambroise Fondeur, former Chief Business Officer (26 years in the company), triggering a domino restructuring: former CEO of the Italy BU Lucio Rossetto takes over, with direct report to the CEO. Emmanuel de Place, currently COO of Asia Pacific, takes over the role of Chief Transformation Officer, in charge of reviewing the concession business model, to make it more efficient & flexible, with a shorter-term approach, adapted to the current troubled times. His position is being split in two: former Chief Development and Strategy officer Severine Lanthier becomes COO Greater China, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia, while Singapore CFO Ann Pang becomes CEO of Singapore and Malaysia. This split has been designed to address the different dynamics in the region: aggressive growth in China, stabilization in the rest of the region.

Lagardere Travel Retail posted a turnover of €5,5bn through 4,800 stores in 39 countries. Its revenue fell by 55% in the first half of 2020 YoY.

Lagardère Sets Course For Retail Recovery With Top Executive Changes And Split Focus In Asia

What: The Harrods Residence project due to open in Shanghai in December.

Why it is important: Harrods is experimenting with a new format in China, which aims at increasing brand recognition while limiting risks. It is smart especially in the way they plan to build personal relationships with local Chinese affluent customers, without even engaging in a physical stock supply process.

Harrods tested for the first time a physical presence in China during the Fashion Week by opening the Harrods Studio, a 3 days showroom,  during the Fashion Week dates by invitation-only. It was a smart way to address local high net worth customers, unable to travel to the UK, and provide them the Harrods feeling. The Residence project takes things even further by literally opening permanent stockless VIP lounges and showrooms, including personal stylists and communal areas for VIPs to invite and meeting their friends. Harrods has projects in Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Beijing as well.

The reason for such a strategy, in addition to the Outlet, opened in London Westfield and H-Beauty: they anticipate that, with the degrading relationship between the US and China, the UK will become a nicer destination for affluent Chinese in the future. Harrods wants to take a step ahead and make sure its brand is recognized even before tourists come back. The MD Michael Ward is even planning to host local dinner parties on a monthly basis. The economical catch? There will be no physical stock in the VIP lounges: the department store counts on its relationships with brands to locally supply the sold products.

Harrods Shares The Residence Shanghai Details, Eyes Further Chinese Cities

The Monoprix supermarket chain has built an automated distribution centre just outside Paris to deal with its online orders. It is a robotic system made of cubes which circulate on a grid and allow 50 articles to be picked in 6 minutes. The system is part of a deal with UK firm Ocado which has been expanding its DC service offer around the world. It uses the Autostore technology from Norway to automate warehouse operations and cut down considerably on human numbers. The Autostore group is currently suing Ocado for wrongful appropriation of its technology.

Department store Manor in Switzerland has been using Autostore in two of its warehouses for several years now and has benefited from considerable cost savings as a result.

See IADS Exclusive piece on Monoprix here

H&M are launching a “virtual popup” (i.e. a 2 months long e-commerce initiative) with Zalora Philippines, a mid-priced marketplace and retailer. Numerical details on the partnership have not been shared, however this operation seems like a temperature test for H&M, which would explain why this partnership is only for 2 months, while being the biggest brand launch for Zalora this year.

H&M launches E-commerce initiative on Zalora Philippines