What: British skateboarding label Palace is teaming up with the department store to launch an exclusive collection and pop-up store.

Why it is important: The collection is branded Palace X Harrods which makes the department store logo very visible. It’s a smart move for Harrods to associate its name to a fashionable streetwear brand appealing to younger customers.

The collaboration features Harrods logo, which will be found across collection items, the in-store pop-up, as well as via a Palace takeover on Harrods e-commerce.

Besides skateboards, caps, varsity jackets and hoodies, it offers food, wines and coffee. It will be available online and in-store at the 'Palace Harrods' pop-up, staged at the Knightsbridge store, on the second floor from December, 10. The store pop-up runs from December 10 to 12, while the collection will be available online until December 17.

Palace Opens Harrods Pop-up With Exclusive Christmas Capsule 

What: Quarterly revenue increased roughly 39% from a year earlier to USD 979 million but declined 6.7% from 2019. Fewer discounts helped the retailer grow its margins, and the growth in full-price selling is expected to continue in 2022...

Why it is important: With a new business plan completed last fall, there’s a three-year, USD 600 million capex budget including USD 90 million in supply chain improvements, and USD 250 million in store renovations. A portion of the capex budget will target optimizing websites and apps for improved navigation, product recommendations and enhancing the group’s Connect clienteling tool used by sales associates.

Financial results

The luxury department store chain’s gross margins rose around 855 basis points from 2020 and 537 basis points from 2019. Comparable sales for the first quarter jumped 51% year-over-year and increased 7.3% from 2019. Last quarter NMG’s gross merchandise value was up 13% compared to 2019, and full price selling was up 41%. Regarding NMG’s volume outlook for the fiscal year: “We’ll be at more than USD 4 billion at the end of our fiscal year, running up to fiscal 2019 when we were more than USD 4 billion”, says Geoffroy van Raemdonck, NMG’s chief executive officer.

Customers and clienteling

New customer growth was up 18% and 17% of those placed a second order within 90 days of their first purchase. At Neiman’s itself, sales of its top 20 brands rose 61% versus fiscal 2019. Bergdorf Goodman online is driving “significant growth” compared to 2019: new customers grew by 40% and the average order value of Bergdorf’s online was up 14% in Q1

“Our loyal customers [those spending USD 10,000 or more a year at NMG] are as engaged as in the past but they have shopped less frequently in the last nine months. To better engage with customers, Neiman’s organization of more than 3,000 selling associates is segmented into different classifications depending on how associates interact with customers, including mostly “client advisers” who assist in stores/remote and online, as well as 250 digital client advisers (there will be 500 by mid-2022) based in the stores to meet customers but primarily engaging with them digitally.

There are also 60 digital stylists who only serve customers digitally. Neiman’s also has 108 personal shoppers for appointments in fitting rooms. All the associates utilize Connect.

Sixty-three percent of the customers are Gen X or Millennials, between 25 and 56. It was 48% two years ago”.

Flexible working to attract talents

Like many companies, NMG has established a flexible hybrid workplace arrangement which has helped attract talent. “We believe our associates should work where they have the most impact. We have hired people who are not based in Dallas,” said van Raemdonck. “If you are a tech person based on the West Coast, that is where you spend most of your time. You interact digitally with your colleagues, and at times you come into the office not to check email but to collaborate with everyone.” Four of Neiman’s general merchandise managers and the Neiman’s fashion office are based in New York. Buyers are still based in Dallas, though they spend about a third of their time seeing shows and showrooms in Europe. For those residing in the Dallas area, “We don’t require them to be five days in the office. We encourage them to come in two to three days a week,” said van Raemdonck. Due to the flexibility, “We recruit people faster. It takes 32% less time to hire and our turnover rate is down 20%, compared to 2019.”

Supply chain improvements

A new 500,000-square-foot distribution centre is expected to open around January 2023. NMG is investing in information technology for the centres.

The new facility will reduce deliveries to stores and homes by two days and double the number of customers who can receive shipments within two days.

Responding to rumours

NM says they didn’t lose any of their top 100 brands, not seeing any decline in distribution. Unlike Saks Fifth Avenue, they have no intention of splitting up its dot-com and stores into separate companies.

Neiman Marcus Group Addresses Fiscal Q1, Perceptions and The Path Ahead 

What: For the first time in nearly a decade, e-commerce spending on Black Friday in the US fell from the previous year, dipping slightly to USD 8.9 billion, down from USD 9 billion in 2020, while sales on Thanksgiving day remained flat year-over-year, according to preliminary data from Adobe.

Why it is important: For many brands, consumers were encouraged to shop earlier than usual to reduce the strain on their supply chains. The strategy appears to have worked: Adobe says retailers are still on track for a 10% year-over-year increase in holiday spending.

American retailers saw 21% fewer visits to stores between Friday and Sunday compared with the same period in 2019, according to RetailNext, an analytics company. In-store sales fell just five%, reflecting higher prices.

But some of those missing dollars were spent earlier in November. Between 1 and 28 November, consumers spent USD 99 billion online, up 13.6% year-over-year and 47%compared to the same period in 2019.

Some retailers did see a Black Friday bump though. Sephora and Ulta saw their traffic spike more than 20% and 10%, respectively, compared to Black Friday two years ago, according to early traffic data firm Placer.Ai, while off-price chains like T.J. Maxx and Ross Stores posted single-digit increases.

Meanwhile, Kohl’s and Nordstrom Rack were among the brands that saw traffic fall compared to 2019. Overall mall traffic dipped as well.

The lack of inventory and ensuing high prices have resulted in the lowest levels of promotions in years. Average markdowns among mid-range luxury fashion retailers so far this quarter dipped to 28% from 55% in the fourth quarter of 2019, research firm Cowen found.

Making Sense of This Year’s Black Friday Sales 

What: Despite splitting its e-commerce and store operations into separate businesses, Saks is delivering a "frictionless" shopping experience, Saks CEO Marc Metrick tells vendors.

Why it is important: Saks’ CEO addressed industry curiosity on how splitting e-commerce and stores is working out. “Metrick wrote: “This model works as reinforced by key stats: 44% of online returns were made in stores and 21% of online orders were fulfilled by stores.”

For the third quarter ended 30 October, “On a gross merchandise value basis, online sales increased 56% over 2020 and 84% over 2019, driven by higher site traffic, sales conversion and inventory,” Metrick wrote. “Traffic was up 32% [compared] to 2020 and 88% to 2019, and new customer counts grew by 54% to 2020 and 122% to 2019./nbsp]

At the Saks stores, comparable sales on a gross merchandising value basis were up by 30% to 2020 and nearly 24% over 2019, Metrick reported.

During the first three weeks of November leading up to and around Thanksgiving, there’s been “outsized” performances in outerwear, women’s shoes, handbags and holiday gift sets. “On Black Friday, we set record highs for traffic, customers, volume and transactions, which proved to be our largest demand day ever, up over 50% to 2020 and more than double to 2019,” Metrick wrote.

At the stores, he said comp sales were up more than 50% to 2020 and high single digits to 2019 for Black Friday, driven by men’s wear, fragrance, women’s shoes and jewelry.

Saks’ Update to Vendors_ Strong Q3 Followed by Record Black Friday 

What: In a break with tradition and retail practice in the U.K., Harrods will be launching its Winter Sale on 17 December (instead of 26 December), and running it throughout the holiday season, and into early 2022.

Why it is important: COVID-19-related lockdowns have upended the seasonal routine, and this marks the second time that Harrods has pushed forward its sale.

Harrods kicked off its sale in early December last year in between two national lockdowns. The physical sale ran for just three weeks, and then shifted to online when stores were forced to shut.

Harrods also needs to compete with the big online retailers, which usually start their winter promotions earlier than the physical stores. Net-a-porter already unlocked its 50% off sale. Matchesfashion is offering an extra 10% off its sale merchandise.

Harrods Defies Tradition, Again, With Plans to Start Winter Sale Early 

What: Coresight, just like FT and Forbes, is against the strategy of splitting up offline and online activities for large retailers.

Why it is important: The spilt-up reasoning is purely financial, but creates logistical and operational hurdles, according to analysts. So far, the Saks.com example suggests however that it can generate enough resources to fuel both online and offline activities. But one example might not suit all retailers.

Coresight addresses the very trendy topic of large US retail companies being under pressure from activist investors, who are pushing them to spin off their e-commerce division just like what Saks Fifth Avenue and the Hudson Bay did earlier in 2021: Macy’s, Kohl’s, and others… Coresight is not the only one sceptical with this approach: the Financial Times or Forbes also expressed doubts. For them, this approach goes against optimal retail management and is contrary to long-term trends, as the articulation between online and offline allows retailers to have a holistic view of their inventory, creating benefits in efficiency, pricing and customer satisfaction.

Investors are pushing spin-offs as companies with a combination of slow-growing and fast-growing businesses are typically sanctioned with a “conglomerate discount” in their market share price. Splitting up allows to value companies at the right price, and boost them when they are growing, like e-commerce. Coresight reckons that the strategy worked well for Saks, as they received an $500m investment which helped to allocate resources to the e-commerce company and make it grow (+80% GMV since the spin-off). Such an approach allows Saks to stop having to make choices in terms of resources allocation, between stores and online, and do both at the same time.

Coresight analysts do not really provide evidence that the strategy is ill-suited to department stores, even though if they assert that splitting up would create confusion for consumers and make click&collect and BOPIs activities very difficult.

An open letter to department stores to resist spinning-off ecommerce 

What: Visa releases its insight for October sales in the US.

Why it is important: Consumer confidence is increasing after 3 months of decline, leading to a rebound in retail sales (excl. restaurants and bars which remain flat).

Retail sales rose 17,6% year over year in October, after having risen 15,6% in September. Spending in restaurant and bars was relatively flat, and the growth was supported by retail sales, especially in Electronics and e-commerce.

This was supported by an increased disposable income (+2,3% in September) helping to support a growth in non-durable goods and services spending.

This shows also that consumer confidence rose in October, after 3 consecutive months of decline, thanks to a stronger job growth. However, Visa analysts remind that persistent inflation might tone down the situation in the coming weeks.

Retail sales are supporting a strong Q4 spending level in the US 

What: Multibrand store Fred Segal opens a physical and digital space to sell NFTs and related merchandise.

Why it is important: This is the first time to our knowledge a multibrand retailer creates a space to sell NFTs. Department Stores should take notice.

Los-Angeles-based fashion retailer Fred Segal announced the opening of a space called Artcade, a “dynamic retail experience” which physically displays NFTs and digital art on wall displays and via a streaming studio. So far, other examples were provided by brands (Dolce & Gabbana, Rebecca Minkoff) but not by wholesalers.

The offer will include well known NFTs (The Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats…) but also IRL collectibles and limited-edition apparel. The space is developed in collaboration with Subnation, a media tech company, and a virtual version of the store, in the upcoming Metaverse, is planned.

Logo: Fred Segal

NFTs are making their way into physical retail 

What: The Financial Times reviews the Central Group, believed to being in talks to acquire Selfridges.

Why it is important: It is all about commenting rumours, however, the Thai group is well-known for acquiring top-end department stores including their real estate as a strategy.

The Financial Times gives in the rumour that has been spreading for the past week according to which Central Group is in talks to buy Selfridges, even though Central has denied such talks (it is understood that the purchase would be made directly by the Chirathivat family, for £4bn). Selfridges would be a jewel in the crown for Central, which also operates outside of Thailand Kadewe, La Rinascente, Illum and Globus, especially that they would also acquire the property, including the Oxford Street flagship one.

Today, Central Group is headed by a è-large family board which supervises a 11-member management team including Vittorio Radice, former CEO of Selfridges and La Rinascente. In the past, they tried to expand in China, without success, and are now fully focused on Vietnam and Europe.

The Thai retailer hoovering up Europe’s luxury department stores

What: The third Harrods venture in the UK exclusively dedicated to high end cosmetics and fragrances.

Why it is important: Harrods is expanding outside its Knightsbridge footprint to balance for losses related to lack of tourism and make the most of its image and product curation capabilities.

Harrods opens a new H Beauty location in Edinburgh, which makes it the 3rd in the UK after the first locations in Essex and Milton Keynes (reported here), exclusively selling cosmetics and fragrances.

The store, which is 2,100 sqm wide, will support local brands in addition to bringing accessible luxury to Scotland, a premiere for Harrods as it has never been present in the country so far.

Harrods plans to open 2 more H by Harrods in the coming 12 months.

Harrods opens new H Beauty location in St James Quarter Edinburgh 

What: An opinion piece against Macy’s considering splitting up its online and offline activities just like what Saks and Hudson Bay did earlier in 2021.

Why it is important: Investors’ interests are usually short-termed, as the idea is to cash in “trapped” value. This can go against the interests of the company on the long terms, as recalled in this article with the history of Sears.

Macy’s is under fire from activist investors to split up their business into online and offline, just like what Saks Fifth Avenue and Hudson Bay Company did earlier in 2021. The reasoning is that this would allow to unleash “trapped” shareholder value.

The Robin Report recalls that even though Macy’s was initially slow into growing its e-commerce activities, it still significantly innovated in many fields: robust omnichannel capabilities and innovations, being a leader in attracting younger shoppers, capturing data and using stores to fulfil online orders which allowed to reduce the end of season markdowns.

According to the author, this idea goes against the tide at a moment when Amazon itself is going physical, and clearly serves investors’ interests, not customers’.

What Is Macy’s Thinking?

What: Nordstrom Rack is increasing its use of pack and hold inventory by 2 or 3 times to mitigate supply chain disruptions into 2022.

Why it is important: Nordstrom Rack will buy larger quantities of relevant items when they are available and hold a portion of it for deployment in periods with high demand, tight supply, or system constraints.

The retailer expects its inventory levels to remain elevated through the end of the fiscal year as it invests in pack and hold at Rack and ships products earlier to meet holiday demand. The company will also pull volume forward for spring products in the next two quarters.

Nordstrom had used the pack and hold tactic to build inventory during a period of aggressive store expansion. Now the company will use the strategy to bolster its ability to maintain sales despite supply chain disruptions.

Nordstrom leverages pack and hold inventory to mitigate supply chain risk

What: From working extensively with Kanye West in the late 2000s to molding street-style scene with Off-White, countless collaborations, running numerous DJ sets and art exhibitions, to finally taking over Louis Vuitton’s men’s wear, it’s difficult to sum up “multihyphenate” Abloh’s work.

Why it is important: Abloh will be remembered for his global influence on society besides fashion, and by popularising luxury streetwear with Off-White bit also with Louis Vuitton.

Abloh graduated with a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and started DJing at the age of 17.

In 2007, Kanye West hired Abloh and they briefly worked on West’s first fashion project, Pastelle, together. From there, he interned at Fendi with West in 2009, and was officially named West’s creative director. Also in 2009, he opened Chicago store RSVP Gallery in Wicker Park, offering luxury and contemporary fashion and streetwear brands like Chanel, Comme des Garçons and Bape.

In 2012, he launched Pyrex Vision, a streetwear brand produced partly from deadstock Ralph Lauren products and apparel pieces that served as the impetus of streetwear’s fashion takeover. He launched Off-White in 2013 and established his signature marks, like zip ties, quotation marks, slant stripes and barricade tape.

Off-White was a finalist for the LVMH Prize in 2015. Though the brand did not pick up the prize that went to Marques’ Almeida or the special prize won by Jacquemus, Off-White did score countless collaborations like Levi’s or Nike on their “The Ten” series that included reinterpretations of 10 of the sportswear company’s sneakers, and even with Ikea on furniture. Other collaborations include Jimmy Choo, Moncler, Tsum, Byredo, Babylon LA, Ginori, Vilebrequin, Champion, Timberland, Dr. Martens and Umbro, Rimowa.

He teamed with retailers Ssense on athletic apparel; Sunglass Hut on a sunglasses collection; an exclusive capsule for Browns, and Le Bon Marché on a café.

In 2018, Louis Vuitton named Abloh men’s artistic director, making him the first Black American to hold the position at LVMH. His first show also marked a new direction for the fashion house that tapped further into skate and street culture.

In 2019, he held his first solo exhibition, “Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech,” at the Museum of Contemporary Art chronicling 20 years of his designs, inspirations and collaborations. The exhibit would travel separately from Louis Vuitton’s traveling men’s pop-up shops.

Shortly before Abloh’s death, LVMH acquired a 60% stake in Off-White and granted him a bigger role at the company to work on their wine and spirits and hospitality categories.

Virgil Abloh dies at 41

What: Most retailers build new warehouses to strengthen their e-commerce businesses. Lotte Shopping is trying something different by leveraging its existing stores and utilizing technology so that they become the core of its logistics network.

Why it is important: Lotte On app, a latecomer to e-commerce, has not been able to achieve a strong presence in the online shopping market so far. Lotte On had just a 5% share in e-commerce at the end of last year, according to Kyobo Securities.

Lotte On, an e-commerce app made available in April 2020, currently offers two-hour delivery of groceries in limited areas and plans to roll out the service nationwide by the end of next year.

Coupang, the second-largest e-commerce operator after Naver Shopping, is steadily investing to build more warehouses. SSG.com runs three warehouses, and is currently looking for place to build a fourth one.

Lotte doing e-commerce its own way

What: An interview of Shopify’s Head of Data Science to understand how Shopify puts itself at the service of merchants.

Why it is important: Such an approach allowed Shopify to compete with Amazon in terms of GMV in the course of very few years.

Forbes interviews the Head of Data Science, Engineering, Revenue and Growth at Shopify to understand how Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are used to enhance both product offerings and customer experience, for the 1.7m merchants it powers.

Shopify aims at empowering entrepreneurs and retailers by giving them a simple and efficient experience: personalized onboarding, intelligent tech support, advanced analytics to detect in 30 seconds the most important points of attention. Machine learning is also used to categorize products en masse.

This is achieved thanks to a vision that has helped Shopify since the beginning, i.e. putting themselves in the shoes of merchants instead of building a new technical solutions. It is all about simplifying tech to put tech as a tool at the service of someone who does not know anything about it (and should not).

Data Driven Decisions And Forecasting At Shopify

What: Selfridges is reported to be finally sold this year, after having received an unsolicited offer earlier in 2021.

Why it is important: If the sale amount is confirmed, the Galen family will have multiplied their investment 8 times in 20 years.

Selfridges is reportedly sold by the Weston family to Thailand Central Group for a total amount of GBP 4 billion according to the newspaper. The confirmed amount remains however unclear, as well as the clear picture of the exact part of the Selfridges business to be bought. The Galen family acquired Selfridges in 2003 for GBP 598m.

Central already operates KaDeWe, Rinascente, Illum and Globus as its overseas operations, in addition to being a major player in Thailand. It also invested earlier this year with JD.Com into online retail and fintech. The Selfridges group is comprised of four stores in the UK, Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland, De Bijenkorf in the Netherland and Holt Renfrew in Canada.

Thai conglomerate in advanced talks to buy Selfridges

What: US online prices increased 3.5 percent in November from a year earlier, the biggest gain since software company Adobe Inc. started tracking the digital economy in 2014.

Why it is important: The surge, marking the 18th straight monthly increase, is another sign of how broad-based inflation has become in the country.

E-commerce once was the land of discounts, especially during the holiday season, has now become a source of price hikes in the pandemic recovery.

Nationwide, inflation is running at the highest levels in decades.

US Online Retail Prices Rose a Record 3.5% In November 

What: The RealReal has opened a pop-up shop running until 28 February within Saks Fifth Avenue’s Brickell store in Miami.

Why it is important: Customers will have one-on-one access to The RealReal experts for complimentary valuations and consignment appointments. To reward customers for recirculating their luxury items, every first-time consignor at the Saks x The RealReal pop-up will also receive a USD 100 Saks gift card.

In addition, customers can shop for rare watches, coveted pieces, and one-of-a-kind jewellery.

Saks x The RealReal pop-up opens in Miami

What: Openpay inked an agreement with American Express to offer instalment payment options to participating health care and auto repair/maintenance merchants. The retailers will use Opy’s 2.0 version of buy now, pay later (BNPL) called “buy now, pay smarter (BNPS).”

Why it is important: While the BNPL payment method is currently challenged and criticized, the BNPS solution is supposed to differentiate from traditional pay-in-four BNPL plans thanks to fair, transparent and fixed fees.

BNPS method extends up to USD 20,000 with plan lengths of up to 24 months.

American Express Teams Up with Opy to Offer BNPL Options 

What: Facebook Hong Kong has launched its first pop-up store in the territory, introducing its ‘Your Profile, Your Home’ campaign. The pop-up store aims at educating consumers on how to personalise their experience using the Facebook app while maintaining their online privacy and safety.

Why it is important: Social media are challenged in many ways. In response, Facebook aims to teach customers the app’s privacy control and settings.

The store also houses Instagrammable spaces with interactive AR filters. An on-site quiz is also available for visitors to participate. Facebook Hong Kong pop-up store is scheduled to open until December 7.

Facebook opens in Hong Kong its first pop-up store in Asia 

What: The newly created digital arm of The Hudson Bay opens a first pop up in Canada.

Why it is important: It is all about brand recognition and equity to promote the Hudson’s Bay brand as a household name in North America.

The Bay, the e-commerce arm of The Hudson Bay, has opened a popup shop at the Canadian shipping container market, with brands such as Saint Laurent, Google, Herschel or Ugg. It is packed with tech solutions such as QR code scans to pay for purchases, Buy Now Pay Later services, etc..

It is aiming to be a thoroughly curated selection of gift ideas and probably as a way to increase the visibility of the Hudson Bay’s marketplace which has been launched early 2021. Hudson’s Bay also separated its e-commerce activities from brick & mortar in August this year. While Hudson’s Bay remains responsible for the stores, The Bay is in charge of brand direction, marketing, buying, planning and technology for both companies.

The Bay opens a tech-enabled holiday pop-up 

What: Coresight made its annual store tour to review Black Friday performances in the US and Canada.

Why it is important: Black Friday is now a worldwide event and seeing what is happening in the US is a good temperature check. In addition Coresight provide pictures of some stores.

Coresight undertook a store tour for the Black Friday in US and Canada, to see the key trends on the market. Overall:

• Frequency and magnitude of the deals were in line with previous years
• Stock levels were in general very strong, with a few exceptions due to logistical issues,
• Crowds were extremely heterogeneous, with stores packed and others empty,

Coresight considers that, even though traffic and inventory varied, even in the same stores in similar areas, the demand was healthy as there was a high degree of willingness to shop from customers, more than offsetting their fear of entering stores. For them, the impression is encouraging.

A detailed chart and some pictures allow to have an impression retailer by retailer.

Black Friday insights from the US and Canada 

What: Tesco is now selling data to advertisers.

Why it is important: Amazon racked in USD 25 bn of revenue with their ad business, and Tesco wants a similar business too. Department Stores should also take note.

Tesco, which is a pioneer in loyalty cards in the UK, has launched a media and insight platform in partnership with Dunnhumby. It is all about letting advertisers run targeted ads on its systems and letting them know which one worked.

Tesco is maximizing the insight it can gather from 20 m loyal customers, making the most of its leading retail position, and even delegating to suppliers the possibility to run their own analysis on their products performances.

Tesco Media & Insight Platform 

What: Unmanned stores are expanding in London.

Why it is important: While they are an obvious asset in a talent-short world, automated stores also need to convince the general public that they are a progress. The notion of data privacy is often mentioned.

The Economist follows up the opening of the new J Sainsbury automated store in London, the latest to open a checkout-free store in Holborn, and the first one to have Amazon’s “just walk out” technology license. It is the second time they have this initiative, as they already tried in 2019 during 3 months. In the same street, Amazon and Tesco have also opened unmanned locations.

Customers need a QR code to enter the store, but then, once inside, they just have to place items in a bag and walk out, thanks to sensors and cameras which enable the retailer to invoice the right articles directly on the customer’s credit card account. While some believe that this is the future for retail, especially in rural areas where cost of staffing is high, the English newspaper also echoes opinions from customers who remain to be convinced.

The pandemic tech boom is reshaping our cities