A new space dedicated to immersive media art opened on the 9th floor at luxury department store Lotte Avenuel in Myeong-dong, Seoul.

The venue, Groundseesaw Myeongdong, is an 800-square-meter exhibition hall with 6-meter, ceiling-to-floor screens covering the walls. The hall features more than 70 high performance projectors and multiplex cinema sound systems.

“Blue Room,” the opening exhibition, designed under the theme of “Trip to Awakening,” will showcase immersive media art that reinterprets images of blooming flowers, clouds, forests, and the night sky.

Tickets cost between 12,000 won to 15,000 won (USD 10 to USD 13).

New media art venue opens at Lotte Avenuel 

What: Target, Walmart, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Macy’s and Kohl’s are among the top American retails offering big discounts and promotions to compete with Amazon Prime day held 21 and 22 June.

Why is it important: Prime Day is expected to top USD 11 billion in total online spend for US retailers, surpassing sales generated on Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year.

Amazon Prime day, which generated USD 10.4 billion in gross merchandise sales last year, is taking place earlier than its traditional July run date, as the e-commerce giant looks to boost spending in what are historically slow sales days in the quarter. Twenty countries participate in the event this year.

Big US Retailers Line up Deals To Challenge Amazon Prime Day

What: The group is developing plans to convert all 22 fur salons into "customised for modern luxury experiences."

Why is it important: The change follows the company’s establishment of an Environmental Social Governance team.

The Neiman Marcus Group will discontinue selling products containing animal fur by early 2023. The new policy eliminates animal fur products from the Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores and websites and calls for shutting down the fur salons at both divisions. Neiman Marcus has 21 fur salons in stores; Bergdorf’s has one fur salon.

To replace a significant fur business, NMG will convert into spaces “customised for modern luxury experiences,” without specifying what those experiences would be. The company added that it plans to work with luxury brands creating “new and innovative ultra-luxury concepts that satisfy the discerning tastes of luxury customers.”

Neiman Marcus Group Goes Fur Free

What: Gap and Walmart team up to jointly launch a new equivalent of a private label

Why it is important: By blurring the differences between licensing and private labels, both brands make the most of their competitive advantages.

For Walmart, the move equates to launching a new private label with a strong brand image and customer appeal (all the more thanks to its exclusivity), while limiting its investment in product development and related human structure.

Walmart and Gap announced the introduction of Gap Home, a home essentials brand only available at Walmart. They are both scaling their competitive advantages (for Walmart, its distribution size, for Gap, its lifestyle brand image) into this launch of a 400-wide products collection.

Pricing is thought to be fitting Walmart’s customers’ expectations, and seasonal animations will be achieved through drops and special items.

Gap and Walmart Partner to Introduce Gap Home 

The department stores will host, in partnership with Pierre Bergé & Associés, its first auction of vintage furniture. The event comes as a part of the "OFF" programme (launched in January 2020), consisting in exclusive cultural events. The 120 objects and pieces of furniture will first be displayed as an exhibition in the homeware section of the store, and then auctioned in the Grande Epicerie de Paris restaurant (which is closed due to Covid restrictions).

Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche hosts its first auction of decorative arts furniture 

What: Target and Walmart have announced sales events that start a day before Amazon’s Prime Day.

Why it is important: The retailers hope to pull some sales away from Amazon, especially from those that do not have an Amazon Prime membership.

Target’s Target Deal Days  will span from 20 June through 22 June and Walmart’s Deals for Days event will last from 20 June to 23 June. Both do not require any kind of membership to take advantage of the deals which will be similar to Black Friday savings.

But the lack of membership requirement on some rival retailers' sales events may pull potential shoppers away from Amazon’s Prime day happening from 21-22 June.

Target, Walmart announce overlapping sales events to rival Amazon

What: The Business of Fashion wonders about the relevance of La Samaritaine’s opening in 2021

Why it is important: There is little doubt that La Samaritaine is a business model conceived to be thriving with tourism. But what if tourism, and tourists, change by nature and spend less during their travels? This is an option that is considered by Bain & Co.

La Samaritaine opened its door mid June after 15 years of works and EUR 750m invested, generating an intense coverage in press all around the globe. However, analysts are wondering about the timing and the long term rationale of such a move.

Even if La Samaritaine’s officials maintain that the store is also intended for local customers (which remains to be seen – read our exclusive here), the brand selection, product offer and DFS overall supervision tend to suggest that the bulk of the business will be done with tourists… when they come back. The article makes the usual speculations on the relevance of the department store format and predominance of e-commerce, but makes an interesting point regarding tourism: even though they will for sure come back, will they still be inclined to spend during their travels? Bain & Co projects that 30% of luxury purchases will take place in China by 2025 (tourism is expected to recover by 2024 only,  according to McKinsey).

La Samaritaine is however well positioned to be a landmark building to be an mandatory stopping point for tourists, such as Harrods, Le Bon Marché or Galeries Lafayette Haussman, the second most visited place in Paris after the Eiffel Tower and not mentioned in the article. However, there is no mention either of the Harrod’s initiatives in China, with its stores cum showrooms open in Shanghai and Beijing.

This kind of vision, opposite to La Samaritaine’s, raises questions re. its future profitability. The article speculate that this is only possible with companies such as DFS, able to spread profits and losses over the world, including la Samaritaine’s operations.

LVMH’s Billion Dollar Retail Bet

What: Lotte Maison Dong Busan is a 23,044 square metres mall gathering 50 domestic and foreign brands.

Why is it important: Home goods business being boosted by Covid, this is Lotte’s first brick-and-mortar shopping complex for furniture, home appliances and accessories.

The new mall is located in the Osiria Tourism Complex in Busan. Stores are set up like real living spaces. Top brands including Hanssem, Simmons, ACE, Tempur and Sealy, as well as a Samsung Digital Plaza and an LG Electronics store are set to open.

Additionally, “Pet Park” tailored to the trends of pet dogs, “Brick Campus” where you can experience Lego exhibitions, and a special skateboard specialty shop are also opening.

Lotte Maison Dong Busan opens in East Busan

What: John Lewis takes an unprecedented step in the UK retail landscape in terms of employee support when it comes to parental leave.

Why it is important: To make the retail career attractive again, some perks are required. This will involve additional spending and investments from Department Stores HR.

John Lewis is offering its 80,000 workers a new package, effective this autumn, regarding parental leave for birth: all parents-to-be with a minimum of one year in the company will be granted a paid leave of six months, or 26 weeks (full pay for the first 14 weeks and then 50%). This package will be proposed to both men and women, and is thought to contribute to the fight against the gender pay gap, according to Dame Sharon White, the chairwoman of the group.

In the UK, mothers-to-be are legally entitled to 90% of their pay for the first 6 weeks, and then the lower between GBP151,97 per week or 90% of their pay, for the next 33 weeks. Fathers-to-be are entitled to the same money, but with one or two consecutive weeks’ leave maximum.

John Lewis to offer equal parental leave to all staff 

What: John Lewis leverages the success of its rental initiative to expand it, geographically and product wise.

Why it is important: Rental stands among the new options at hand for retailers to generate additional recurring revenue. IADS member Beco, among others, is already quite advanced in this kind of programme.

John Lewis, which launched a partnership with Fat Llama last year to rent furniture (including desks and office chairs, which were among the top pieces to be rented), extends the move by increasing the number of references available for rent. We reported this partnership in our Exclusive on Subscription Retail.

Leveraging on Fat Llama’s ‘flex rental’ scheme, John Lewis extends in addition the service to the rest of England, as it was previously limited to London. As before, rented products will be available for purchase at the end of the rental period, at a price netted of the payments made so far.

John Lewis expands furniture rental service following successful trial

What: The store will open in New York This Summer.

Why is it important: Google takes a leaf out of Apple’s play-book of operating physical stores and providing in-person services to boost sales.

Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Thursday it would open its first physical store in New York City this summer, mirroring a retail approach that has helped Apple Inc rake in billions of dollars in the last two decades.

The Google store will be located in the city’s Chelsea neighbourhood near the its New York City campus, which houses over 11,000 employees.

Google, which has set up pop-up stores in the past to promote its products, said it would sell Pixel smartphones, Pixelbooks and Fitbit fitness trackers along with Nest smart home devices at the retail outlet. Visitors will also be able to avail customer service for their devices and pick up their online orders at the store.

Google To Open First Physical Store in New York This Summer 

What: 2021’s Q1 performance exceeded expectations on both the top and bottom lines.

Why is it important: Macy’s beats Wall Street estimates.

It expects sales between USD 21.73 billion and USD 22.23 billion, much higher than the USD 19.75 billion to USD 20.75 billion range it forecast earlier. Comparable sales are up 63.9% vs. 2020 and digital sales grow of 34% vs. 2020.

The department store chain is benefiting from easing restrictions, relief checks and a return to normalcy as people attend events and get back to offices after a year of staying at home.

People are shopping for fine jewellery and watches, fragrance and luxury items, and “special occasion categories” have seen an improvement as customers return to a pre-pandemic lifestyles.

Macy’s is placing its bets on big investments in new stores and technology to draw customers at a time when more people are shopping online.

Macy’s Raises Annual Forecast as People Return to Stores 

Macy's Inc Reports First Quarter 2021

What: Poshmark has partnered with Snap to create a social shopping experience called Poshmark Mini.

Why it is important : Poshmark is extending their reach to Gen Z consumers by allowing them to shop on social platforms.

With Poshmark Mini, users can browse curated products, attend virtual shopping events (Posh Parties) and shop top-selling brands without leaving Snapchat.

Snapchat has had its sights set on shopping through the app since 2016. Snapchat is popular among Gen Z consumers (aged 10 to 24), which Poshmark would like to leverage.

Poshmark and Snapchat previously partnered to create Snap Kit in 2018, which let Poshmark users share and sell their listings on Snapchat.

Poshmark, Snap team up on social shopping experience

What: Walmart plans to offer nationwide virtual healthcare services to be a market leader and gain a greater share of the healthcare business.

Why it is important: As other large players are taking stake in virtual healthcare, it will be important for Walmart to capture enrollment among member companies and to compete with other telehealth providers.

Walmart has acquired MeMD, a telehealth provider, so it can offer nationwide virtual healthcare. The retailer already has 20 clinic and 4,700 domestic stores that offer pharmacies.

Telehealth services are becoming a very competitive new feature in the industry with other large players like Amazon, CVS, and Walgreens.

Due to the pandemic, this new form of medical treatment is seeing accelerated adoption. As large players battle to become the leader across the space, consumers should benefit in the commoditisation of the services.

Walmart’s Expansion Into Telehealth Pits It Head-To-Head With Amazon Again

What:  Walmart is focusing on low prices as customers become more interesting by increasing value for money, than convenience

Why it is important:  Walmart is reporting a similar behaviour already noticed by IADS members when they are able to reopen: traffic instore is slightly lower, but average basket rises to the point of compensating the lost traffic, while e-commerce soars.

Walmart posted a total revenue of USD 128,31 billion on Q1 2021, +2,7% compared to the same period last year. In the US, digital sales increased +37%, store sales increased +5% (traffic decreased -3,2% but average basket increased +9,5%). Every segment is performing well, with the exception of international sales (-8,3%) due to divesting moves.

The company anticipates that 2021 will be less about convenience, and more about value and price. This is the reason why Walmart is planning to double down on low prices this year.

Walmart Releases Q1 FY22 Earnings

Walmart Full Report earnings

What: The Dutch department store is expanding in Europe again.

Why it is important: After launching an e-commerce website in France last year, it is now opening an online store in Austria, marking the fourth foreign market for the omnichannel retailer.

De Bijenkorf’s online store launch in Austria was planned for the second half of 2020, but it took a while. Online stores were also opened in Belgium, Germany, and France. The launch of the online stores allows the retailer to be considered a true European player.

De Bijenkorf launches in Austria

What: Central announced for Q1 2021 a turnover -10% vs. LY, and a profit -48.4%

Why it is important: Situation in Thailand is not back to normal yet, and Central expects more consolidation and optimisation, after having united its department stores Central and Robinsons end of 2020 (link: https://www.iads.org/web/iads/2193-central-retail-to-unite-central-and-robinson-stores.php)

Thai group Central announced it reached 90% of its pre-covid level for Q1 2021, to USD 1.56 billion, which is seen as an encouraging move. However, profit is down -48.4% (USD 14.65 million). 2021 is for now considered more difficult than 2020 due to second and third lockdowns with store closures.

Central has maximized synergies with Robinson department store, now unified. They have also invested in Vietnam and new businesses. Further optimisation and restructuration should be expected this year.

Central Retail sales rebound to 90 per cent of pre-Covid levels 

What: The luxury department store has acquired a temporary license to host “micro weddings” for a limited period this year for up to 20 guests.

Why is it important: Selfridges ventures further into offering unprecedented services and customer experience.

The venture into wedding came as the answer to the growing trend for alternative and smaller-scale wedding celebrations after the COVID-19 outbreak halted wedding plans,  which makes finding a wedding venue in 2021 challenging.

Ceremonies will take place in the retailer’s new Wedding Suite on the fourth floor, which will be decorated according to couples’ chosen packages, and parties will continue at its restaurant, the Brasserie of Ligh. To mark the occasion, there will also be a wedding takeover in Selfridges’ ever-evolving Corner Shop.

Selfridges Turns Full-Service Wedding Venue 

What: As more and more retailers implement mobile checkout and contactless payment, a new ruling may have lasting implications for retail tech.

Why is it important: Adopting the right commission scheme is crucial to the omnichannel strategy.

Macy’s added mobile self-checkout to most of its retail stores in 2018, through an app enabling shoppers to scan barcodes on merchandise, and then go through a dedicated mobile checkout line. After three years of customers utilizing the retail tech, Macy’s employees have scored a victory in the case that Macy's failed to award commissions from purchases made through the app.

The grievance was filed by about 600 employees at six stores and the arbitrator ruled in favour of the union, which represents 11 000 Macy’s employees, to make the company end its practice of using its Scan and Pay mobile app to deny commissions to employees on in-store purchases.

As retailers continue to implement new omnichannel forms of shopping, the case should be kept in mind as tech plans are being drawn out.

Macy’s Ordered to Restore Commission for In-Store Mobile App Sales 

What: After years of renovation work, a USD 750 million investment, the department store will finally open on 22 or 23 June.

Why is it important: According to LVMH's initial plans, tourists (especially Chinese tourists) were to account for half of the department store’s customers. In the current situation, La Samaritaine will have to entice local, French and European customers.

Run by LVMH’s DFS subsidiary, La Samaritaine is set to host 600 brands, including 40 exclusives (the LVMH group’s leading names, as well as those of Kering and Richemont), across an area of about 20,000 square metres.

Offices, private apartments and a crèche occupy part of the 70,000-square-metre complex, which is also home to Cheval Blanc Paris, a 72-room prestige hotel designed to attract an international clientele.

Before the pandemic, and comparing La Samaritaine with the results of the Galeries Lafayette’s Haussmann branch in Paris, French trade magazine LSA estimated that the revamped department store’s annual revenue could potentially exceed EUR 500 million.

LVMH Sets Date for Reopening of La Samaritaine Department Store

What: Total consolidated sales for the first quarter of 2021 hit KRW 2.2 trillion (USD 1.9 billion).

Why is it important: Analysts expect sales to grow more than 90% year-on-year in 2021.

Total consolidated sales for the first quarter of 2021 hit KRW 2.2 trillion (USD 1.9 billion), while net profit reach KRW 89 billion (USD 78.8 million). Fashion in particular has been booming in Shinsegae’s network of department stores, with luxury, womenswear, menswear and sportswear marking year-on-year gains of 58%, 25%, 35% and 37% respectively.

Subsidiary Shinsegae International, which imports and distributes global fashion brands like Celine and Stella McCartney, reported a 21% sales boost for fashion and an 18% spurt for beauty.

Shinsegae’s duty free business, however, continues to see its airport business suffer, with sales down 92% year-on-year.

Shinsegae’s Q1 Luxury Sales Up 58% as Demand Soars

What: Mental health services are to be found at US CVS, Rite Aid and other chains.

Why is it important: While seeking to offer more services to customers, US drugstore chains are now offering on site or remote counselling.

CVS, the largest retail pharmacy in the United States, has added licensed clinical social workers trained in cognitive behavioural therapy to 13 locations. The providers will offer mental health assessments, referrals and counselling either in person or via telehealth, and this spring the company plans to expand to 34 locations in those same regions.

CVS is just one of a growing number of retailers who are recognizing the unmet need for mental health providers and hoping to fill the gap. Walmart announced it is acquiring MeMD, which offers online medical and mental health care. Walmart currently provides counselling via Walmart Health, a health centre located in a separate building alongside Walmart Supercenters. In addition, Rite Aid is piloting teletherapy in the “virtual care rooms” of 13 stores. And Walgreens is facilitating therapy appointments via the company’s web platform Walgreens Find Care, which connects customers to teletherapy from BetterHelp or Sanvello. Walgreens also offers free access to online mental health screenings through a partnership with Mental Health America.

Pricing options without insurance range between USD 129 for an initial assessment to USD 69 for a 30-minute session, with many options in between. At Walmart, the initial therapy session is USD 60 and the 45-minute follow-up sessions cost USD 45, according to the company’s website.

Pharmacies Are Entering the Mental Health Market 

What: The department store is on the move, into off-price and new merchandise categories, and toward some fierce competition.

Why is it important: Expanding its off-price Backstage business is a short-term solution, is detrimental to the brand and won’t allow Macy’s to drive trade into the full-price business. The retailer should also look at Target when developing new product categories.

Macy's calmed investors this week with a first quarter performance that beat most expectations and a plan to rehabilitate its faltering business. Macy's now faces the thorny issue of making good on these plans, which send it smack into some stiff competition from mass merchants like Target and off-price masters like TJX and Ross.

Embedded in Polaris are several disparate moves: expanding its off-price Backstage business within its stores and in more stand-alone locations, with the goal of ending the year with 270 total; establishing smaller full-line stores at strip centres; retooling its website; expanding in-demand categories like home; and getting into in-demand categories like pet supplies, toys, wine, and health and fitness.

Macy's deeper venture into off-price and its merchandising expansion in particular make sense, but invite a host of questions. Macy's is expanding its Backstage operations not only within stores but also, increasingly, as stand-alone locations, opening 33 new ones in the first quarter and adding to its final goal.

"Off-price is a sensible pivot, and where Backstage stores have been opened in existing Macy's stores, the concept seems to do well," GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders said. "However, it does not drive much trade into the full-price part of the business. As such, it is only a partial solution and does not address all of Macy's underlying issues."

Going off-price has very short-term gains and long-term losses to whatever their identity is. It's a tactic to attempt to push some of their own stuff that would normally end up at T.J. Maxx. In fact, Macy's is eyeing Nordstrom, which says that customers who shop at both its full-line and off-price Rack stores are their best customers.

Macy's has to sell other merchandise, analysts also say. In fact, Macy's expansion into new categories pits it against mass merchants like Walmart, Amazon and Target, the latter in particular conquering new categories with private labels and partnerships, to the point where observers see Target as a fresh alternative to the department store. As a place of discovery, just like department stores of old were.

Where is Macy's going

What: The opening of the men’s sports department is the final phase of a refurbishment that began in 2018, grouping all men's wear on one floor.

Why is it important: Harrods' newest menswear department, a 4000 sq. ft. space dedicated to sportswear, comes as part of a GBP 300 million restoration project.

Men’s Sports is located on the second floor, with the rest of men’s wear, and stocks gear for most activities, including cycling, yoga, golf and tennis. The space houses 20 brands, while there are nine permanent, branded shop-in-shops including ON Running, Lululemon (the first men’s only destination for the brand in the U.K.), and Rapha. There is also a lifestyle skew, with brands including Canada’s Reigning Champ, EA7, Fred Perry and Lacoste.

The nine shop-in-shops surround a centralized, multi-brand area that stocks merchandise from the Italian lifestyle brand K Way, Falke sports socks and compression wear from 2XU. There is also a pop-up space beside the permanent shopfits, and that will be occupied for the duration of 2021 by the Australian cycling brand MAAP.

Harrods Pumps Up Sports Offer, Finishes Men’s Second Floor Refurb