John Lewis has opened its Christmas shop in the Oxford Street location this week, and is rolling over in the rest of the stores from 25th of September until the 5th of October. More than opening date (earlier than before), or the number of Christmas trees showcased in the "Christmas Forest", the most interesting innovation is a 360° visit of the floor with the possibility to buy a selection of products. The visit is accessible here. Acknowledging that Christmas might feel different to UK customers this year, the retailer decided to transfer the experience online in the hope to boost sales of gifts and Christmas decoration.

It feels at the same time odd and comforting to navigate in an empty store with a google street-like way of hovering in the various aisles. The department store is reproduced at the finest detail possible, and allows to immerge oneself into the visit. The limited and guided choices of what is available for purchase feels however somehow frustrating, as well as the fact that a click on said products gets you out of the page to land on a standard e-commerce feature.

John Lewis & Partners launches Christmas Shop including first ever virtual shop tour

National public consultation on responsible fashion

As a member of the Paris Good Fashion it cofounded in 2019, and in line with its own “Go for Good” initiative, Galeries Lafayette joins an initiative alongside La Redoute (historical mail order player bought by Galeries Lafayette Group in 2018), and other brands & fashion players, to launch a national consultation. The goal: provide concrete answers from the general public and allow the industry to draw conclusions and find solutions on how to operate in a sustainable way. The consultation process is open until end of October. Organised by all the fashion councils in France, the analysis will be shared with the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Paris city council at the end of the year.

LAUNCH OF A NATIONAL COMMUNITY CONSULTATION PROCESS ON RESPONSIBLE FASHION

wwd: French Fashion Players Seek Public’s Input for Sustainability Matters

Go For Good

Galeries Lafayette has also kicked its sustainable fall initiatives in its Haussmann flagship and in BHV / Marais store. From 2 September to 11 October, the group celebrate responsible fashion through its Go For Good project initiated three years ago which advocates sustainable and transparent practices in fashion.

For the first time the operation hits the BHV / Marais department store (belonging to Galeries Lafayette group) with a special event called “Home Good Home” putting the spotlight on Go for Good certified home brands as well as on initiatives such as second hand market, repair services and recycling.

The Galeries Lafayette group reviews the impact of its strategy to promote responsible fashion

Breuninger is investing in the Stuttgart startup autoRetouch, that specializes in automated image processing in the fashion segment. The ambitious start-up autoRetouch was created as part of a project by the Breuninger Data Science department. When the results came in, it became clear that the project had a universal value for companies in the e-commerce sector. To better exploit this potential, autoRetouch spun off Breuninger in January 2020 to become an independent entity.

In November 2019, Frank Postel from Breuninger shared details on the start-up:

• autoRetouch is a fully automated, AI based solution for image processing automation.
• Product images are not retouched manually anymore but pass through autoRetouch. This saves time (it's instantaneous) and money (it's 90%) cheaper.
• The solution allows for instant redesign of an entire webshop, as well as image adaptation for various channels.
• autoRetouch features custom workflows that adapt to individual retailer's needs.

Press release: Breuninger investiert in Startup (in german)

The project running through Oct. 5 will provide visibility and business opportunities to 13 made in Italy brands. The fashion governing body has unveiled a partnership with Milan’s Rinascente to show its support to a range of 13 independent and young labels, as well as some established names, offering them the opportunity to link with final consumers. As part of the project, the eight windows of the department store facing the Duomo cathedral will showcase outfits from the selected brands through Oct. 5, while on the store’s online platform a series of mini videos will spotlight the stories and aesthetics behind each of them.

Prada hosted the "Shaping a Sustainable Multilateralism" conference, a discussion on international relationships in favour of the environment, promoted by newly formed private organization the Soft Power Club. Formed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Soft Power Club goal is to “stimulate diplomacy at a cultural level and multilateral relations between the public and private sectors to encourage social progress.”

The event was part of Prada’s “Shaping a Future” conferences. The group has been promoting sustainable goals for a few years now, signing the Fashion Pact for instance, and more recently partnering with UNESCO on an education program worldwide to “raise awareness of, and promote, more responsible behavior toward the oceans.”

Sustainability a Focus at Conference at Fondazione Prada in Venice 

Related item:

• Sustainability engagements at Galeries Lafayette

Harrods is opening mid-September its first beauty concept, H Beauty, in two malls located one hour drive from London, in Essex and Buckinghamshire. The fact that these locations are more mainstream than the Knightsbridge flagship might be a hint on how Harrods wants to connect with a younger clientele, based on its name and ability to bring a novel experience. Seen as a welcome vote of confidence in physical retail, going local and addressing communities is seen as a natural add-on to an omnichannel strategy.

Full article below

Harrods’s bold new bet: Suburbia

Hong Kong has been hit hard with various political crisis, quasi total loss of mainland China tourists (from 65,1m a year in 2018) and the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to a significant decrease of luxury goods demand on the market, pushing some brands to even shutting down some of their stores. Now that the perspective of seeing back mainland China tourists is still quite blurred, brands start to address local customers, who are an entirely different breed: they spend half of their mainland Chinese counterparts, have different needs, tastes, ways of communicating and even language. By tapping the opportunity of e-commerce, which is less widely used than in mainland China, and having a purposeful and tactful one to one CRM approach, HK merchants see however a potential in addressing the local high net worths.

Luxury New focus is HK hight net locals

Sports retailer Nike reported fiscal 2021 financial results for its first quarter ended August 31, 2020. Among others, it releases that:

• First quarter revenues are down 1%
• NIKE Brand digital sales increased 82%
• NIKE Direct sales were up 12%

John Donahoe, President and CEO of NIKE, Inc. said: ‘Our first quarter revenue performance was impacted by strong NIKE Brand digital growth of 82 percent, offset by lower revenue in our wholesale business and NIKE-owned stores.’

NIKE, Inc. Reports Fiscal 2021 First Quarter Results

According to the new CEO of South African Woolworths Holdings, parent of the Australian David Jones department store group, the department store chain is “overstored”. Plans are being accelerated to shrink the network by around 20% as losses deepen in the covid crisis. Roy Bagattini, who came from Levi’s and recently took over from Ian Moir in South Africa, said that as many as 10 stores could close. In the last year, sales at David Jones fell 6.4% to A$ 2.06 bn, with an operating loss of A$ 33 m after last year’s profit of $ 37 m. Unlike other stores, David Jones chose to trade through the lockdowns in March and April. Roy Bagattini commented on the challenging retail environment in general and in Australia in particular, but affirmed his belief in future of the department store concept as long as it remained relevant and offered a retail experience.

Online sales doubled for the year and account for 14.2% of David Jones total sales.

Woolworths' Australian fashion stablemate Country Road Group (CRG), which includes the brands Country Road, Trenery, Witchery, Mimco and Politix, fared slightly better than the department stores, with its operating profit staying in the black at A$ 40 m, though that was still down 60% on last year.

In India, Reliance Industries has agreed to pay $3.4bn for the retail assets of Future Group. The move boosts the plans of Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries chairman and currently the richest man in Asia, Walmart and Amazon for ecommerce dominance in India. Reliance Retail is already India’s largest bricks-and-mortar retailer but the acquisition of Future Group’s retail assets gives the company the control of about one-third of the bricks-and-mortar stores of India’s retail sector.

article: Reliance to pay $3.4bn for India’s second-largest retailer Future Group

After 3 centuries of existence, the last unit of the Japanese department store Onuma is closing down, due to pre-pandemic woes. Sales went from €95m in 2008 to €59m in 2018.

Death knell sounds for some of Japan's oldest department stores

Update - 25 September 2020:

Neiman Marcus Group Completes Chapter 11 Process; Emerges with Strengthened Capital Structure

21 September 2020:

The Covid-crisis accelerated the difficulties of Neiman Marcus, who was posting a loss of US $ 31,2m in July 2019, an increase of +56% on the previous year. After having closed  its first NY city store, just opened in 2019, and gone through a bankruptcy process, the iconic Department Stores is planning its comeback based on rebuilding relationships. Relationships with suppliers, first, some of whom lost money in the process. Relationship with customers, either with the existing ones with the digital channels, or the new ones, as Millennials and GenZ are crucial for its future.

Out of bankruptcy, Neiman Marcus plans a comeback

However, Neiman Marcus rebirth comes with casualties as the group announced job cuts among stores associates, both at Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores. The strategy is to become a luxury customer platform, focusing on service, and CEO of the Neiman Marcus Group Geoffroy van Raemdonck said: "As we reorganize, we will separate from a number of selling and non-selling associates. While we are reducing headcount, we are transforming the functions of our store associates and focusing on best-in-class luxury client experiences."

Neiman Marcus Group Reducing Headcount in Stores and Restaurants

The “Paris Good Fashion” association launches a national public consultation on responsible fashion. The aim is “to explore ideas about how to help the community do better with sustainability.” Participating brands include Galeries Lafayette, La Redoute, Petit Bateau, Vestiaire Collective, Who’s Next, Eram and Etam among others.The consultation period runs from 3 September to 25 October; conclusions will be presented to the French Ministry for the Ecological Transition and to the Paris city council in December.

French Fashion Players Ask Consumers for Help With Sustainability

Related items:

• Sustainability engagements at Galeries Lafayette
• Focus on sustainability at Fondazione Prada

Mall of America (Minnesota, US), the second biggest mall in the US, has announced an initiative to support local businesses hit with pandemic and recent riots in Minneapolis and St Paul, by opening starting on 1st of October a dedicated space called Community Commons. 17 businesses will be allowed to operate in this 500sqm space until Spring 21 rent-free, in a gesture to help local business but also lure customers in the mall as the traffic has been seriously decreasing post pandemic. It is from our point of view at IADS another example of the stores’ own reappropriation of their local urban role in city life, as illustrated in Paris by a similar approach at Monoprix.

MOA, with a gross area of 452.000 sqm, boasted pre-pandemic 40m visitors and employed 11.000 staff. After a closure of 12 weeks in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, it had to delay even further its reopening initially scheduled 1st June due to the civil unrest in both Minneapolis & St Paul.

MOA Opens Space for Retailers Hit Hard by Tumultuous Year

Mall Of America Extends A Hand Of Unity To Challenged Local Retailers

According to The Times and Retail Gazette, Debenhams of the UK is again considering the sale of Magasin du Nord in Denmark. Debenhams has owned Magasin since 2009 and there have been reports of a sale before. The auction is currently being handled by investment bank Lazard and law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The Times report suggests that any proceeds from the sale, which is estimated at between £ 150 m and £ 200 m, would go straight to Celine, the consortium of hedge funds that owns Debenhams rather than to the UK department store which is under administration. Magasin’s stores are generally agreed to be trading ahead of expectations. Debenhams, which currently trades from 124 stores in the UK and 45 sites across 17 countries, has been the subject of speculation about takeovers. But nothing specific has yet been confirmed.

Stockmann-owned retailer Lindex is to cut costs and jobs in a move to overcome the negative effect of the pandemic. As revenues declined by around 18% in Q2 (while e-tail had grown by 102% in Q2), the company launched a programme to cut €14.5 million in costs from the business, mainly from 2021 onwards. The plans include optimising the store network, restructuring the head office operations, cuting fixed costs related to the business premises, and streamlining the overall operations.

Lindex initiates a cost reduction program to future-proof the business

Falabella will create a new and single e-commerce and marketplace platform to lead regional retail under the brand name falabella.com. The new platform will concentrate the entire Falabella Retail, Sodimac, Tottus and Linio offer, along with the products of thousands of sellers. This new platform will initially include more than 7 million products from 10,000 sellers. The products will correspond to categories such as home, deco, fashion, sports, health, supermarket, electronics, technology, books and products from the international marketplace. Benoit de Grave, current CEO of Linio, will lead falabella.com reporting directly to Gaston Bottazzini.

Falabella will create a new and single e-commerce and marketplace platform

Luxury Canadian department store Holt Renfrew has teamed-up (again) with The Campaign for Wool for a sustainable capsule collection, including exclusive pieces by Canadian brands Line, and Smythe.. The Campaign, created 10 years ago by The Prince of Wales, aims to increase awareness of wool’s natural and sustainable benefits. Designs were created with wool fabrics from two historic textile mills in England.

Performance luxury apparel Canada Goose opens its first store in Germany, in Berlin. The company, founded in 1957 in Canada, posted a turnover of €533m in 2019 and currently has 17 stores across the world in addition to their wholesale operations, including Breuninger in Germany. They are known for bringing unprecedented shopping experiences to customers.

Canada Goose to open first store in Germany

With travels still on hold and the lack of tourists, the French department store group is focusing on its local clientele for the upcoming Christmas season. In the Vogue Business article below, Chief Marketing Officer Guillaume Gellusseau talks about winter campaigns, digital development, pop-ups, collaboration and safety measures, all with a single idea in mind: seduce the French customers for the holiday season.

Galeries Lafayette are courting French customers for Christmas

Singtel, the largest mobile network operator in Singapore (4.1m subscribers) has launched its “Unboxed” popup, aiming to promote the benefits of 5G. Available 24/7, Unboxed shows that 5G, with its ultra fast speed and low latency, considerably enhances the self-serve retail experience, in addition to IoT, artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

Concretely, this translates into a roving live robot with personalized recommendations, staff interaction on the go via machines and purchase of services directly transferred into the cell phone or its plan. The visit is also available online for customers concerned by safety. Unboxed popup has been awarded The Most Outstanding Store Design at the World Retail Awards, during the virtual WRC this month.

pr: Singtel switches on 5G at its unmanned pop-up retail store

The 5G Unmanned Store That Won Outstanding Store Design For The Post-Pandemic World

Footfall in airports are not expected to recover before 2023. In spite of a flight activity in China recovering faster than in the rest of the world, back to 70%, making Chinese customers the most appealing ones, spending 5 times more than Koreans and Russians, revenue in airports has fallen by -48% , leading duty-free operators to sustain a recession. This is the reason why Swiss-based Dufry is aiming to save CHF1bn in cost cuts this year, by buying back subsidiaries and rationalizing activities.

Duty-Free operators are rationalizing operations to face upcoming challenges

US department store chain Kohl’s will reduce its corporate workforce by 15% in order to cut costs and to save cash amid the coronavirus pandemic. The number of positions being eliminated has not been disclosed by the company. However, it said the cuts would likely save about $65 million in annual expenses.

Kohl’s Cuts Corporate Workforce by 15 Percent

Retailers are testing new initiatives to support their sustainability strategy. Selfridges has unveiled this summer the Fragrance Workshop in London, where all participating brands (Guerlain, Gucci, Tom Ford, Killian, Le Labo and others) sell refillable bottles. Each brands sets the price of the refill product. Selfridges is also exploring this idea in beauty and makeup products, and in Germany, Nivea is rolling out a similar initiative with shower gel at German retail chain DM.

selfridges launches refillable fragrance bar

nivea launches first shower gel refill station