According to a GS1 report called "Measuring the Impact of RFID in Retailing", all retailers surveyed saw a positive impact from implementing RFID. One of these, Marks & Spencer, has pioneered the use of RFID in the UK. Retailers reported an increase in sales between 1.5% and 5.5% through improved stock availability. Inventory accuracy improved by more than 50% with retailers reporting 93 -99% accuracy with RFID, and six of the ten companies were able to reduce total stock holding between 2% and 13%.

Macy's department stores has opened their first Backstage outlet store in Minnesota in Maplewood, the St. Paul suburb with a concentration of value stores. The new outlet centre will not displace the Last Act clearance sections in the men's, women's, handbags and shoe departments of Macy's store. No departments were removed to make space for the 18,500 square feet Backstage on Macy's first floor. All of the items are purchased specifically for the outlet by a Macy's buying team that only selects items for Backstage. None of the merchandise comes from the full-line Macys, but prices are usually discounted 50% or more from the suggested retail price. Many categories of items sold in Backstage are new to Macy's, including toys, kids shoes, "grab and go" gourmet packaged foods, pet accessories and small electronics, which all complement the full-line store.

Macy's chose the Maplewood area because of the value-driven customers in the area. Earlier this year, the company announced it would open an additional 100 Backstages in 2018.

Mike Ashley's Sports Direct has increased its stake in Debenhams department store by upping its share from 23% to 29.7%. When the share of voting rights (currently at 27.6%) reaches 30%, it will have to launch a takeover bid. Shares in Debenhams, which had slumped 44% over the past year, took off at the announcement. Sports Direct, valued at £1.9 bn and falling, operates concessions inside Debenhams. Sports Direct sees "huge value for both companies in a strategic partnership".

In separate news, there is apparently some speculation that Mike Ashley might increase his stake in House of Fraser whose Chinese owners are seeking to offload shares in the troubled department store chain.

Department store chain Macy's unveiled new features coming to its mobile app, including Mobile Checkout, which lets customers scan and pay for products with a smartphone. That feature is expected to be available nationwide in all of Macy's full-line stores by the end of this year.

Customers will need to download the app, which is available for Android and iOS devices, and once in the store, they must join Macy's free Wi-Fi network. When a customer finds an item they want to buy, they can scan the item's price tag with their smartphone's camera. The app will let shoppers apply any discounts or loyalty plan rewards to their purchase and pay via the credit card registered within the app. However, unlike Amazon Go, Macy's shoppers using the mobile-pay option will still proceed to special Mobile Checkout counters near the exit to have their purchase verified, security tags removed from their purchases and all their goods bagged. Most merchandise in stores will be available for mobile checkout, with the exception of a few product categories such as fine jewelry where a sales associate must manage the sale.

Below: see press release and read full article to get more insights on Macy's other mobile app features such as augmented furniture feature and virtual-reality furniture experience (videos included).

See press release of Macy's Mobile Checkout launch

read full article on Macy's Mobile Checkout launch

Nordstrom Rack outlet launches in Canada, with an opening in Toronto's Vaughan Mills big outlet center. The 35,000-square-foot store promises savings of up to 70 per cent on apparel, accessories, home, beauty and travel items from 38 of the top 50 brands already sold in its Canadian department stores. The Canadian Rack store is outfitted with a few differences, when compared with their American counterparts: around 30 per cent of their merchandise comes from its full-line Nordstrom stores, compared to 15 per cent in the U.S. It also groups some items by size rather than product because "one of the biggest off-price learnings we have from Canadians is that they like to shop by size and category instead of by brand," company spokesperson Meliz Andiroglu said.

The location is part of the Seattle-based retailer's plans to roll out as many as 15 Rack stores across the country. It didn't provide a definitive timeline for the expansion, but its next location in Canada will open in downtown Toronto's tony Yorkville neighbourhood later this year.

>> Below: read two press releases and watch the pictures of the new store

press release: Nordstrom Rack To Open At Vaughan Mills In Toronto

press release: Nordstrom Rack To Open At Heartland Town Centre In Mississauga

An article in the Financial Times argues for the value of multi-brand groups in luxury fashion and accessories. Taking Gucci and the Kering group as a central case, it argues that it is the presence of other brands in the group which allowed Kering to "save" the Gucci brand when it was overstretched. Its current results demonstrate the effectiveness of the strategy. The approach is also validated by struggling US brands Coach and Michael Kors which have recently acquired Kate Spade and Jimmy Choo respectively. The former has renamed itself Tapestry so that Coach is one of several brands under the Tapestry umbrella.

read full article

Located in White City Westfield mall, the new outpost is the 50th John Lewis store. Based over four floors and covering a 230,000sq-ft floorspace, John Lewis White City has been tailored for west London shoppers and features a strong focus on own-brand and branded home, fashion and technology products. It includes 23 bespoke services ranging from bra fitting, technical support, personal styling for men and women, home design service, beauty spa treatments and smart home product advice. There is also a demonstration kitchen, in-house opticians and three places for food and drink, including a 182-cover Place to Eat restaurant. Among the unique features at the branch are Loved & Found - a standalone boutique for new and contemporary brands - and John Lewis's spa concept & Beauty. The fashion floor showcases a new look including a dedicated personal styling studio. It has an Experience Desk where staff is able to help customers plan their visit: customers will be able to get booked into one of the 23 different services, or book a space to learn a new skill in the 'Discovery Room'.

The shop is the first large format John Lewis designed to respond to customer demand for more leisure experiences.

>> Below: watch the pictures of the new store

U.S. department store Kohl's, which is shrinking the size of roughly a dozen stores, will lease the newly opened space at several locations to Aldi, the German discount grocery chain that has been making an aggressive push into the U.S. The grocer will not set up shop inside the Kohl's stores but will be right next door, in a pilot that Kohl's says will include 5 to 10 locations. Aldi is planning to open 900 more stores in the U.S. in the next five years, the typically 12,000 square foot supermarkets take up less space than traditional groceries, with only enough room for about five aisles. Kohl's meanwhile gets to cut costs by shrinking its store footprint, and potentially gain new customers who may want to browse its aisles after they finish their grocery shopping. Kohl's says that it might seek out other supermarkets, or different types of retailers, to occupy the newly adjacent spaces.

Monoprix variety store of France has acquired Sarenza. Sarenza, the French online shoe retailer, was created in 2005 and, with sales of €250m (before returns) in 30 countries, had probably got as far as it could go on its own. Low margins aggravated by high delivery costs and returns as well as fierce competition from the likes of Asos of the UK, La Redoute, Zalando of Germany (which has recently opened a new DC in France) and others, including most recently Amazon, created the need for a larger partner for investment purposes. Monoprix, now part of giant Casino group, has sales of around €5bn from 800 stores. Some 14% of sales come from textiles but only 1% are achieved online. It is stronger online with food where it has a partnership with Ocado. The plan is to develop a separate website for non-food with Sarenza. The network of stores should also lower the last mile delivery costs of Sarenza.

A piece in the Financial Times looks at some of the economic characteristics of millennials as a group in the UK and the effect on the economy. Arguably, some of those observations may be pertinent more widely. For this section of the population, home ownership rates have collapsed, wages have dropped and degrees have become wildly expensive. The shifts in pensions, housing, and employment have transferred more risk and instability onto the shoulders of young people. Ironically, the best-educated generation ever, who can, furthermore, start companies from their bedrooms, are more risk-averse, will move less far and less frequently, and are therefore using these opportunities less. The consequences for retail need to be drawn out.

see article

John Lewis Partnership has announced results for the year ending 27 January 2018. These were better than many, but showed a large fall in profits on almost static like-for-like sales. Waitrose sales were up 1.8% to £6.75bn, a like-for-like increase of 0.9%. The John Lewis department stores outperformed the market with a sales growth of 2.2%, or 0.4% on a like-for-like basis, at £4.84bn. Exceptional items for restructuring and redundancy caused the Partnership profit before bonus and tax to be reduced by 67.2%. The Partnership bonus was 5% of salary.

See press release of John Lewis results

See recording of announcement 

Macy's said it will sell the top half of its State Street flagship store in Chicago for $30 million, and the buyer plans to convert the space into offices. The announcement confirms a Tribune report in October that Macy's had struck a preliminary deal to sell floors 8 through 14 to Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management. Of the $30 million Macy's will receive, $3 million will be dedicated to improvements. The retailer said it also stands to benefit financially from the conversion of the upper floors to offices.

read full article

In the age of sustainable fashion, German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld has been criticised by environmentalists after reportedly chopping down several old oak and poplar trees for his Chanel AW18/19 catwalk show. Indeed, he turned the vast glass nave of Paris's Grand Palais into an autumn forest for the event, strewing dead leaves, moss and logs on a mirrored runway and installed nine tall trees inside. Some 508 poplar wood benches were also made for his guests. France Nature Environment group (FNE) denounced the extravaganza as 'heresy'. "Chanel has missed the point once again. The celebrated fashion house chose to present a 'natural' decor with real trees for its haute couture event. The result: trees, some of them a hundred years old, were chopped down for a few hours of show," FNE said in a statement. Stung by the criticism, Chanel issued a vehement riposte, insisting that none of the oak and poplar trees it sourced legally from a forest in western France were 100 years old. "In buying the trees Chanel also promised to replant 100 new oak trees in the heart of the same forest," the brand added in a statement.

This is not the first time that Chanel has raised the hackles of environmentalists; last year they protested its PVC-themed collection at a time when plastic pollution is a hot topic.

Zara, Inditex's flagship brand, has launched a women's capsule collection where its logo takes centre stage. This is the first time the company is using its corporate image to sell products. The edit includes a sweatshirt that reads 'Zara Woman SS//18', a white t-shirt carrying the same logo, a printed midi dress with an asymmetric hem and a t-shirt with an all-over logo print.

The capsule collection marks a new approach for Zara, which has never printed its logo on products before, and suggests the company is moving towards repositioning its logo as an object of desire. Or it could also mean that the brand is joining the logomania trend, championed by designer brands including Gucci, Dior and Michael Kors this season.

See pictures of Zara logo centred collection

see 'Let's go logo' exhibition at Le bon marché

read article 'are you logo?'

Opened since 17 March in Paris, Lafayette Anticipations foundation's mission is to support contemporary, international creation in the fields of art, design and fashion. The Foundation is based in a 19th century industrial building located in the heart of the old Marais district, in Paris, and renovated by Rem Koolhaas and his architectural firm OMA. The central courtyard of the 2, 200 m2 space features a steel and glass "exhibition tower" composed of four mobile platforms. The moveable elevator floor running on vertical tracks gives endless variations of surface, floor, seating, and stage. The innovative play of the platforms allows the space to be reconfigured in over forty different permutations.

The foundation is located 9 rue du Plâtre, in the heart of the Marais district in Paris.

website of galeries lafayette anticipations

announcement from galeries lafayette

WE WISH ALL OUR MEMBERS A HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

Illustration 'Chinese New Year 2018' (png - 0.25Mo)

Shares at H&M have reached their lowest level since the financial crisis after the retailer admitted to making "mistakes". The group has abandoned its sales target for 2018 and the CEO and grandson of the founder, Karl-Johan Persson has conceded that last year had been "a disappointment". In his words, "we know what to do, we just haven't executed well enough". The company will close 170 shops in the year but will open 390, leading to a net addition of around half the number of last year. The company also admitted that it was having trouble mastering e-commerce. While shares were down at H&M, shares at rival Inditex, which overtook H&M as the world's biggest clothes retailer six years ago, have doubled in that time. H&M has ended the year with a net debt for the first time in over two decades.

Nordstrom announced the launch of a home collection as part of Treasure & Bond, the company's give-back brand that donates 2.5% of net sales to non-profit organisations empowering youth. The home collection will feature a fresh table-top assortment including ceramic dishware, artisanal cheese boards and textured glass pieces, as well as bedding, stylish throws and pillows, with pricing that ranges from $45-$199. The Treasure & Bond product assortment also features women's apparel, footwear, handbags and accessories, in addition to men's, girls' and boys' apparel.

The give-back brand closed 2017 with a $1 million donation to YWCA USA and Canada, marking the largest gift to-date from Nordstrom through Treasure & Bond, and bringing its total donation from sales of the brand to more than $2.4 million since 2014. According to Jennifer Jackson Brown, president of Nordstrom Product Group, "Treasure & Bond represents an integral part of our charitable giving strategy and we are committed to partnering with organizations like YWCA and WE Charity whose work empowers youth across North America." Treasure & Bond is available in Nordstrom stores and online at Nordstrom.com.

press release

As it reported its worst plunge in profits in six years, Swedish company H&M announced that it will soon debut a new off-price marketplace called Afound. It describes the news outlet as a "style- and deal-hunting paradise" that will sell discounted clothes and lifestyle items from H&M group's own labels, which include offshoots such as COS, & Other Stories and Cheap Monday, as well as external labels. The off-price marketplace is set to offer a selection of season-less products from a broad price spectrum in both online and in physical stores. Although Afound will sell clearance product from within the H&M family, the focus will be on external brands. "The main idea is to bring something new to the off-price market, which is huge and growing. There is a great opportunity for Afound to take a big part of the market with a well-curated and wide assortment. It will offer stylish product and great deals" said the group's chief financial officer Jyrki Tervonen. H&M had reportedly already signed on 63 brands, although the exact brands have yet to be confirmed.

"We see big potential for Afound and are looking forward to introducing the marketplace to our audience in Sweden in 2018. Afound cares about both the value of the products and the mix. And by offering personal style inspiration, quality labels, and the sense that you're getting a really good deal, Afound will offer a new form of off-price experience", said Fredrik Svartling, Managing Director of Afound.

The first Afound store is set to open on Drottninggatan in Stockholm and its opening will coincide with the launch of Afound's digital marketplace in Sweden.

The Diesel brand has opened a pop-up store selling "fake" products. In a return to its old ironic roots, the owner, Renzo Rosso, who is also president of parent group OTB which owns brands such as Maison Margiela, Marni and Vivienne Westwood, says that "Diesel is back". The store, on Canal Street in New York, is part of a campaign focused on embracing imperfection. It appeared to be a fraudulent operation but, unbeknownst to customers, the seemingly fake products were actually authentic, limited edition Diesel items. Even the store name was misspelt Deisel.

see video

Barneys New York is closing a store on Broadway between 75th and 76th Streets on the Upper West Side of New York City. The store, one of three in the city and smaller than the other two, will close on 18 February, 2018.

Like many of its department store peers, Barneys has worked to upgrade the concept of a department store and was actually ahead of many in forging a shoppable Instagram page back in 2015. But the company was traded several times among private equity firms and now seems to have gained control over an overwhelming debt load.

While department stores in general are under pressure, Barneys does have some advantages over its larger rivals. It is leaner and possibly nimbler, has reaped the benefits of being a luxury retailer with just a few locations, almost exclusively in downtown centres of larger cities. Barneys has also worked to rationalize its assortment to differentiate its merchandise and avoid heavy discounts. Two years ago, for example, the company offered 41% fewer new handbag lines over the holidays, after boosting its assortment by 46% the previous year.

The company, like many department stores, has also seen sales rise in its off-price Barneys Warehouse unit. Under private ownership, it's not clear how Barneys is doing these days, although Fortune in 2016 declared the company had staged "a remarkable comeback." That year, the company opened a store on the same block in lower Manhattan where its flagship stood for three quarters of a century.

The value of Walmart, the biggest world retailer, fell $3bn. Shares lost 10% at one point on 20 February. The company which has been investing heavily in e-commerce in an attempt to counter Amazon, managed only a small increase in online sales which now account for 4% of total sales. It has been investing more in its own site while reducing marketing spending on Jet.com, the start-up it acquired in 2016 and whose customers are mostly higher-income millennials in cities such as New York. Walmart cited competitive pressure as well as logistical problems. Interestingly, logistics was also cited by H&M as a weak point in its e-commerce operations (see news article on H&M below). It would appear that this area is one of considerable vulnerability for traditional retailers entering the online world. Combined with this is the fall in margin which accompanies the growth of online sales: customers online contribute less.

American department store Macy's announced that it will be working with an Islamic boutique called "Verona Fashion" to stock a modest fashion line dubbed Verona Collection. It includes dresses, pants, cardigans, tops, headscarves, hijabs and abayas, a loose garment popular in Islamic fashion. "Verona Collection is more than a clothing brand," the company's founder, Lisa Vogl, who was inspired to start the company from her own experience of trying to find clothing that was both conservative and comfortable, and falling short. "It's a platform for a community of women to express their personal identity and embrace fashion that makes them feel confident on the inside and outside." The partnership stemmed from the retailer's The Workshop at Macy's initiative, which aims to foster and support minority-owned and women-owned businesses into potential future retail partners – program in which Verona Fashion participated. Verona's Macy's collection will be available online and in Macy's stores starting on 15 February, and prices are expected to range from $12.95 to $84.95. Though the line is designed primarily with Muslim shoppers in mind, its range of wearable styles works for consumers of any background.

press release

The Queen has attended her first fashion show in London. The 91-year old monarch sat next to Anna Wintour who was wearing her trademark dark glasses. The show was Richard Quinn's show, the last of the London Fashion Week and his second ever. The Queen then presented Quinn with the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II award for British design. A short time before, it had been announced that designer Richard Quinn had signed up to Designers at Debenhams. Debenhams has long been collaborating with design talent to create collections that appeal to the high street. It is a compelling part of the Debenhams business and this timely collaboration brings fresh and unique aesthetic to the store's offer.

>> Read Debenhams annoucement below

Debenhams announcement

Illustration 'The Queen at Quinn fashion show' (png - 0.75Mo)