IADS General Manager Selvane Mohandas du Ménil talks about IADS White Paper "Global pandemic, local department stores" on radio Europe 1, and highlights the actions led by IADS members to cope with the crisis.

Link to podcast and transcriptions of the article below:

podcast: Europe 1 - Interview Selvane Mohandas du Ménil

transcript of europe 1 interview (Engligh & french)

IADS General Manager Selvane Mohandas du Ménil talks about IADS White Paper "Global pandemic, local department stores" with Journal du Textile, and highlights the actions lead by IADS members to cope with the crisis.

Full article below:

PDF article: Les grands magasins doivent se réinventer

english transcript: Department stores need to reinvent themselves

IADS General Manager Selvane Mohandas du Ménil discussed with Global Retail News about the current state of the department stores, how they responded to the crisis and how they will stay relevant in tomorrow's world.

Full article below:

PDF article: Digital To The Rescue Of Department Stores

Fashion Network released an article pointing out that 2021 might put an end to a department store model that was already declining before the covid-19 crisis. IADS General Manager Selvane Mohandas du Ménil argues that department stores should adapt and rethink their model, investing in local retail and in digital, giving examples of actions led by IADS members recently.

Full article in French and English transcript below:

PDF article: 2021 ou la fin du modèle des grands magasins

Will 2021 spell doom for department stores? [ENG]

Winter sales started on 20 January 2021 in France and were expected by retailers with hopes. Asking Selvane Mohandas du Ménil, RFI Radio France Internationale recalls how important sales are to department stores and to customers.

Full article below:

PDF article: French bargain hunters brave coronavirus and curfews at winter sales

IADS General Manager Selvane Mohandas du Ménil gave an interview and presented the IADS White Paper "Global pandemic, local department stores" on French television.

Watch the interview and get the transcription below.

[video] Innover pour le commerce: le rôle des grands magasins dans un monde post-Covid

What role will play department stores in a post-Covid world?

BFM: What can we do until the international tourists return?

Selvane Mohandas du Ménil: First of all, you learn to talk differently to new clients. In fact, we have to remember how we used to talk to our clients. We have some good learners in the association: I am thinking in particular of Breuninger, in Germany, whose privileged relationship with its clients allows to call them by FaceTime or WhatsApp. If you know the Germans, you know that in the social sphere, it's often pretty formal, so it gives an idea of the level of intimacy that the shop can have with them. To speak differently, you have to tell them different things and that first means reworking the offer. You don't sell the same thing to a tourist customer who come to visit a town as you do to a regular local customer. On a global level, it means a real shift in terms of purchase: fashion and cosmetics have had very negative figures lately, whereas we are witnessing a very big growth in sportswear, home, decoration and care. This means that you have to tell different things and offer different products to different customers to whom you address yourself differently.

BFM: On the issue of digitalisation, the department stores need to speed up. They don't have a choice, do they?

SMdM: They have accelerated! "Digitalisation" actually concerns two different things: e-commerce, that's 20/23% of sales, but also digital activation, the means to proceed with online purchases, and there we are at about 50% of sales. The e-commerce part has now become imperative. For example, among our members: Sogo in Hong Kong or Beco in Venezuela, who were the last to not have an e-commerce platform, have launched it. We can no longer do without it. It works! The latest trends we have noticed in Europe are, for "Black Friday": +30% for Galeries Lafayette, as for Magasin du Nord in Denmark, +50% for Breuninger in Germany, +100% for Manor in Switzerland. So, it works. But the main question is: how do we use the digital tool to facilitate the customer journey and to ensure that the shop is always at the centre of this journey? On this point, what struck me was the example of SM in the Philippines, which has set up a system that allows you to contact one of its shops by email, text or over the phone: in concrete terms, you virtually walk around the shop, place an order and it's delivered to you the same day. It was launched in April, rolled out to 65 shops in one month and was available in May. This service, which did not exist before, now generates 15% of the chain's daily turnover.

BFM: Many French department stores have expanded into the provinces. Should shops in smaller towns be closed, or should they be reinvented?

SMdM: Reinvent them! The shop actually becomes part of an ecosystem: digital technology is taking up the whole situation and we must ask ourselves how we use the shop in the customer journey. It certainly doesn't condemn the shop, it just means reinventing it, rethinking the services offered there and the message addressed to the customer.

The International Association of Department Stores (IADS) has engaged in a transformative upgrade of its activities exclusively proposed to department stores. In that perspective, IADS teams up today with intelligence agency NellyRodi to generate synergies and propose new services to its 12 international members.

The international stature of NellyRodi and its unparalleled vision, associating business, innovation and creativity, will be an asset and an additional value provided by the Association to its members, to help them navigate the current challenging times. This partnership will be embedded at the core of the Association's activities, in its 3 levels meeting program: CEO exchanges, including the Association General Assembly, Merchandising meetings, and Cross-functional meetings.

With this partnership, IADS is pursuing its mission to generate, share and disseminate industry-specific knowledge within its members' organisations, based on the state-of-the-art content and insights of NellyRodi.

About NellyRodi

NellyRodi is a consulting agency in Business and Creative Intelligence.

Based in Paris, Tokyo and New York, it is a global reference for foresight applied to industries and services. Our business, based on understanding new consumer standards and new uses, is to support brands, investment funds and institutions on their desirability and performance levers.

The creative process is the central focus of our modus operandi and our methods. In a world subject to ongoing, profound change, brands need to achieve singularity, innovation and on-target marketing. To this end, they must demonstrate bold creativity and master the use of consumer data. The work we do – our analysis, process of reflection and recommendations – gives our clients a clearer picture of how their business ecosystem fits into the global context. We make recommendations based on detailed, comprehensive observations of social, marketing and creative trends, seeking to guide our clients in directions conducive to their business development.

Backed by NellyRodi's international future-forward expertise, we not only provide strategic support at the highest levels, i.e. to senior management and investors, but also at the field and operational level.

Press contact: NellyRodi, Pierre-François le Louët, [business@nellyrodi.com](mailto:business@nellyrodi.com), +33 1 42 93 04 06

About IADS

The IADS is the most exclusive and oldest professional department store think tank in the world. Its uniqueness lies in the close relationship between its member CEOs, making it a very powerful asset for decision-making at the highest level.

Today, the Association gathers a group of 12 members across the world, all leaders or key players on their respective markets, and represents more than €31bn cumulated annual turnover, achieved through more than 490 stores with 233,000 associates in 19 countries. Members are: Centro Beco (Venezuela), Beijing Hualian Group (PRC), Breuninger (Germany), El Corte Inglés (Spain), El Palacio de Hierro (Mexico), Falabella (Chile), Galeries Lafayette (France), Lifestyle International Holding (Hong Kong), Magasin du Nord (Denmark), Manor (Switzerland), The Mall (Thailand), SM (Philippines).

The wide variety of business models and cultures represented provide the Association and its members with a richness in the exchange which is all the more valuable for the solutions and thought-provoking debates that it generates.

Press Contact: IADS, Selvane Mohandas du Ménil, [press@iads.org](mailto:press@iads.org), +33 1 42 94 02 02

download PDF - IADS signs a partnership with business and creative intelligence agency NellyRodi - 07.12.2020

Le Figaro has released an article on the current situation of French department stores Galeries Lafayette, Printemps, and Le Bon Marché, with comments from IADS General Manager Selvane Mohandas du Ménil.

La descente aux enfers des grands magasins parisiens – Le Figaro

Le Figaro has issued a portrait of Selvane Mohandas du Ménil, the newly appointed General Manager of IADS International Association of Department Stores.

Selvane Mohandas du Ménil fédère les grands magasins du monde – Le Figaro

In its "Global pandemic, local department stores" White Paper, the IADS reviews its members' actions and draws key learnings to prepare new crises and address the future of the department store industry, at a moment when some regions are facing new episodes of lockdown.

A comprehensive review of business practices developed as an aide for crisis management

According to the UNWTO, the 2020 Covid-19 global pandemic triggered a crisis forecast in July to lead to a 5.2% worldwide GDP contraction by the end of the year. Border closures meant an unprecedented decrease of international tourism, estimated to fall by 67% this year alone. With its ties to tourism, retail, representing 1 out of every 12 workers in OECD countries, is durably affected.

Department stores play a central role in the retail landscape by mixing experience and curation in landmark buildings open to everyone in the heart of our towns. They bridge the gap between cities and regions, tourists and locals, online price-oriented convenience and offline emotion and discovery. The Covid-19 context doubly penalises department stores through the drop in tourism and lockdowns of non-essential retail stores, significantly curtailing their domestic markets.

IADS members manage in total 233,000 associates spread over more than 495 points of sales in 19 countries. On average, they had to close in Spring during a period equivalent to 19% of their total 2019 opening time. The IADS dedicated its yearly Academy programme to understanding how its 12 members steered their businesses during lockdowns until reopening. The result of this extensive analysis translates into the first White Paper of its kind, shared by the Association with its members and their peers. Now that a second Covid-19 wave is hitting markets, exchanging learnings is key to allow all retailers to adjust their business practices to the new realities. This White Paper was conceived both as an inventory of practices across the board and as a source of ideas for immediate and future actions.

IADS department stores were driven by agility, commitment and responsibility

Notwithstanding their size and complex organisations, department stores were surprisingly agile in addressing the pandemic issues, without losing focus on their social role and responsibility. All IADS CEOs swiftly adjusted their strategy to protecting staff and customers, acceding to government requirements, maintaining and nourishing relationships with customers and suppliers, while defending their businesses and preserving cash. This translated into a remarkably fast and coherent position change from all IADS members towards each stakeholder.

A leap forward for department stores

Such changes in a limited period of time deeply affected corporate organisations. On the one hand, with tourism disappearing and stores closing, it became necessary to talk and sell to locals in new ways. Marketing and digital departments were brought to the fore and made responsible overnight for business continuity, generating many original initiatives as shown by Beco in Venezuela which launched its e-commerce website in record time. On the other hand, companies' working organisations were radically revised to provide more flexibility and resilience, as exemplified by the setup of "corona teams" in many organisations to handle and steer the response to the crisis. As an illustration of how deep those changes went, Manor in Switzerland and The Mall in Thailand both decided to strategically transform their structure at the end of their respective lockdowns with an emphasis on corporate simplification, team agility and a direct relationship with customers.

These agile evolutions effected in a short time helped to accelerate the adaptation of department stores to new market realities: all IADS members, following the lead of peers such as Falabella in Chile or SKP in China sped up their digitalisation, even if it meant in some cases adapting to different market specificities. For instance, Sogo in Hong Kong improved its CRM programme while simultaneously accelerating its marketplace relaunch. Agility also contributed to enabling store teams to mitigate the absence of tourist customers by exploring new ways of building ties with locals. Their proposals included adapting assortments to new trends, new marketing messages or ways of voicing them.

Looking back, the store closures significantly accelerated the department stores' digital alignment while re-emphasising, where needed, their roots in their local communities.

Giving perspective: department stores are taking back the initiative

More than compiling stories of endurance during the crisis, the IADS White Paper findings show that the context provoked an upgrade within department stores. They have a clear and positive role to play in the digital age, provided they inject the necessary amount of energy to adapt, whether it is about curing their addiction to tourists by caring for locals, defining the role of stores and their number, or rethinking the flagship's place in the city.

Keeping as close as possible to the customers' new realities and expectations will also be a central topic, by defining the nature of the offer and how it is sold - online and offline – while always safeguarding the surprise factor inherent to this format.

Finally, reviewing and digitalising operational processes will also be crucial to ensure that department stores, renovate their organisation and decision-making processes, to both address sustainability topics and be prepared for any potential next crises, whatever their nature (cyber, political or weather emergencies).

While these strategic topics are detailed in the White Paper, the key conclusion for department stores is that to be ready for their upcoming challenges and potential future crises, scenario planning is central to ensure long-term sustainability in a world dominated by short-term deadlines and quarterly reports. Since 1928, the main role of the IADS has been to design with and for its members the appropriate strategies drawn beyond the immediate horizon and consider scenarios for the future.

To receive a copy of the White Paper, please contact us directly at [press@iads.org].

IADS White Paper – Download the press release

About IADS

The International Association of Department Stores (IADS) was founded in 1928 by a group of department stores to prepare and anticipate the future together. At the time, founding members were concerned to apply the latest management ideas to department stores,the leading retailing format of the time, as well as to learn from each other.

Three objectives were assigned to the IADS:

• To be an international bond between its members, facilitating exchange and communication
• To research the future of the business and anticipate its fundamental changes
• To promote cooperation and best practices

Today, IADS is the most exclusive and oldest professional department stores think tank in the world.

More than ever today, its role is crucial in a retail world saturated with information, where the industry players are facing many challenges in their individual markets: digital competition, social changes, sustainability concerns and deep changes in consumption patterns. The Association provides its members with a number of activities allowing them to share retail management experience and best practices.

The wide variety of business models and cultures represented provide the Association and its members with a richness in the exchange which is all the more valuable for the solutions and thought-provoking debates that it generates. Its uniqueness lies in the close relationship between its member CEOs, making it a very powerful asset for decision-making at the highest level.

IADS activities

IADS acts at different levels and aims to be operational through:

• Transformative meetings

between CEOs (on a very regular basis),

at senior levels, and

at the product offer level to identify market changes.

In all meetings, we answer collectively CEO questions, provide actionable solutions and help to effectively implement them in the member companies.

• Focused market knowledge, thanks to permanent exclusive research disseminated through a dedicated members-only information platform, as well as a monitoring data centre on market figures,
• The promotion of cooperation and future orientation, with our IADS Academy programme, a 25 year-old tailor-made workshop open to our members' high potentials only. Over the years, we have trained 180+ executives from 28 companies in 21 countries, some of whom reached top positions in member and non-member companies (for IADS only, 3 CEO and 1 COO in 2020)

The Association, both through its activities and own expertise, is an additional resource for its members, be it in terms of strategic thinking or operational implementation.

IADS Members

Today, the Association gathers a group of 12 members across the world, with various sizes or business models, all leaders or key players in their respective markets, which represents more than €31bn cumulated annual turnover, achieved through more than 490 stores with 233,000 associates in 19 countries.

Its members are (in alphabetical order): Beco (Venezuela), Beijing Hualian Group (PRC), Breuninger (Germany), El Corte Inglés (Spain), El Palacio de Hierro (Mexico), Falabella (Chile), Galeries Lafayette (France), Lifestyle International Holding (Hong Kong), Magasin du Nord (Denmark), Manor (Switzerland), The Mall (Thailand), SM Store (Philippines).

More information on the members:

Centro Beco (Venezuela)

Centro Beco is the leading department store group in Venezuela. Created in 1961, it operates 6 stores in Caracas, Valencia, Maracaibo and Barquisimeto. In addition to its department stores activity, it operates clothing and furniture companies, and has strived to maintain a perfect level of service to its customers in spite of the Venezuelan economic downturn.

Beijing Hualian Group / SKP (PRC)

Beijing Hualian Group, founded in 1993 and today part of the 15 largest Chinese retail enterprises, operates among other formats the SKP department stores, which currently has 2 branches, in Beijing and Xi'an, in addition to an experiential concept-store in Beijing, SKP-S, which opened early 2020. SKP Beijing was the most productive department store in China in 2019 and the world's second-most productive department store after Harrods in 2018.

Breuninger (Germany)

The German group was founded in 1881 in Stuttgart, where the flagship is still located today. Breuninger operates 11 locations across Germany, and has been at the forefront of national retail innovations since its creation. The department store company benefits from an exceptional level of loyalty from its customers, thanks to specific and dedicated actions or events.

El Corte Inglés (Spain)

Founded in 1934, El Corte Ingles is the largest department store chain in Europe, and operates 93 stores in Spain, including the Madrid Castellana and Barcelona Catalunya flagships. It offers a global range of services in addition to the department stores branch, thus placing itself at the centre of Spanish retail. It is the largest member of the Association in terms of revenue, retail space and number of employees.

El Palacio de Hierro (Mexico)

El Palacio de Hierro was founded in 1891 in Mexico city by 2 Frenchmen, inspired by Le Bon Marché in Paris. The first department store in the country, Palacio de Hierro brought modernity to the country, and many Mexican people consider it to be part of the national heritage. Today, the chain operates 19 stores, with its flagship in Polanco, a Mexico City district, and prides itself in not being the largest chain in the country, but the most upscale. Its slogan, "Soy totalmente Palacio" (I am totally Palacio) has become almost part of its collective culture.

Falabella (Chile)

This transnational Latin American company, established in Chile, operates a total of 111 department stores across Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru. Its umbrella group, founded in 1889, was ranked 5th in the world in 2019 in terms of total sales, behind Macy's, Kohl's or Lotte and is the second most important member of the Association in terms of turnover. Falabella is well ahead in digital, as online sales already account for a significant share of their total sales.

Galeries Lafayette (France)

The iconic French group was founded in 1894 and remains as of today one of the few department stores still managed directly by the founding families. It operates 79 stores in France, including the Paris Haussmann flagship, the newly-opened Champs-Elysées store, the renovated BHV and other ventures such as Eataly in France. Galeries Lafayette are among the most productive members of the Association in terms of sales per square metre, and the most productive per associate.

Lifestyle International / Sogo (Hong Kong)

Lifestyle International acquired in 2000 the Hong Kong Sogo department store, on Causeway Bay, from Japanese parent company Sogo. The Causeway Bay store is one of Hong Kong's largest stores in terms of space, and a landmark thanks to its façade decorated with the largest LED screen in Southeast Asia. Another store was opened in 2005 in Kowloon, and there is a project to open in coming years a third unit in Kai Tak. Sogo Hong Kong is famed for its high-end delicatessen store Freshmart.

Magasin du Nord (Denmark)

Magasin du Nord is an historic landmark in Denmark: it was founded in 1868 with the first department store opened in 1871 in Aarhus. It operates today 7 stores, with the flagship located in Copenhagen, in Kongens Nytorv public square. It is currently owned by UK-based group Debenhams. It is the second most productive company in terms of sales per employee in the Association.

Manor (Switzerland)

Property of Maus Freres, the Manor Group was founded in Lucerne in 1902, however the Manor name appeared only in 1965, being the contraction of Maus and Nordmann, the names of the 2 founding families. The group operates 61 stores across Switzerland, and is the largest operator in the country in terms of retail market share. In addition to department stores, it also operates supermarkets and restaurants.

The Mall Group (Thailand)

The Mall group started operations in Bangkok in 1981, and soon acquired pre-eminence in terms of retail operations as a whole: it operates shopping centres (such as Siam Paragon, Power Mall, Emporium, EmQuartier..) and department stores (The Mall). It currently operates 10 stores, and is the first member of the Association in terms of average retail space per store. It has engaged in an ambitious development plan for the coming years, including renovation of existing stores and new openings.

SM Store (Philippines)

The umbrella group, SM Investment Corporation, founded in 1960, is the largest and most diversified retailer in the Philippines. Its retail division, SM Stores, operates 64 department stores nationwide, and is the second largest member of the Association in terms of total retail space. It is famously involved in developing ties with local communities, to help them develop business and image on a national basis.

download PDF - IADS Press platform - 21 october 2020

Press Contact: IADS, [press@iads.org](mailto:press@iads.org), +33 (0)1 42 94 02 02