Author

Ken Hewes

Ken is first a strategy consultant who delves deeply and analytically into solving business problems for retailers and consumer brands. His right brain, though, wants him to create. During the pandemic, he created and produced “Specialty Retail in Crisis: The Covid Chronicles,” a nine-episode docuseries centered on the challenges our industry faced and wrote for The Robin Report. Ken’s career highlights include: six years in PwC’s retail strategy consulting practice, six years at Limited Brands, and 15+ years leading a boutique strategy consultancy, Mod Advisors LLC, whose clients range from Coach and Claire’s to American Eagle,  J.Jill, Stuart Weitzman and Boot Barn. Ken holds degrees from Yale University (BA) and The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (MBA).

The Transformation of Abercrombie & Fitch

Fran Horowitz has revitalized Abercrombie & Fitch through a complete overhaul, focusing on talent, culture, products, and digital innovation.
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Yaromir Steiner Urban Planner, Icon, and Iconoclast

Yaromir Steiner Urban Planner, Icon, and Iconoclast

Columbus, Ohio is the 32nd largest metro area in the U.S. ranked by population and known, primarily, for its Ohio State NCAA Big 10 football ...
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Loyalty Lifts Brands in a Recession

As recessionary clouds gather over the U.S. economy, retail CFOs are busy cutting capex, opex, and inventory. Facing the prospect of lower sales and higher ...
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The Empress\’s New-ish Clothes

The value propositions of Rent the Runway, The RealReal and Stitch Fix are indisputable. As these concepts grew quickly through the 2010s, the digitally-driven rental, ...
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Specialty Retail’s Reformation

Being declared nonessential during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns perfectly captures the literal truth about mall-based specialty retail. In fact, specialty stores only exist in the ...
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Five Forces Shaping Retail’s Post-Pandemic Future

This is a precarious time for all retailers, but particularly those deemed non-essential: Inventories are piled up and on-orders slashed; relationships with suppliers, landlords and ...
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True Stories: Strategies from Seven High-Growth Specialty Retailers

There is not much \”new\” to write about when it comes to specialty retail. How often can we talk about the inexorability of Amazon; the ...
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Target’s New Business Model is Still a Work in Progress

No retail segment is more competitive than the mass segment, where retailers sell many of the same SKUs and must therefore compete based on differentiated ...
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