What Women Want
It is very dangerous in the 21st century for an aging man to talk about the changing status of women. A few years ago, I wrote a book, \”What Women Want,\” on the topic and then hid under my desk. […]
Retail by Design
Note: Kevin Roche was a featured speaker at The Robin Report Columbia Business School Annual Forum, Thriving in a Digital Economy, held on campus in early August. As a designer and architect with over 45 years in retail planning and
The Five Things Bed Bath & Beyond Needs to Do
When Bed Bath & Beyond\’s executives and board members were joined by investors, analysts and other observers at its recent annual shareholders meeting in suburban New Jersey, there were few certainties on how it would all play out..The company had
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What Is and Isn’t a Luxury Brand: Why It Matters
The concept of luxury has become elastic. Its meaning seems to be constantly stretched and overused, without parameters either as a marketing tool or as a journalistic catchall. Fashion brands for example are often described as \”luxury\” and luxury brands
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What Comes After the Thrifting Trend?
Thrifting has taken over. The resale market has grown at 21x the pace of the mainstream apparel market in the last three years, and more retailers are hopping aboard the consignment bandwagon–with a whopping 9 out of 10 retail executives
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Wall Street Quandary: Investing in New Food
Why have investors gone nuts for Beyond Meat, the maker of a vegetable-based meat alternative? And \”nuts\” is an apt term. Beyond had its IPO in May at $25 per share that raised $240 million for Beyond and gave it
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It’s a Shake-out – not a Slow-Down – in Off-Price
Is Off-Price falling off? Don\’t believe it. In the past week or so there have been scattered reports that would seem to indicate the off-price retailing category – the only segment of physical retailing that has defied the trends and
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Li & Fung: A Radical Playbook
Today, the term \”Supply Chain\” refers all too often to an obsolete process with an antiquated mindset, a huge barrier to an efficient, sustainable 21st century process empowered by new-world technologies. This legacy model is forecast-driven, with production planned at
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Close in and Personal: The Giants go to the “Hoods”
Three clicks on your mobile device or laptop will deliver (most often for free) whatever you want the same day, or in a day or two, wherever you want it sent or to be picked up in a place near
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Does a Brand Need to Die Before It Can Be Resurrected?
Many of the legacy brands that recently shuttered stores are relaunching under new concepts: from Milwaukee-based retailer Boston Store relaunching as an online-only brand with physical aspirations, Toys \’R\’ Us relaunching as True Kids, and even poor old Sears/Kmart starting
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