Much has been written about the decline and the forecasted death of retail brick and mortar in this country. Additionally, a lot of time and effort has been spent on diagnosing why this is occurring. Everyone from strategists to economists […]
Why the Consumer Is so Frustrated with Retail Today Read More »
No one has ever accused Amazon of being risk averse. In yet another surprising and bold move that emerged late last week, Amazon proposed a buyout of the struggling Whole Foods Market specialty chain of natural-food stores for $13.7 billion,
Did Amazon Grab a Poisoned Chalice? Read More »
Even by its own blistering-pace standards, it was a busy week of goings and comings at The Estée Lauder Companies. In announcements timed mere days apart, it apprised the industry that it would shutter its year-old bid for the millennial
Robin Lewis, CEO of The Robin Report kicked off the program with an opening visual of a tsunami about to wipe out the entire legacy big box and department store sectors, Lewis went on to rivet attendees with one ominous
Department Stores: From Complacency to Urgency Read More »
My good friend Mike Gould, former Bloomingdale’s CEO, often reminds me of a statement I made several years ago that he keeps using as an apt description of all businesses that thrive on innovation: “Risk-averse fashion is an oxymoron.” Just
The Nordstroms See the Future and Want to Own It Read More »
Fort Worth is Texas’s best-kept secret. In the shadow of Dallas, its more prominent neighbor, it sits quietly with an elegant downtown containing good retail, interesting restaurants and some very well-respected small museums. It is a community of what passes
Ever-emerging new technologies and new financial realities, constantly changing consumer preferences and ruthless competitive challenges make effective transformational leadership a retailing management imperative. While maintenance of the status quo may have worked in the past it’s a deadly practice now.
The Transformation Trap Read More »
Many of you may remember Rodgers and Hammerstein’s iconic 1949 musical South Pacific and a song that rings as true today as it did nearly 70 years ago. “You\’ve got to be taught to hate and fear, You\’ve got to
Tuning Up Diversity Read More »
The department store future will be an oxymoron unless the current model and the actual words “department store” are not transformed to become uber-compelling destinations for tomorrow’s consumers. If not, they will be history. In fact, the future is NOW,
Is a Department Store Future an Oxymoron? The Tsunami is now! Read More »
We talk a lot about disruptors and how they have turned retailing upside down, challenging the very existence of entire industry sectors. So here’s another disruptor to put into the mix: activist investors. The beleaguered Whole Foods chain is on
Activist Investors Drive Change at Whole Foods Read More »
