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Surviving the Perfect Storm in Retail
http://www.imdb.com The retail weather today is characterized with a multitude of storms, namely: increased global competition, unstable economic and political environments, and increasingly demanding and fickle customers, employees and real estate developers, to name only a few. No wonder a number of you are feeling like George Clooney (a.k.a. captain Billy Tyne) in The Perfect…
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A Natural Retail Anchor
One of the fascinating phenomenons of larger cities is the appearance and robust survival of commodity/product-specific nodes or districts. A truly engaging one is to be found in central Naples, Italy—San Gregorio Armeno—where a network of ancient streets with dozens of small shops sell nothing but hand-crafted angels, crèches, and figures to create personalized Christmas…
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Fashion and Sporting Goods Market Share – a New Dawn is Breaking
In the lead up to the Great Canadian Retail Expansion, we thought this was an opportune time to look back on how some major apparel and sporting goods commodity sales were distributed by retail category. With the closure of Zellers and several Sears stores and the arrival of Target, Nordstrom, and the Walmart expansion, the…
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Collaborative Technology and Retail
Collaborative technology remains vital to the performance of retail leaders. This category of innovation, which includes social media, analytics, and Big Data, represents significant challenges to traditional retailers but also the opportunity for a huge competitive advantage. Some observers may question the value of social media, especially with the valuations of high profile sites like…
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Head-on Store Wars at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street – So, who’s winning?
Joe Fresh vs. Zara vs. H&M vs. Uniqlo I’ll admit it. I just don’t get what Joe Fresh (June 8–11) is doing in Manhattan. First admission: I’ve been a fan of Joe Fresh because of its value pricing (admittedly lower quality products, but that’s okay); great, edited styling (but for a specific market niche); and…