Over the last three years, the luxury market has experienced a whirlwind of change. In the lead-up to the pandemic, the personal luxury goods market grew 7 percent in 2019, reaching $300 billion globally. Then in 2020, it suffered a sharp decline, dropping an unprecedented 22 percent to $235 billion, followed by a remarkable rebound in 2021 to $302 billion, according to the Bain-Altagamma Luxury Study. Throughout 2022 the personal luxury goods market continued its meteoric post-pandemic rise, advancing 24 percent to $376 billion, and the …
Luxury Is Close to a Tipping Point: Balenciaga Takes the Risk
The Twitterverse and the rest of the media world erupted with outrage over Balenciaga’s latest holiday ad campaign featuring children posed with teddy-bear bags dressed in S&M bondage gear and another ad that included a copy of a Supreme Court opinion on child pornography Tragedy is a genre of literature that’s been around since the dawn of time, from the Bible to the Greeks to Shakespeare and onward. The drama unfolds from some fatal flaw in the hero’s character, which is something understood and shared by humanity, such as greed, …
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Luxury Brands Are at Risk of Losing Their Most Vital Customers – the HENRYs
The recession clock is ticking, and it’s gets louder as it ticks faster. JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told CNBC that a recession is all but inevitable. Others may argue that the recession has already hit, based on the traditional definition as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, which occurred earlier this year. However, because unemployment remains low, many economists are reluctant to make the official recession call. This time unemployment may be a trailing indicator for a recession rather than a leading indicator. As we …
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Why We Need Inclusive Sizing
There is no industry that is less consumer-centric than fashion. While every fashion brand believes it is consumer-centric, most refuse to dress 68 percent of all women who wear a size 14 or larger. Case closed. A recent look at the availability of plus-size garments in 25 of the largest multi-brand retailers carrying some 15,500 brands found that fewer than 3 percent of their women’s apparel assortment is plus-size, according to retail analytics firm Edited. The fashion industry designs for an idealized image of women that very few women …
Pete Nordstrom Is a True Innovator and Storyteller
Earlier this year, Pete Nordstrom, president and chief brand officer of the retailer that bears his family name, launched Nordy Pod, a podcast or as he said, he added a new title to his resume. During the hour-long presentation, he invites employees or members of the extended Nordstrom family,” including friends of the company and actual blood relatives, for unscripted chats. As is characteristic of exceptional retailers, Pete is truly interested in people and his authentic curiosity shows in his conversations. His guests over the course of …
Disney Versus Florida
A recent Wall Street Journal article quoted Bill George, a senior fellow at Harvard Business School, saying, “The No. 1 concern CEOs have is ‘When should I speak out on public issues?’” related to the faceoff between Disney CEO Bob Chapek and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. George concluded it was inevitable that CEOs and corporations would be forced to take a political stand and suggested that was a good thing. But is it? In today’s politically contentious environment getting on one side of a political debate will probably alienate at least …
The Paradox of Brands
Paradoxes are both familiar and common to the human condition. They are brain teasers that reveal faults in our senses and errors in human logic. Authors and poets delight in paradoxes because they stop the reader in their tracks to ponder the apparent contradictions. Like the familiar phrase, “Less is more,” or when Shakespeare’s Hamlet says, “I must be cruel to be kind,” we are forced to reflect on the paradox and what it means. So, I was naturally drawn to a new study led by University of Illinois marketing professor Maria Rodas on …
Retail Unionization on the Horizon
During the early days of the pandemic, a new phrase entered our lexicon: essential workers. Defined by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Essential workers are those who conduct a range of operations and services that are typically essential to continue critical infrastructure operations.” Many retail employees fit that definition including those working in grocery stores, pharmacies, medical supply stores, convenience stores, pet stores, hardware stores, office supply stores, liquor stores and e-commerce operations like Amazon. Most …