“The success of our Power of Three formula in delivering on our 2023 growth strategy supports our goal to double (x2) the business over the next five years,” said CEO Calvin McDonald to analysts recently, referring to lululemon achieving its 2023 revenue projections in 2021 (two years ahead of schedule and a 40 percent increase over 2020). Accordingly, he’s projecting lululemon will double its 2021 results by 2026, (from $6.25 billion to $12.5). They anticipate total net revenues will increase 15 percent, at an annual compound growth rate by …
Two Real Estate Moguls. Note to Kohl’s: Repel, Repel, Repel
Let’s take a look at the situation Kohl’s is up against, and it isn’t pretty. Mr. Richard Baker I have already expressed my opinion of HBC’s intent to acquire Kohl’s, under the leadership of the now high-profile Richard Baker. My advice was that Kohl’s must do whatever they can to repel such a deal. Why? Because however many billions of dollars Baker has amassed during his career, they were not the result of his retail acumen. They were, and still are, the result of his brilliant ability to unlock the value of retail real estate under the …
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As Amazon Closes Bookstores, B&N Bounces Back: A Sweet Irony
What did I tell you a couple of weeks ago? I’ll remind you. I said the reason Amazon was closing most of their physical retail properties, including its bookstores, after years of fiddling around (testing is what they would call it) was because they simply don’t understand the “art” of retailing. And it seems that Amazon believes the “science” of retailing is superior with all the tech stuff they’ve been testing in some of their stores plus their masterful analytic skills identifying local consumer preferences. Wait! Did I say superior …
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Macy’s Solid Plan…on Agile Footing
At last week’s JP Morgan Chase Annual Retail Roundup, Macy’s CFO Adrian Mitchell laid out a very clear-eyed path forward, recognizing the obstacles and issues. He also identified numerous opportunities Macy’s is preparing to capitalize on, expressing the need for agility in uncertain times. I heard personalization, localization, off-mall smaller formats, (including Market by Macy’s, Bloomie’s and Backstage), reimagining real estate assets, an expanded and curated digital third-party marketplace, decentralized decision making, inventory …
Unexpected Unkowns
So, if you think what is swirling around the world is just more complicated and painful than normal times, and that we will once again overcome and go on our merry way, you’d better read this. Forget about experiencing one “unknown” after another over the past two years. I’m talking about horrific, unexpected, and never-before shocks that threw the world into unknown places where solutions are still unknown. We “warp-sped” a Covid vaccine after millions of people died from it, only to face more communicable variants with the new B.2 now …
Unwanted Suitor
According to Reuters last week, HBC (and its governor, CEO and executive chairman, Richard Baker) is prepping to make a bid to acquire Kohl’s. Will they succeed? Probably. Should Kohl’s do all they can to repel such a deal? Absolutely! The Unlocking Value Engineer Why? Because Richard Baker, real estate mogul extraordinaire is just that. As he reviews the totality of Kohl’s, its problems and opportunities, he is assessing its potential new revenue streams and strategic and structural changes, including economies of scale, consolidating …
Macy’s and Kohl’s: A Replay of Target’s Growth Strategy
Spoiler alert: This is a strategic perspective, not a financial review – on purpose. The current three-front perfect storm for Macy’s and Kohl’s could arguably be described as a pursuit of a post-Covid higher level of positive “normal,” managing through inflation and supply chain impediments, and the threat of greedy activists. And the major stories coming out of their recent investor presentations were their focused repositioning strategies, aligning merchandising and distribution with young consumers’ preferred products, and enhancing …
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Amazon Fiddles Around While Losing on the Ground
The quasi-metaphor, “Nero fiddles while Rome burns,” refers to Amazon fiddling around with test stores while two of their fiercest competitors, Walmart and Target, continue to gain both on the ground and in the digital air, so to speak. And while Amazon has declared the necessity to expand into physical retailing (understanding the omnichannel advantage), and specifically in grocery and apparel, they are moving too slowly in this flywheel-tech era. This is astounding to me given Jeff Bezos’s mantra from day-one that Amazon must “get big fast.” …