There are a multitude of leaders around the world, by title only. There is a scarcity of great leaders. The same applies in the retail ecosystem. The United States has been the de facto leader of the "free world" since the end of WWII. However, we are arguably witnessing its demise in real time (some would say over the last three years). In title only, we have a leader, but in my opinion, he is the opposite of "great," and in many ways endangering the country. However, this article is not about politics and the performance of our current …
Don’t Let a Crisis Go to Waste
Like so many of our readers, I too am operating and running The Robin Report remotely, as are my team members. We are fortunate in that respect. Also, being cooped up with no meetings, lunches or events to go to, I have more time to think, which for me, is a dangerous thing. However, one of the things I think is that the bad news (actually horrific) coming out of this mess is obsessively upfront and in our faces every minute of every day. But as with all historic crises, wars and such, there is some good news. Essentially, we …
Get Lots of Cash Now!!!!
As a reader of The Robin Report, you are a knowledgeable and Important participant of the retail and related industries, and many of you are major leaders, or you would not be reading this publication. And we truly appreciate your support. However, this is not a one-way street. We either deliver valuable content, full of strategic insights particularly relevant to your specific business or we will not deserve your support. Accordingly, during this historically unprecedented, business crushing period, we have requested of all our writers to …
Don’t Succumb to the Invisible Black Swan
"We're all in this together." How many times have we heard and read this statement, and from how many different leaders: mayors, governors, congress men and women, heads of major corporations and the President of the United States? Indeed, we are all in this together. One for all and all for one also comes to mind as how all of us should be treating one another. And united we must stand or united we will surely fall, which is the ultimate societal and economic possibility, should we fail to set aside our selfish needs, grievances, bigotry and …
COVID-19: Short-Term Opportunity, Long-Term Problem
To overstate the obvious, in this understated war against COVID-19 we are trying to hide from an enemy we can't even see, smell, touch or hear. Therefore, the suggested default solution for survival is to hunker down in our homes and send invisible digital messages, invulnerable to the invader virus, to resupply our needs. Non-metaphorically speaking, online shopping will obviously spike up during the unknown duration of this pandemic. And from a long-term strategic perspective, pre-virus in-store shoppers who are learning the convenience (and …
COVID-19: Short-Term Opportunity, Long-Term ProblemRead More
Whole Foods: Amazon’s Huge Mistake
At some point just around the birth of Amazon, Jeff Bezos said he must get big fast, (to own unreachable market share ahead of copycats) and he must get two categories right: grocery and apparel. He accomplished getting big fast in spades. Probably faster than he expected. The grocery and apparel parts of the declaration, not so fast and not nearly right. He is still fiddling around with both. Genius, Visionary or Megalomaniac? So, just because Amazon's market value is around a trillion dollars, give or take a billion or so, doesn't mean by …
Macy’s: Out of the Box or a Different Box?
Macy's is going bold and fast with Market by Macy's! The 20,000 square-foot boutique opened recently in the Southlake Town Square lifestyle shopping center in Southlake, Texas, an affluent suburb of Dallas. By suggesting Macy's should go bold and fast, it's another way of saying I hope this is the beginning implementation of a grand long-term strategy for Macy's to de-massify and de-couple itself from its mall "anchors," (as ironically, the malls have become -- literal anchors dragging down most of their legacy tenants. Market by Macy's may …
The Robin Report Unveils the Retail Radicals: The Movers and Shakers of Legacy Brands
We are pleased to announce the winners of The Robin Report 2020 Retail Radicals. We have worked in collaboration with SAP on our second annual awards program that focuses on identifying radical thinkers and doers (innovators and entrepreneurial leaders) exclusively in the legacy (brick-and-mortar) sectors of the retail industry. These radicals are clearly driving the major transformations within their respective retail brands. We celebrate traditional, legacy radicals because they face challenges that are much larger and more complex than those …
The Robin Report Unveils the Retail Radicals: The Movers and Shakers of Legacy BrandsRead More