The seemingly insulated luxury market has never experienced a year like 2020 when personal luxury goods sales dropped $78 billion from 2019 – a 23 percent decrease year-over-year – to a total $266 billion in 2020. With the pandemic threatening both consumers’ health and finances, the industry’s decline was more than double the 9 percent drop experienced over two years during the 2008-2009 recession, according to Bain & Company. It is not expected to recover to 2019 levels until the end of 2022 or early 2023. Luxury Through the Ages Bain …
Experience
Amazon’s Superpower
Unintended consequences of Covid-19 are that it’s easier to find a captive audience and we now regularly spend time waiting in lines. In the spirit of making lemonade out of Coronavirus lemons, I decided to conduct a quick, socially distanced, unscientific poll outside a Brooklyn Trader Joe’s where my husband was queued up. My question was, “What kind of a business is Amazon.com?” Of the 11 people who took out their earbuds and talked to me, nine of them said basically “online retail.” Another said, “A company that should be broken up because …
Establishing Credibility with Next-Gen Consumers
Trust is paramount when selling to a generation that lists “shared values” above all other brand attributes but price. However, establishing trust with next-gens is no longer a simple proposition. A strong “About Us” page and mission statement won’t cut it anymore. Not when next-gens monitor every aspect of a retail business –– from a product’s source materials, to the warehouse in which it was made, to how employees are compensated on the front end. Establishing trust with young consumers isn’t an impossible feat, it just takes a lot more …
The Winter of Our Discontent
Sometimes it helps to stand back and look for the big truths hiding in plain sight amidst massive mounds of little insights, false positives, mistaken assumptions and, well yes, wishful thinking. Such a truth revealed itself as I took my regular Fitbit-inspired walk around Manhattan today. I started on the Upper East Side in the 90s and headed 35 or so blocks south, before heading back up: my roughly10,000-step daily requirement and all logged before 9:00 AM. Invigorating, right? Well, not quite. An Urban Wasteland Typically, I walk down …
Gift Yourself
It’s the little things in life. Would you rather get a $38 tube of lipstick in a utilitarian brown cardboard box … or in a beautiful white Chanel-branded mini shopping bag filled with samples wrapped in a silky pouch, all packed in a white Chanel-branded shipping box – delivered by FedEx for no additional fee? And Amazon thinks it has a prayer in delivering luxury? And while we’re at it, what other companies take the time and make the investment in the high touches that transform an online purchase into a brand relationship? Apple, for one. …
The Quest to Nest
The home furnishings industry finds itself in the ultimate Venn Diagram (a graphic representation of circles that shows the sweet spot where different datasets overlap): the confluence of Americans spending much more time at home, much less time traveling and going out to restaurants, theaters and events -- and all of us having a general feeling that where you live should be the nicest, most comforting place on the planet. It is Home Sweet Home to the max. While certain sectors of the American economy like airlines and restaurants are in …
Reimagining JCPenney
Several weeks ago, a colleague asked me which retailer(s) I thought were genuinely innovative. For me, "innovative" and "retailer" rarely fit in the same sentence, but, my immediate response: Carvana. Disruption for Detroit The world of used, or previously owned cars will never be the same. It has now been transformed into a fascinating, fun and, dare one say, festive shopping experience. Carvana is a totally reimagined catalytic wonder-what-it-would-be-like moment of new car ownership all the way through to the thrill of delivery and …
Pandemic Fashion: We May Never Wear Real Clothes Again
Not much of coronavirus’ impact on the fashion industry was predictable. Sure, sweatpants did eclipse evening gown sales and lipstick took a nosedive, as expected; but some of the more lasting effects of Covid-19 on the fashion industry could not have been foreseen. I’m talking about a scarcity aesthetic the likes of which we haven’t seen since the Great Depression. A “scarcity aesthetic” comes into play in times of economic hardship, when the divide between the haves and have-nots makes consumers reluctant to flaunt their wealth through …
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