There are so many conflicting messages about retail sustainability that it’s hard to know what’s real. This is by design. Some messages encourage customers to buy secondhand to save the planet, others preach the benefits of upcycled fashions, while other still encourage customers to buy nothing at all. The more confusing it is for customers to get a full picture of a retailer’s sustainability footprint; the more consumers can fool themselves into thinking that their fast fashion purchases have a negligible environmental and humanitarian …
Leadership’s Three States of Grace
Leaders of organizations fall into three categories: pontificators, remediators and transformers. Pontificators Pontificators spend much of their time opining as to their past triumphs and important experiences which enabled them to ascend to the throne they are perched upon. They sermonize often, surrounded by acolytes who affirm their authority and wisdom. They preside over their organizations but have long ago given up the responsibility for actually leading them. They occupy the podium at town halls, introducing, then passing the …
A Cogent Economic Review
Christopher Waller, a senior Federal Reserve official, announced on May 30, that he supports the U.S. central bank’s main interest rate to rise to a level at which it starts to stunt economic growth by the end of the year, with increases in interest rates at every meeting until inflation is decisively curbed. This strategy is thought to have been successful in the past in mitigating inflation and hopes are that it will do so again. But the Fed may be taking a huge gamble considering today’s volatile climate. The current economy may be …
Looking at Unboxing Beauty Videos
While the lion’s share of recent beauty chatter has centered on 30-second viral TikToks, the polar opposite phenomenon – long, elaborate “unboxing” videos – is still shockingly popular on YouTube, perhaps giving hope to the hand wringers who fret over our ever-declining attention spans. One Box at a Time These nutty peeks into a beauty influencer’s rarified world, one in which they literally unbox mountains of fresh loot they’ve received either directly from brands or from PR firms, aren’t new. In fact, one of the most popular, which has …
Behind Amazon’s Thorny Profitability Problem
To nobody's surprise, the Covid-19 pandemic gave Amazon a huge market share boost. So far, the ecommerce giant has been able to maintain most of its pandemic share gains even as consumer shopping patterns have started to normalize. However, the combination of surging costs and slowing growth are taking a severe toll on profit margins. The rising pressure on Amazon's core ecommerce profitability raises serious questions about the financial sustainability of its business model. Red Ink Piling Up for the Retail Business In late April, …
Updated Playbook for Retail Success
Whether it is to make quicker business decisions, improve the customer experience, deliver operational efficiencies or reduce return rates, once the right data is in place there are some very simple things that brands and retailers can do today to drive up to 6 percent growth in their profit within the next 12 months. That is a significant cash injection for any business. Data, Data Everywhere, but Sadly not the Right Data Apparel and fashion industry experts, pundits and the brands themselves have all been extolling just how …
Will Gap Inc. Need a Fifth “Hail Mary?”
I wrote in November 2021, Is Sonia Syngal Gap’s Fourth “Hail Mary?”, largely based on the three “Hail Marys” that preceded her, of whom failed to turn the declining brand around. I attributed a big part of their failure with the fact that none of the three had apparel retail experience. Go figure, when all four of Gap Inc’s brands are apparel. Perhaps the Board or certain members of it, did not want another “rock star merchant prince” to overshadow them, and who would come to personify the brand. Mickey Drexler left the helm of Gap in …
Returns: The Next Great Marketing Channel
Returns are a necessary component of the consumer journey. But returns don’t have to be harmful to the retailer, especially if they can be used to learn more about your shoppers, better meet their needs, and ultimately improve the consumer relationship. An effective marketing technique is to treat the return transaction as a marketing channel. This strategy can work for omnichannel, ecommerce, and in-store returns. Intelligent incentives at the point of return (whether in-store or via live agent support) can yield better insights, stronger …