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February 2020 – In Review

 

By Reilly Stephens

In January 2020 we learned that sales at clothing retailers suffered their steepest decline since 2009.  Some might chalk this up to being nothing more than an extended holiday hangover, but whatever it is – it doesn’t bode well for retail. While automobiles, gasoline and food services were unchanged, retail sales across other categories continue to slow.  Now, in February with factors such as fears surrounding the Coronavirus there is uncertainty about if, when and how retail will bounce back.

More retailers are looking to understand what changes they must make to their businesses in order not just achieve marginal year over year growth but to innovate their way to the top of their categories, and secure a special place in the hearts and minds of their customers.

Here are our top articles for the month of February and some of the content we read and loved.

Luxury Retail Hit By Coronavirus

Speaking with CTV’s Your Morning, Doug lays out the triple-whammy the coronavirus poses to the luxury retail market – a significant percentage of which is tied directly to Chinese consumption.

Macy’s New North Star

Macy’s announced that they would be exiting their lowest performing mall locations despite their best efforts to accelerate top-line growth. In this piece, Doug Stephens spoke to RetailDive to share his feelings on Macy’s new endeavour, Market by Macy’s, spearheaded by STORY Founder and now Macy’s Brand Experience Officer, Rachel Shechtman.

Retail’s Most Important Metric Podcast

With retailers like Macy’s closing their lowest performing locations, Doug  Stephens asks the question – what if your physical stores had an intrinsic value that you weren’t capturing? What if we’ve been measuring the success of physical retail wrongly in this new era? Retail’s Most Important Metric is once again our top and trending podcast of the month.

Amazon one-day delivery fuels sales boom — and shipping ambition

We at Retail Prophet have maintained for a long time that Amazon will not only become a shipping company, but will become the gold-standard in the shipping industry.  Could shipping become Amazon’s next cash cow?

RetailDive explores the limitlessness of Amazon and the impact it continues to have in the industry and any other industry it challenges.

Other Articles We Love

Gen Z may not be as quick to adopt new technology

In my recent piece, How To Make Millennials (and the rest of us) Love Your Brand, I discuss the dangers of buying into stereotypes about specific generational cohorts. This piece challenges those stereotypes and reframes the way we may think about younger generations and technology.

Fast Fashion, Explained

A view inside a Forever 21 store in Union Square in Manhattan on September 12, 2019 in New York City.

In this piece, the world of fast fashion is explored and examines why people still buy cheap clothes, often worn only once.

Climate concerns impacting consumer shopping habits, retail reports find

People out shopping on Oxford Street walk past large scale January sale signs in red and white for major high street clothing retail shops on 7th January 2019 in London, United Kingdom. Its time for the Winter sales, and most shops are advertising big reductions in prices. Bargains are available and the shopping streets are busy. Oxford Street is a major road in the West End of London. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and has approximately 300 shops. (photo by Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images Images)

With collective consciousness about the environmental impact of consumerism on the rise, you may find that you and your family are shopping differently. Turns out – you aren’t alone.

Image result for amazon cashierless grocery

When Amazon launched Amazon Go in 2018, we felt strongly that 2020 would be the year that Amazon would scale the concept up.  Well, this month Amazon has taken their Amazon GO approach, a cashierless store, to a full grocery store format. Just this week, photos of the space were released.

What do Balenciaga and IKEA have in common? They collaborated on this $2,000 bag. Aside from than that you would be hard-pressed to find similarities between the two brands. So why is it that we are increasingly seeing lower-end brands and symbolism rising to the status of luxury? Harvard Business Review wanted to find out.



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