Selling Brand Experience not Products: LEGO’s Secret to Success
Be warned, this post is paid advertising (sort of), childhood memory, a declaration of love, and best practice brand experience all in one.
I love LEGO, and they have paid me in great childhood memories and eight wonderful years of assisting in partner and own retail.
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D2C: It’s All About Tech
Part two of our D2C series: Software tools bring your D2C strategy to life. Learn which ones are key to consider in this overview.
D2C: It’s All About Consumer Focus
Direct-to-consumer (D2C) is about mastering technology to give the best possible products and services to your consumers. Brands like Nespresso, Tupperware, Tesla or Peloton show how it’s done.
The Future in Flagship Retail: A Strategy Update
In the middle of global store lockdowns, 100+ lifestyle brands announce the opening of new flagship stores.
Versace, Puma, Under Armor, Gucci, Saint Laurent, Montblanc, Adidas, Lacoste, Dior, Hermes, Supreme and more report new flagship store openings. All that adds up to retail investments of US$ 200m (assuming standard buildout cost and store sizes) in a time when the internet is booming.
Special Edition: Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility has been on brands and retailers’ radar for decades. In some cases the strategic alignment with CSR was a true commitment to corporate ethics and positive change, in others a device to boost public opinion and employer marketing. (more…)
The Price is Right, Right?
Pricing strategy remains a very timely topic. Learn how to make sound research-based decisions when lowering or increasing your prices.
Managing Retail Operations in 2021
Do you measure the payback of TV advertising, sports sponsorship and the profitability of your warehouses by EBIT? You think that’s short sighted? Why then do you measure retail stores with basically the same functions (branding, community building, shipment handling) by its P&L alone?
How to Compare Store Performance of a Retail Portfolio in Pandemic Times
Retail executives often struggle to objectively evaluate the store performance of their portfolio due to changing market dynamics and consumer behaviours pre- and post-Covid. The good old Footfall Utilization Index (FUI) might be of help.
Sustainable Sourcing & Sustainable Shopping: A Circular Solution
Over the past 12 years, product teams around the globe have been on a journey towards more sustainable sourcing, beginning with measuring the impact of production on the environment. And ever since, factories have offered sustainable sourcing. It’s time to move another step forward.
Evolution of Store Design II
In this article, we dive deeper into how brands can best appropriate their spend and decipher how intangible elements of a brand’s identity can be rolled out across store formats and concepts to create clarity of brand, irrespective of size or location of the store.
Initiative Retail Future ‘Zukunft Handel’
An introduction to the services and tools that ‘Zukunft Handel’ (Retail Future), an initiative launched by Google and the German Retail Federation (HDE), offers to support smaller German retailers in digitising their business.
Future in Brand Wholesale Distribution: The Cash Cow is dead. Long live the Cash Cow.
Wholesale distribution managers knew it all along, traditional brand wholesale wouldn’t last forever. And 2020 saw an acceleration of change that began long before the pandemic: the termination of mediocre businesses.
But turmoil in wholesale distribution isn’t over yet; ahead lie at least one to two more years of trouble and possibly major strategy changes at online pure players.
Recovery Scenarios for the Brand & Retail Industry
While the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over, our 2021 has started on a constructive note with many contributors sharing their insights on what recovering from this crisis could look like across the brand and retail industry.
Store Insights Can Speak the Voice of Shoppers. Are You Listening?
There was an almost sinister feeling of relief in the boardroom. Until a firm voice cut through the silence with a final question: Well done fleet review team. But which 5 stores are the most productive, which are the 5 least productive and why? (more…)
Zalando Connected Retail: High Street Powerhouses vs. Online Giants
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… (retail) humans and many species of (online) aliens co-exist with robots who assist their routines. Travelling between planets takes place offline as well as online. The same goes for shopping, where retail spacecrafts range from small starfighters called mom & pop shops to battle stations such as the moon-sized Death Star (called Zalando). (more…)
3 Innovative Distribution Models: Lifeline & Disruptor
Three innovative distribution models currently help retailers to survive the Covid-19 lockdowns and new players to disrupt traditional markets. (more…)
Brand Distribution Best Practice Post Covid
Our research and industry dialogue ‘Future in Brand Distribution’ has been off to an enlightening start. Four weeks in, executive talks and our online survey have already returned much valuable inspiration on the future of the lifestyle industry.
The sentiment we encountered in the industry dialogues was generally positive and energising, even though many still find themselves in lockdowns. It seems as though the Covid-19 pandemic not only gave a boost to digital transformation but also liberated some of the brand industry’s best creative thinking.
How India’s Digitization Impacts Retail and Brand Distribution
India has been on an exciting digitization journey since 2009. Many key elements that will form the backbone of ‘Digital India’ also serve to enhance retail and brand distribution.
Some of the building blocks are already well in place, tried, tested, validated, and nationally rolled out, and others will be introduced in the next 2-3 years.
