Guido Schild

Guido is the master mind behind "Brand Growth Inspiration", an expert network for the brand lifestyle industry. He engages as a global brand strategy consultant. Berlin is his hometown, but his workplace is the globe, remote or in the regions (Europe, USA, Asia). The core of his projects cover strategy, finance & planning in brand distribution, especially in retail. Some of his recent engagements included: • Retail Due Diligence and Comp Growth Program for a US Sporting Goods Brand • Retail Expansion planning for a global leading toy brand (20+ Countries/150+Cities/500 stores) • Study on the "Future of Brand Distribution" Post Covid • Brand Retail Vision for a Californian Footwear Brand • Strategy Coaching of a Social Commerce App. Learn more about him and his background from his publishing below
Retail Concept Amazon

The Art of Creating Successful Store Concepts: How to Avoid the Complexity Trap

Brand Retail, , , , ,

Amazon closes down all physical book stores, pop-ups and 4-star stores in the UK and US. Do you want to learn how to avoid their mistakes?

Despite the initial media hype and large investments in technology, the stores failed to deliver the expected returns. And while that does come as a surprise, we questioned whether packing stores with digital gimmicks will make up for missing the essentials of retailing right after their opening.

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Partner Store Dubai

Partner Retail is Still the Smarter Retail and Here’s Why

Multi-Brand, Partner Retail, Strategy, ,

(last updated in September 2022)

Own and operated stores are a favoured brick & mortar channel, but heavy on investment. In comparison, partner (aka franchise) retail is a capital-light strategy and often far more profitable.

While luxury brands clearly prioritise growing own and operated retail, successful premium brands (i.e. VF or LEGO) invest in growing both. But professionalising partner retail remains a challenge for many brands.

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Brand Retail Best Practice

Brand Retail Best Practices – Six Areas to Work on this Year

Best Practice, , , ,

We had two rollercoaster years for the brand lifestyle industry around the globe. Reading the interim financial reports suggests that the majority of top brands have grown, despite pandemic and the global supply chain crisis.

And brand retail continuous to be an essential part of the past and future growth.

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Brand Sales and Distribution: New Best Practices that drive International Growth

Brand Expansion, , , ,

International sales growth remains mostly volatile post pandemic. But as financial reports show, growth rates have decreased for many. Be it in the US or in Europe, especially domestic-bound retailers and brands stumble.

Global expansion in sales and distribution competence has become a lifesaving strategy feature, but allow me a question first:

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© Louis Vuitton / Photography: Daici Ano

The Future of Brand Flagship Stores: Strategy Update

Brand Retail, , , , ,

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.

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Future in Brand Wholesale Distribution: The Cash Cow is dead. Long live the Cash Cow.

Multi-Brand, , ,

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.

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Brand Distribution Best Practice Post Covid

Multi-Brand, , , , ,

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.

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Brand Growth Planning

How to get Quality into your Brand Strategy and Planning

Strategy, , , ,

Key learnings of 30 years brand strategy and planning. Tips how to improve your brand growth planning, today.

Regularly media reports that companies take a zero-based budget (ZBB) approach, and cite respective studies. In light of Covid19 pandemic, many brands applied cost-cutting exercises to adjust their strategy and planning.

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Future Brand Distribution

The Future in Brand Distribution – in Search of a 1000 Minds

Multi-Brand, Partner Retail, , , ,

How are these snapshots for a future in brand distribution?

“2025 retail rents will be like 2020 flight routes: back to the 1980s.” “The future is social commerce, digital market places are an interim hype, for brand industry’s e-com latecomers.” “In five years, an office workspace and business travel will be recruiting incentives.” “Grandpa tells me, his company used to pay him for sourcing travel to adventurous rural locations.”

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Post Covid: Best Read in Brand and Retail

Editorial Picks, , ,

22,144 readers, 3 new authors, updates from China, India and Europe, and 14 greatly diverse posts. It is great to be back with our best quarter ever. Thank you to all for contributing, reading and promoting. Post Covid, the best read in brand and retail.

We are living in-between most interesting times

As we wrap up our post-lockdown publishing, we realise the industry mood is somewhat in-between. In-between first and second lockdown. In-between a return to office or of stay at home office for good. In-between going on international travel or staying put. Slowly we start to see, in-between could be the new normal for some time to come.

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Post Covid Industry Best Practice in Retail & Online

Best Practice, , , , ,

The Covid-19 pandemic is devastating for those with pre-existing conditions. But it also mobilises the best in all others: unforeseen creativity, outstanding personal engagement, true loyalty and support among many more qualities.

There is no way around acknowledging that the situation is grim wherever you look and listen across the brand and retail industry, in parts even online. But if we pay close attention, we can also observe new brand industry best practice emerging.

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Andra tutto bene rainbow banner in Italy

Everything Will Be Alright Dear Brand & Retail Industry

Strategy

This is about an expert pandemic, future pacing, a little bit of motivation and no bad news at all. From your blog’s curators.

Before this post reaches you, it went through five different incarnations in six weeks of lockdown. It started out very German in tone ‘this will get very dirty before it is over’, to shift to ‘how to stop your cash bleeding’, until it gradually reached its current Italian mood, ‘andrà tutto bene’.

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How Patagonia built a most Sustainable Fashion Brand

Best Practice, , , ,

This story is about earth beauty and why engaging in sustainable fashion makes for beautiful brands. It’s not a romance story, we are talking serious brand strategy business!

We have 2020, pre COVID 19, online and multichannel have long become your daily bread and butter, and building sustainable fashion brands is the next big brand strategy priority. (more…)