Perhaps New York City’s retail scene hasn’t seen anything as new and fresh as Showfields since the Story store opened on 10th Avenue back in 2011. The four-story Showfields is envisioned as an “immersive retail experience,” combining popup shops with art exhibitions, theatrical experiences, community events and food-drink hospitality. Showfields is positioned as “the most interesting store in […]
Archive | September, 2019
Imagine What RH Could Be if It Got Its Digital Act Together?
New study by Gartner L2 finds RH (a.k.a. Restoration Hardware) is way behind other specialty retailers in digital performance
A New Model of Retail Metrics: Getting the Numbers Right
As a market researcher, I have always been intrigued by what is known as the “observer effect,” whereby the mere observation of a phenomenon changes the phenomenon observed. I am keenly aware of it when I design a survey instrument. What’s measured takes on the utmost importance, but when the wrong variables are measured, no […]
The Future of the Beauty Market Described in these Six Trends
Today the global beauty industry is a $532 billion business. The U.S. currently is the world’s largest beauty market, with about 20% share, followed by China (13%) and Japan (8%). While projections for growth vary, most agree it will continue to advance at a 5%-to-7% compound-annual-growth-rate to reach or exceed $800 billion by 2025. Even if the […]
Vera Bradley Turned Off Main Street onto Wall Street, But It Needs To Turn Back
Just about everyone knows Vera Bradley, even if they don’t know its name. Its iconic patterned, brightly-colored quilted handbags, back packs and travel accessories are beloved by people of all ages, from grade-school kids, tweens and teens, college students and sorority sisters, on-the-go young mothers and her middle-aged mom, to grandmothers. It’s a rare fashion […]