As 2020 draws to a close, every retailer is ready to close the books on this most disruptive of years. Ikea is quite literally closing its books. It is ending the 70-year run of its iconic catalog. The Ikea catalog will be relegated to a museum, where it becomes a nostalgic reminder of days gone […]
Archive | HENRYs (High-Earners-Not-Rich-Yet)
RSS feed for this sectionProspects for Home Brands In Post-Pandemic World
The National Kitchen and Bath Association asked me to share research and perspectives on the future of home-related businesses is in the post-pandemic market. Here are my thoughts along with those from with Bill Darcy of the NKBA and J. Walker Smith of Kantar Consulting. And for a wider look across other segments in the […]
Luxury in a Post-Covid World
Letting no crisis go to waste, the MBB big-three consulting firms – McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain & Company – have all come out with their post-coronavirus predictions for the luxury market. I’ve spent hours digesting their reports, including interviewing Bain’s Claudia D’Aprizio, who is arguably the world’s leading authority on the […]
High-Spending HENRYs Will Pull Out Holiday Retail Sales This Season
I’m the first to admit that I am skeptical about the overly optimistic holiday sales forecasts that are filling my inbox. This year I am particularly surprised by how many forecasts top NRF’s predictably rosy predictions, which this year range from 3.8 percent to 4.2 percent. That’s why I nearly went into auto-delete mode when […]
Luxury Brands Face a Crisis of Meaning: Here’s How to Fix It
Luxury brands are caught between a rock and a hard place. They keep trying to up their prices by elevating their luxury value proposition, but the foundation on which they are trying to build that perception is shifting out from under them as consumer’s idea of luxury and theirs no longer align. Quite simply, luxury […]