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What Consumers Want from Social Media Is Different than Brands, Creating a Performance Gap

In little over a decade, social media has emerged as businesses’ number one way to connect with consumers, according to a new study conducted by Harris Poll for Sprout Social, a social media listening and analytics company. Over 70% of businesses surveyed rely on social media for customer engagement, compared with 61% for email, 27% […]

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Three Years Into Its Turnaround Plan, Ralph Lauren Takes a Big Step Backwards

Almost exactly three years ago, Ralph Lauren Corp’s CEO Patrice Louvet announced an ambitious strategic growth plan, called “Next Great Chapter.” Two years in, it showed modest success, then Covid hit and the bottom fell out. Now the company’s revenues are at levels passed by in 2007. Ralph Lauren faces a long steep climb back […]

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Pandora and Diamond Foundry Answer Consumers’ Growing Demand for Lab-Grown Diamonds

Lab-grown diamonds, the manmade alternative to naturally-grown diamonds, have faced an uphill battle to be recognized by the jewelry industry as an acceptable alternative to mined diamonds. Now Pandora, the world’s largest jewelry company by volume, and Diamond Foundry, one of the nation’s leading producers of lab-grown diamonds, are out with news that prove the […]

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‘Shop Small, Shop Local’ Message Is Independent Retailers’ Best Hope for Pandemic Recovery

The overarching story of retail in 2020, the pandemic year, is that the big just got bigger. The biggest categories – food and beverage stores, general merchandise stores (with the exception of department stores), building materials and supplies dealers and electronic shopping – all got bigger and the biggest retailers in each of those categories […]

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Luxury Brands and China: An Increasingly Risky Dependency

LVMH just came out with a strong first quarter 2021 report, reassuring industry watchers that the Covid pandemic is finally in the rearview mirror for the luxury market. Total revenues reached €14 billion, nearly equal to $17 billion, with organic revenue growth over same period last year up 30%, excluding currency fluctuations and its acquisition of […]

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