Despite record-breaking indices on Wall Street, solid employment numbers and increasing consumer spending, the retail industry is in a profound state of fluctuation. Shoppers continue to shift toward online while also buying more products from direct-to-consumer brands as they drift away from traditional department store retailers.
Gilbert W. Harrison: As always, you must ask how companies are responding to the “new informal look” and other ever-changing styles. And what happens to a brand when the designer changes or leaves to go to another Maison, or the designer loses the perspective and point of view of an “A” brand, which is only as good as the style and design behind it? Brands must stay relevant and be consistently compelling to consumers.
Many of the growing and emerging retailers have not been in the trenches long enough to gain the experience and knowledge needed to assess the look and feel of the product over time. Experience is basic to the merchant prince and they also have to have had failures to be a success. With the growth of e-commerce along with rising rents and changing consumer tastes, the number of store closures has increased substantially over the last few years. Just stroll down Madison Avenue in New York and you’ll find over 70 vacant stores just between 59th and 96th Streets.
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