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* RaaS: Offering resale-as-a-service for brands like Everlane and Madewell. They helps merchants monetize returns. As e-commerce grows, so will this channel.

James Reinhart • Lessons in Process Power

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Put Your Closet in the Cloud | Rent the Runway

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When Ron Johnson was hired as CEO of JCPenney in 2011, one of his first acts was to end the constant stream of discounts and urgent sales that the store was always pitching to its customers. Johnson took that action based on his worldview, on his bias about how to shop. He didn’t think it was possible that a quality retailer, a store he’d like to s

Seth Godin • This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See

As a result of his worldview, he abandoned Penney’s true fans: people who loved the sport of bargain hunting. Or the urgency. People whose worldviews differed from his. Penney’s customers were playing a game, one that made them feel like they were winning.

Seth Godin • This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See

The problem with JC Penney isn’t that the department store business is a bad business (you could argue that the online bookstore business for Amazon was also a bad business). The problem is that JC Penney doesn’t have a high density of people who are either deeply tenacious or deeply creative. The unknown unknowns at JC Penney are 1,000 times less ... See more

Alexandr Wang • Betting on Unknown Unknowns

mainstream department stores aimed at the “middle-class” homemaker. They amazed and flattered her with the elegance of the environs and with the deference of the salesclerks, but canny retailers understood that their homemaker wasn’t wealthy, and had instincts of thrift and austerity stamped in her genes. They could pull her in with spectacle, addr

Charles R. Morris • The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy

The secondary line, rebranded Proenza Schouler White Label, now makes up 30 percent of revenue, while direct retail, including one physical store and e-commerce, accounts for 20 percent of business, up a few percentage points from before the pandemic.

The Nine Lives of Proenza Schouler

This is space that multi brand retailers like department stores should own. They should have the credibility of the high taste of their merchant team (see Barney’s circa 2005) combined with the best staff dying to find you that perfect black tote.

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James Reinhart • Lessons in Process Power

Image

Put Your Closet in the Cloud | Rent the Runway

Seth Godin • This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Seth Godin • This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Alexandr Wang • Betting on Unknown Unknowns

Charles R. Morris • The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy

The Nine Lives of Proenza Schouler

Julie Thibault • The Internet empowered us to find our tribes. Retail isn’t keeping up.