article thumbnail

How boutique retailers won by discarding the department store playbook

Inside Retail

While household-name department stores are downsizing and closing their doors, multi-brand retail boutiques are succeeding by focusing on personalised shopping experiences. Of course, e-commerce has a crucial part to any brand, but in-store retail shopping gives you a sensory experience that online can’t.

article thumbnail

The China Syndrome: Japan department stores missing tourist shoppers

Inside Retail

Isetan-Mitsukoshi is a storied department store chain with 15 units in Japan, including five in the Tokyo metropolitan area. One of them, the Isetan flagship in Shinjuku, boasts the highest sales of any department store in Japan. Sales at Isetan-Mitsukoshi’s Tokyo metro stores are up 33.3 billion yen, or about $2.5

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Even Japan’s Takashimaya can’t escape department stores’ woes

Inside Retail

We have ‘iconic’ shopping centres, ‘iconic’ retail stores, ‘iconic’ restaurants, ‘iconic’ hotels, ‘iconic’ rock groups. But Takashimaya, a retailer of 1831 vintage and still the largest department store chain in Japan, is surely genuinely deserving of the word. The amount of department store floorspace declined by 6.1

article thumbnail

Department Store Offers Shoppers a Calming, Biophilic Space

VMS

Originally scheduled for an October 2020 opening, the seventh location for this family-run department store was caught in the middle of the global predicament – to build or not to build, to cancel or push on? Opening any store requires an exact timeline. Each setback has a domino effect. With each delay, new challenges arose.

article thumbnail

Retail’s new range: The evolution of merchandise planning

Inside Retail

This is creating new challenges for retail operations, including a particular demand for agile merchandise planning and supply-chain processes. These activities require frequent decisions on product assortment, store, and floor-space allocations. Australians are shopping online more than ever.

article thumbnail

From mini stores to the metaverse, will Macy’s new moves pay off?

Inside Retail

Macy’s has been stepping up to the plate with a series of new moves, from the expansion of its smaller-footprint stores, to a new digital fashion platform targeting younger shoppers. But while these initiatives sound promising, the question remains: can the department store chain truly adapt to the needs of the modern-day consumer?

article thumbnail

Macy’s Plans ‘Backstage’ Shop-in-Shops

VMS

Macy’s (New York) has announced plans to open 45 Backstage shop-in-shops in select Macy’s locations in 10 different states this year, according to Retail Dive. Its final target is 270 Backstage shop-in-shops nationwide. Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette also reportedly said during J.P.