With “Return Bars” and “Returnistas”, Happy Returns is eliminating the hassle of returning online orders by mail.
Happy Returns is a new upstart that’s addressing a new need in today’s e-commerce driven world: Rather than doing returns by mail, customers are able to drop off their online returns at a Happy Bar, and Happy Returns handles the rest.
Report: Landlords, burned by Kit and Ace, turn to small luxury brands to fill short term leases.
Lean Luxe has learned that landlords, while they search for long term tenants, are warming up to short term leases with smaller modern luxury brands who’ve been scrappy enough to pitch them on these spaces.
‘The Future of Retail’: Highlights from the best panel at last month’s Monocle conference in Berlin.
In Berlin, Storefront’s Mohamed Haouache, Perfumer H’s Lyn Harris, and Sarah McNally of McNally Jackson brought the house down in a cracking, back-and-forth debate on what the future holds for high-end retail.
The Armoury CEO Mark Cho on modernity, brand building, and acquiring Drake’s of London.
Armoury founder Mark Cho’s projects are characterized by a ravenous, curious, and detail minded approach, fueled by constant travel between New York, London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.
Ana Andjelic: Legacy retailers define strategy in competitive terms. Retail upstarts define it in terms of their customer.
To successfully compete in today’s customer-first context, retailers have to start thinking beyond incremental innovation. They must become comfortable with new models that cannibalize their business as it is right now.
Ana Andjelic – Rethinking luxury’s technology gameplan.
Longstanding luxury brands tend to treat technology as a marketing play or a value-add that sits on top of their business models – rather than harnessing technology to actually transform their businesses. Ana Andjelic’s argument: It’s a terrible approach. (652 words)
A closer look at Australian modern luxury brands. Spoiler alert: It’s not (just) about Aesop.
It’s easy when thinking about the brands coming out of Australia to believe Aesop is the only one that (really) matters. Butt there are others––like P. Johnson Tailors and Mon Purse––that are making noise on a global stage. (1,181 words)
Kyle Chayka: Lululemon Lab is cultivating exclusivity in an era of omnipresence.
For round two of his “Perceptive Consumer” column, Kyle Chayka argues: Omnichannel seems to be top of mind for all manner of retailers, both old and new. But at Lululemon Lab, in-store exclusives are the order of the day. (875 words)
Growth markets: China hogs the headlines, but for emerging brands, mature markets matter far more.
We spoke to several modern luxury brands to ask: Is the Chinese market really a growth market for them? And if not, which markets are? (1221 words)
Getting active: Equinox is quickly becoming a go-to retail partner for activewear upstarts.
Equinox is rigorously focused on listening to its members — and members are saying they want more of what the new class of activewear companies like Rhone, Ten Thousand, and ISAORA, have to offer. (774 words)
