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Just asking: What the letter from Apple's Steve Jobs doesn't say
POSTED 8:22PM ET | Jan 5 2009 -
Beauty No Longer a Bastion
POSTED 11:42AM ET | Dec 22 2008 -
No Holiday Cheer
POSTED 6:01PM ET | Dec 19 2008 -
Hair Apparent: The Donald Weighs in on Blagojevich's Coif
POSTED 9:36AM ET | Dec 19 2008 -
Hollywood Awards to Dim Their Luster
POSTED 4:08PM ET | Dec 18 2008 -
It's Not an Age, It's An Attitude
POSTED 10:51AM ET | Dec 16 2008 -
Recently Quoted: P&G's A.G. Lafley
POSTED 6:32PM ET | Dec 15 2008 -
In the Presence of Oprah
POSTED 2:20PM ET | Dec 15 2008 -
Joshua Bell Plays On
POSTED 6:41PM ET | Dec 12 2008 -
Chasing Michelle Obama's Wardrobe
POSTED 1:33PM ET | Dec 11 2008
Showing posts in Business
A near-empty mall on Black Friday.
PHOTO BY MARK PETKO
PHOTO BY MARK PETKO
In retail circles this holiday season, there's a running joke about sales trends -- minus 10 is the new flat.
Some businesses and categories are said to tracking negative 20 or 30 percent. But at this point, with calendar shifts supposedly delaying shopping and until the December comparable-store sales figures get reported Jan. 8, it's hard to figure the depths of retailers' despair.
The global financial meltdown already has resulted in reports of dips in airport traffic, the main engine of the travel retail business, and some shop operators are predicting a flat traffic pattern for 2009, resulting in, at best, moderate sales increases. This has prompted some to suggest retailers and vendors have to do a better job of luring travelers into their stores and closing a sale. According to estimates, only 25 to 30 percent of passengers now patronize duty free shops. So, the task now is to start converting the other 70 percent.
Donald Trump for years has been the poster child for the
confident developer. The Donald may be more bombastic and boastful than most,
but he shares with other developers a high tolerance for risk and the audacity
to believe his multibillion-dollar projects will succeed. But developers and
real estate executives don't seem so self-assured these days. With the global
economy in free fall, their world decidedly changed from one of plenty --
available capital, myriad retail concepts, willing partners -- to one of
scarcity. "The deals we hear about are dying," said a Manhattan-based retail
broker. "My clients' sales are off. They don't want to go forward with anything
now."
A rendering of CVS Pharmacy's upcoming luxury beauty stores.
CVS Pharmacy -- the 6,800-door, $85 billion drugstore chain that built its business on making things easy for shoppers -- now aims to save consumers a trip to the local department store by putting luxury beauty brands right under their noses.
When Liz Claiborne Inc.'s stock recovered Thursday by almost the full amount it sank Wednesday after the vendor reported a sizable loss, the word on the Street was that speculation over Claiborne selling Mexx drove the market activity.
After all, it could be argued the sum of Claiborne's parts are worth more than the current approximately $14 stock price would suggest. The company's market cap is about $1.4 billion, plus approximately $760 million in debt, bringing the enterprise value to about $2.1 billion.
I was surprised by the Justice Department news on Aug. 5 charging 11 people with stealing over 40 million payment card numbers. It turns out the same guys were behind a bunch of data thefts at nine different retailers, including the really big heist at TJX. And, in a Hitchcock-worthy twist, it turned out that the very guy who was helping the FBI solve the case was the alleged mastermind behind the plot. Eek. Oops, that never looks good.
But maybe the biggest surprise is how easy the systems were to break into. The "60 Minutes" special last year pretty much got it right.
Yes, we've gotten tired of the ambulance chasing that has become retail reporting, too.
Lately WWD has read like an obituary section, with companies and sectors falling like casualties of the economy. The First Aid Kit we put together for the July 28 issue aimed to serve two purposes: Celebrate the rare nuggets of success in the industry today, and provide a 10-step guide to help more companies share in that success.
Continue Reading...
Lately WWD has read like an obituary section, with companies and sectors falling like casualties of the economy. The First Aid Kit we put together for the July 28 issue aimed to serve two purposes: Celebrate the rare nuggets of success in the industry today, and provide a 10-step guide to help more companies share in that success.
Continue Reading...
A look from Halston.
Writing the story, I kept thinking, why is it so hard to get Halston right? (Past attempts by designers like Randolph Duke, Kevan Hall, Craig Natiello, Piyawat Pattanapuckdee and Bradley Bayou didn't really stick much either.) The Halston DNA is probably as strong, if not stronger, than most American fashion brands today, and over and over again, legions of designers (hello, Tom Ford!) are inspired by the chic jersey dresses, the ultrasuede ensembles and the lifestyle the designer led in the late Seventies when he and his Halstonettes epitomized chic.
There's never a dull moment when analyzing data. And the data behind this week's "WWD List" were no different (July 10, page 11). Reputation Institute (a reputable source, rightly so) released the results of its Global Pulse Study -- top companies ranked by corporate reputation, according to consumers. The firm broke out a separate list of retailers, so it was an ideal feature for WWD and its readers.
Home Depot at work.