by stevenpdennis | Apr 29, 2022 | E-commerce, Embrace the Blur, Harmonized Retail
One of the most pervasive retail industry narratives is the belief that online shopping growth was massively accelerated by the pandemic. Set your WABAC Machine to the spring of 2020 and you’ll find scores of references to how we experienced “10 years of growth in...
by stevenpdennis | Mar 2, 2022 | Harmonized Retail, Remarkable Retail
Physical retail isn’t dead. Boring, unremarkable retail is. Yet while the pervasively popular “retail apocalypse” narrative conveniently ignores the fact that many thousands of stores continue to open and that sales rung up in brick-and-mortar locations have grown...
by stevenpdennis | Jan 10, 2022 | Harmonized Retail, Fashion, Forbes
It all started nearly a year ago with news that Saks was pondering spinning out its e-commerce operations from its legacy brick-and-mortar business. And as the stock market moved ever higher—and digitally native darlings like Warby Parker and Allbirds went public at...
by stevenpdennis | Jul 6, 2021 | Embrace the Blur, Harmonized Retail, Hybridization
As I finished writing the second edition of my new book late last year, the predominant retail narrative was the so-called great acceleration of all things e-commerce. More recently, ebullient stories portend the resurrection of the mall and suggest that department...
by stevenpdennis | Feb 1, 2021 | E-commerce, Embrace the Blur, Harmonized Retail, Uncategorized
The reports that Hudson’s Bay Co. is planning to split its online and brick-and-mortar operations into two companies, and then take Saks.com public, immediately strikes me as one of the dumbest strategic decisions I have heard in a long, long time. If we have learned...
by stevenpdennis | Aug 4, 2020 | Being Remarkable, Embrace the Blur, Harmonized Retail
Despite the relentlessly bleak news of sales declines, store closings and retail bankruptcies, Tractor Supply Company not only reported strong quarterly sales but announced plans to open 75 to 80 new brick-and-mortar locations. While clearly benefitting from some...
