Slides and additional reading from my guest visit to Professor Serdari’s Retail Strategy class on Wednesday 9.22.21.
Thanks for stopping by! You can download the slides I shared in the 9.22 class (with some slight modifications) below. I’ve also included links to posts I referenced while creating the lecture, plus some newsletters, websites and books that I have found beneficial to my own study of retail strategy.
Lecture Notes – Sources Consulted
- Decoding Gucci’s Merchandising Success (BoF)
- Can Balenciaga Become A Megabrand? (BoF)
- Heidi Slimane On Saint Laurent’s Rebirth (Yahoo Style)
- Despite The Critics, Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior Is A Success (BoF)
- Mansur Gavriel Case Study: 2012-2019 (Medium, self-authored)
- Unlucky Charms: The Rise & Fall Of Alex + Ani (Medium)
- A Brand That Keeps Trying For Cool (NYT)
- Surviving Fashion’s Summer From Hell (NYT)
- How Big Dogs’ Progressive Rebrand Went Wrong (GQ)
- Brioni, Brad And The Big Rebrand (FT)
Retail Strategy – Newsletters
Newsletters are a great way to keep up with the latest industry developments, which can be helpful as you enter interview season. I also like them because they expose me to new writers and ideas that often come in handy later.
- No Best Practices Newsletter – this is my 2x/month newsletter focusing on retail and marketing strategy for DTC brands
- Lean Luxe – focuses on “modern luxury”, with links on the latest news in elevated DTC brands and the culture that shapes consumption
- 2PM – the best link roundup in modern retailing plus original essays that synthesize the trends and will expand your mind
- The Sociology Of Business – how culture shapes business, focusing on modern luxury and true luxury brands. Posts sporadically but the archives are great.
- [SIC] Weekly – the best link roundup on the internet, covering fashion, technology, and culture. Free option is at the bottom.
- Nik Sharma’s Email – tactics-focused advice for growing a DTC brand
- Retail Brew – retail industry news roundup. This is a useful one for interview season.
Retail Strategy – Books
Full transparency: I don’t read a lot of business books. I prefer sociological studies, biographies, and books that focus on relevant historical periods. Lots of business advice is written for an “ideal company” that doesn’t exist. In reality, people are messy and it’s better to understand the system you’re operating in.
- Rethinking Luxury Fashion by Thomai Serdari
- The Business Of Aspiration by Ana Andjelic
- Women Of The Upper Class by Susan Ostrander
- Uneasy Street: The Anxieties Of Affluence by Rachel Sherman
- How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp
- Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster by Dana Thomas
- The End of Fashion by Teri Agins
Retail Strategy – Websites & Specific Blog Posts
If you’re still looking for more to read (!), here are some websites and blog posts with an interesting and valuable POV on retail. If I liked the whole website, it’s because the whole website is good.
- Futurecommerce.fm
- Modern Retail
- Thingtesting
- Mine That Data
- Ribbonfarm
- Coach’s Corner Blog
- Felicia Sullivan’s Medium Page
- What Are Stores Even Thinking With All These Emails? (The Atlantic)
- Mickey Drexler Is Running A Fashion Brand Again (WSJ)
- Parade Takes On Victoria’s Secret (BoF)
- Beige Ambition (NY Mag)
- Write A Case Study, Not A Resume (Medium – self authored)