Luxury Future, Retail Details

A recent Financial Times interview with José Neves ended with the Farfetch founder and CEO posing a simple question:

“How will people shop for luxury in five, 10 years’ time? That’s the only question that matters”.

Well, I enjoy a challenge, so let’s have a go.

We need to work out what luxury actually is, what makes great retail now, and in the past, and how the future will look. 

Luxury is simply something pure which makes whoever experiences it smile. From having the time to stop, enjoy and create memories, through to objects which remind you of good times, elevate the everyday and reinforce the possibilities afforded by living rather than existence. 

Retail, great retail, is the art of catering to a customer’s conscious and subconscious needs. As much to entice as it is to anticipate, satisfy and be joyful. 

It is an exercise in hospitality. Like restaurants, you are offered an outward view of the world, but unlike a restaurant, where the norm is a simple contract which if met leads to a guaranteed transfer of money, shops you may come, try and leave as you wish, with or without spending. 

Multi vs own brand retail.

When done right, own brand retail is the full fat experience, akin to plunging face into ice cold water and emerging in a new world.

Who hasn’t left 867 Maddison Ave wanting to be a cowboy? To drive a mid engine sports car across Europe when in 4 Clifford Street? Stood with a snifter in 32 Old Burlington Street knowing a life where a gallery in several countries and a vast country estate is what you need? Or orange box underarm, headed down Faubourg Saint-Honoré, towards and across the river, sat chaining espresso and considered the artist’s life.

I know it’s not just me. 

It’s sibling, multi-brand retail, which despite the rumours isn’t going anywhere.

At this point I should mention the dreaded C word ‘curation’, the art of making ‘of the moment’ - and soon not to be - multi-brand stores uniquely look like every other store. Having followed that formula, no prizes for guessing what’s next

A world away from great multi-brand retail. 

Multi-brand, awful word, cross between stack ‘em high, price ‘em low and a fibrous morning treat. But a store which has more than one brand and does it well is a special place, a personal place, intimate even. This is where the owner, buyer, team, open themselves up to the world, this is what we’ve found, we think it’s great and believe you will too. 

It’s culture, passion and soul.

They are the incubators of talent and taste. The very best offer a pathway to the future for new brands and through hard worn reputations plus nous, can turn what they love into an empire.

That’s all very nice, overarching, but what is it really, which makes Store A better than Store B?

People. Which can then be broken into talent, taste, culture, belief, experience, efficient organisation, constant progress, and refinement. A heavenly mix of all.

Talent from those who design, make, market and sell. 

Taste, well that’s obvious, but sometimes, we forget to trust in ourselves. Because taste is an expression of all our lived and learned experience. No marketing tricks, instead an open armed appreciation of life, of the highs and lows, brief and everlasting. 

Culture, a bit like taste, is what makes us, and what helps the individual and our collective society to progress. Btw, it can’t be faked.

Belief? Well it doesn’t matter if you can do it, you have to believe you can because we are a society where those who believe, succeed, although most of those who believe really shouldn’t…

True belief, by those who can back it up  - not just the self appointed – wow. 

Not on my list but obvious, product. 

Luxury product, whether peanut butter or plimsolls is about the quality of the time spent. From ideas through to creation and materials, the long earned expertise used in making choices throughout the process and the soul given. 

Which brings me back to the boring bit, efficient organisation, or how to keep the lights on. Heard of the independent store buying shuffle? 1-2-2-1. Under and over ordering is a curse. Too much choice and a customer thinks you have no vision, and you are left exposed. Too little choice or sizes lacking, they ask why should they believe, and you cannot grow. Businesses need to make money. Press and coverage isn’t accepted by most major banks and a good business understands the value of P&L as much as R&D.

That said, please don’t lose your soul…

Experience, the theatre, interiors which dazzle, the ambience, music, lighting – so important. Packaging, that’s tricky, we’ll come back to that, but it has to be properly thought out and sustainable. 

The merchandise, music, and message delivery system might change in each great store dependent upon their message, but the essence is the same, because we fundamentally have the same needs and wants.

Which is why the best stores, the only stores you should care about, those which need more than preserving, but to be lifted up are all shining examples of the importance of the human touch. 

The connection between customer and retailer, whether from open body language, smiling eyes, casual conversation, a welcome if new, addressed hellos and titbits if regular, troubles eased, help and advice given: a continual transfer of happiness. 

Great stores aren’t in and out, spend then leave. They’re about the process, the relationship. Hubs and meeting places, the salons of 21st century society. 

On Saturday mornings, from about 11am wherever I am, I can almost still hear the doorbell of my store opening. When installing the clangy noise annoyed, now it’s a comfort from a far ago place. 

A reminder of that sense I mentioned earlier of needing to show people what I had discovered, in the hope and belief that not only might they love it too, but by their loving it, I could carry on searching for wonder. That will always be the buzz. 

That human connection, will never leave me. The chance to make people happy but also selfishly make me happy. As one of the best retailers in the UK once put it to me, it’s good being a somebody, big noise on campus, the one who knows.

It’s also why, and this is a personal thing, whenever I am asked by someone how to understand the industry, I tell them, go work on the shop floor before you do anything else. Because, I feel sad for those who loudly offer expert and supposedly nuanced opinions about this industry, yet have never played an active and interactive role in it. 

This isn’t just bricks and mortar, it’s online too. The simplest mistake a fashion business can make is that an online store is just an extension of their present retail. It’s not and should be treated as an entirely new door. That doesn’t mean that the fundamentals of great retail in the traditional sense cannot apply to online and that the great innovations made online cannot apply in bricks and mortar. 

All of the above ingredients are required for online to succeed. That human connection, whether in person or virtual is vital. Customer service may slightly differ in execution between the two, but from initial questions, through to potential issues and the occasional return, it still must have the same warmth and clarity. The journey from landing on a site, through to discovery and as with a store maybe a couple of visits before purchase must be a simple and seamless one.

Your people, product, the process, and the relationship.

This works, and whilst difficult to achieve, isn’t that tricky to comprehend. So the future, will be different, but has to contain the same basic elements that have always made great retail experiences.

What’s the new stuff?

Our consumer tastes are changing. We still as a nation have an addiction to fast fashion, but members of FF’s prime consumer group are also moving towards a more sustainable pre-owned model. From Depop to Vestaire, people are buying and selling items which may perhaps have languished previously. 

Alongside this the rental market is starting to pick up, although given the energy used to ship, dry clean on repeat, there are sustainability issues.

The fashion industry has a problem. We are a commercial business and in order to survive, we rely upon people purchasing items. Which for the last half a century has been great, because humans like new things, we want to change how we look and use our clothes to make a statement even if it is subconscious. 

But this is unsustainable, and sustainability is the future. It has to be.

So I think the future begins with us looking again at what Luxury is, because whilst there will always be clothing waste, we must minimise it. 

I said previously that I believe Luxury to be something which elicits an emotional response.

To create that emotional response? People. 

The future is people. Like the present and past.

Without people, ideas, great ideas, float into nothing.

& the collective is stronger. 

So, how will we buy luxury in the future? 

By embracing the power of the individual and working collectively. By remembering that progress and refinement are vital, static retail is dying retail. But to progress doesn’t mean we forget what has been. We must remember what works and how we can use that plus new thinking to strengthen and simplify the relationship between consumer, brand and retailers. 

Certain online retailers work on the idea that destruction of competition is king. That’s wrong. Competition by its very nature keeps business keen and strong. Though one’s success, won’t guarantee all success, it does breathe air into markets and offer options to competitors. 

The future is brands, individuals, and groups working in harmony, playing to each other’s strengths. Because whilst brands are competitors, canny ones understand that their customers don’t just shop with them, and strength in the market, a generally healthy sector is good for them as individual businesses. 

The very best brands have always managed to be timeless and utterly modern. Both in the commitment to people, to their craft and product and in the way they look to the future, how they adopt new techniques, explore new markets, think, act and adapt to new challenges.

So the future must be one in which that commitment is central, that through the accurate deployment of the right technology, we are able to strengthen that commitment. Whether using it for open communication, fairer and better working and manufacturing practices, a more sustainable product offering (including packaging!). Not greenwashing, but adopting a clear message that as Luxury is about quality, memories, things which aren’t fleeting, we should buy less, but better, wear, repair, and wear again.  

Let it be a future where we examine our systems of business. At present systems aren’t as bad as suggested but aren’t quite working. Issues with inventory and delivery schedules lead to over production, bloated stock holdings, and Spring in Winter, Autumn in Summer. The traditional remedy? End of season sale, a quick and tempting solution, but not the way forward, reasonable end of season discounts, ongoing rewards for loyalty? Yes, those have a part to play, but 75% off? No. 

From a Savile Row suit, through to the latest in high fashion, there has been an investment in time and people, undertaken by the individual and the organisation. We shouldn’t cheapen that. Instead, let’s celebrate it.

Fashion is one of the few high value businesses which manufactures stock in advance of retail. It is a system which benefits those who can satisfy the cash flow and credit required to place large up front orders with factories. 

Instead, we should be looking at explaining lead times, a more modern understanding and interpretation of made to order and bespoke. Savile Row is cutting edge. Customised offerings and special products which sit alongside the core and pre-ordered offering, all heirloom quality. This satisfies the need for instant retail gratification, injects a bit of added wonder and allows new and emerging brands to manage their margin’s effectively. 

The growth of direct to consumer brands which are actual brands (even if single product ones) and not short sharp exercises in plugging market gaps which don’t need plugging. Ones which are ethical and open about their products and processes, who believe in their work rather than just wish to make quick money.

Talking of margin’s and cash flow, the future involves utilising the new financial technology, to help limit exposure for brands and retailers. New swift, and at source payment systems, will benefit all. Instant inventory updates, and payment reconciliation with slightly tweaked mark-ups will aid a future where we are better able to connect talent and products of true value to customers. 

Long term strategic partnerships, allowing brands to grow organically, without increasing the pressure too soon. Buying is a mathematic and aesthetic art, we must remember that. Buyers need to be trusted to utilise their taste. Some of the biggest brands of today were ahead of the curve, and sell through disasters for years. We mustn’t curtail their progress too soon.

Marketing at present can be confused, daily collaborations which lead to scratching of heads, and a reliance upon data which is too easy to skew. 

Collaborations are occasionally brilliant, but if they don’t increase the long term brand capital and make cultural sense, what’s the point?

As for data, the future is all of us as an industry and consumer examining it in a different way: whether that is financial and behavioural data or influence.

Influence isn’t just weight of numbers, it is nuanced and fluid. At present we prioritise those who make the most noise, regardless of expertise. We have and always will be an industry which needs to market, build it, and they will come is nonsense. It just needs to feel real. The passion and expertise shown by those behind the brand, has to be felt not faked by those who sing about it. 

We need to use that passion to highlight a garment’s purpose. Even if it is just to make us smile.

We must and we will, and even if it’s just me rhapsodising to an empty room, show people the wonder, the care and attention, talent and ability which makes this industry. The world which surrounds it, the influences, this is the key, for a sustainable and prosperous future. Because without wonder, just give up. Without wonder, how can we expect people to buy into this new sustainable way of buying less but better, and to wear, repair, and wear again? 

The experience has to be the key. Online and physical, experiential retail is the future but it’s also the present. Great stores are great experiences, and technology – bringing the digital to the physical and the physical to digital - must be used to simplify and enhance the experience, nothing else.

Few things exercise me as much as bad and over packaging, 10 years ago, it was keeping me awake, as a store I believed in unbranded and recycled packaging as beautiful as possible, allowing it to be a way to transport goods safely, but also without damaging the environment needlessly. I believe that packaging, good sustainable packaging is part of the buy less but better future. Beautiful boxes used for other things afterwards.

Delivery, there are too many variables for a silver bullet, for every purchase made sat at a London desk, another is placed in the countryside. Again, even following the electrification of the delivery network, the future has to be that mantra. Make it wonderful, buy less, but better, wear, repair, and wear again. 

All of this is disruptive, but confident futures require a shake up. We must be positive and hopeful, because whilst there has never been a harder time to be in the industry, there’s never been a better time to do your thing, to change the industry and highlight what is great about what you do and what we make. The tragedy of the Covid-19 pandemic has touched us all, a tragedy we must treat with respect, by using it as a catalyst for change. 

This global anthropause isn’t our new future, yes, there will be long term changes to human behaviour and business, but, the pandemic has shown the importance of human contact and that those moment’s and memories we share together are special. 

If we are to succeed, we must remember this when making the future. When working out what is and was great and what needs to change. 

We must retain the services and talents of those whose jobs and businesses have been lost. They have a vital role in building the future, to help us reset, rethink and refocus. 

We must remember when working to instil confidence in the public to express the wonder which makes this industry special. 

And, we must remember that the future is progressive.

The future is human and soulful.