Hudson Bay Company (from Canada and owner of Lord & Taylor) announced this week they are acquiring Saks (www.thebay.com or more importantly, www.lordandtaylor.com and www.saks.com).
Hudson Bay was founded in 1670, Saks in 1867, Lord & Taylor in 1826. Nearly 650 years of combined retailing success. From horse and cart and hand delivery to global omnichannel digital direct. Bringing together three of the greatest North American icons raises some interesting questions about the path for North American (and global) luxury omnichannel retailing.
One of the things that has to be exciting for HBC is the massive investment that Saks has been making in multichannel and omnichannel retailing, Project Evolution under Joseph Boitano, EVP Omnichannel, has been quietly transforming Saks customer experience for a couple of years. .
Add Lord &Taylor and Saks storefronts together, the opportunity in the Canadian market, Saks edgy brand compared to Lord & Taylors more conservative brand history and the digital capabilities Saks has “in the bag” signals a new wave in the world of US luxury retailing and the first time in a while Saks has a true competitive position with their rival from the west coast Nordstrom (www.nordstrom.com).
Saks is rumored to be on the cusp of / in the middle of rolling out some amazing market leadership in omnichannel capabilities to allow their customer to truly shop anywhere, pick up anywhere, return anywhere, use online or physical store advisors and personal shoppers and maybe leapfrogging Nordstrom (for the first time in years.
Saks has been on a tear recently with improving financials in 2011 and 12 directly aligned with their improved use of customer experience and omnichannel technologies (turning and growing profit two years in a row .. nice work .. omnichannel works)
We in the omichannel customer engagement world will wait and see what happens next.
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