The Global Retail Brand
Store is Dead
Joe McCarthy
Jean-Marc Bellaiche, BCG senior partner, New York. “We
believe that the global store is dead.
“Brands can be both more localized and globally very
consistent,” he said. “Luxury players can offer some specific
events or products in, for example, the New York City store
versus their Shanghai store, while still being consistent with
specific events/products that are fully aligned with the brand
DNA.”
BCG’s “Shock of the New Chic” report measures the current
luxury status and growth potential of the world’s 550 richest
cities as defined by GDP per capita and draws survey data
from 10,000 core luxury consumers in 10 countries.
New face for each place
Complexity has entered the luxury space through changing
demographics that favor new models of “reciprocal”
marketing, evolving technology, maturing markets and other
variables.
NEW YORK – New York and Milan were among the global
cities ranked as “understored,” meaning that there there
are too few stores to meet consumer demand, while Beijing,
Bangkok and Chengdu, China were among the global cities
ranked as “overstored” in a new report from the Boston
Consulting Group.
The “Shock of the New Chic: Dealing with New Complexity in
the Business of Luxury” report asserts that consumer interests
are fragmented along far too many lines for a brand to have
identical stores in different locations. Also, the nomadic
nature of luxury consumers forces brands to reassess the
nature what each store should achieve.
“If I had to simplify in one word, I would say complexity,” said
As consumers and markets climb up the maturity ladder,
there is a movement from tangible objects such as cosmetics,
watches and bags to fleeting experiences.
For brands dependent on retail sales, this means that each
store should have a different atmosphere, product assortment
and purpose to foster unique experiences.
Companies can no longer rely on homogeneous global
campaigns. Instead, brands should adopt a granular and
hyper-responsive approach to retail spaces, according to BCG.