Behind 3 of Last Week's Consumer Headlines

news

Jul 5

Fired From the Company That Made Him Famous, an Entrepreneur Seeks Payback

Macy’s has a partnership with Men’s Wearhouse, allowing customers to rent tuxedos from MW in Macy’s stores

This is bold – I can’t think of another retailer also offering rentals
I think rentals will disrupt retail over time (and tux rentals are nothing new) and agree it makes sense for retailers to hedge – but it’s hard to do this without making a trade-down from purchase to rental all too easy
Macy’s has to believe they’re drawing a customer who was never going to buy a tux from them so they’d rather get a revenue share from MW than nothing at all (bonus: attracting a new, younger customer who might make actual purchases in the store)

Amazon Is Quietly Eliminating List Prices

Amazon doesn’t believe it needs to offer price-value to customers – how nice!
Will Amazon come right out and say customers may pay more for the Amazon convenience?
Other retailers have learned how easy it is for the online customer to compare prices and buy at the lowest one… I hope Amazon does, too

E-Commerce Retailer Chubbies Beefs Up Loyalty Program

The company offers thank you gifts with customer orders, a successful but time-consuming process

This is a refreshing twist on the points-based loyalty articles I usually see so I can imagine how welcome the thank you gifts are by customers
Because the selection of these gifts varies and is a core piece of the value prop, Chubbies selected an inventory management platform that would facilitate what some might consider operationally optional (good for them!)
Chubbies is a brand that’s sold online and via showroom – when will we stop referring to these companies as “e-commerce retailers”? (see headline)

Andrea Wasserman

5 Ways Lululemon Could Be Better (also, why Athleta is great)