Katie Haxton’s Post

Last week the Cornish lifestyle brand Seasalt, opened up about it's plans for a roll out of 20 stores across the US over the next 3 years, with the first store opening in New England next summer. Over the years the term "cracking the US" has been spoken of with some trepidation by UK retail businesses as for some, the odyssey of exploring the opportunities within the US markets hasn't always been plain sailing. Whilst some brands such as Gymshark and Boden have done incredibly well online, with Boden over the last few years selling more womenswear than any other British brand in America, navigating American geography when it comes to expanding bricks and mortar retail can be difficult. Burberry, Charles Tyrwhitt, Reiss, Superdry and Primark are good examples of those managing to successfully expand and demand a stronger stores presence in the US and it seems to be catching. Although the US still faces some uncertain economic challenges, the commercial real estate costs have become cheaper in recent times, which could see more opportunity for retailers to grow their footprint. Having a physical retail existence in new territories usually demands a substantial people presence on the ground. Seasalt has appointed Jason McNary as consulting director of North America; but the balancing act of finding an extensive leadership team that both understands the story, vision and core values of a British brand as well as the retail landscape and customer needs of a complex US market can be incredibly challenging. At Flint Hyde we have worked on many assignments for consumer brands expanding their leadership teams to explore international growth. Both our client and candidate network is truly global and we have first hand experience of navigating such complex assignments that include candidate relocation and overseas talent searches. For more information on this, visit our website (link in bio) or follow us on LinkedIn for updates. #retailexpansion #internationalretail #USAretail #UK #Internationalsearch #USconsumerbusiness

Definitely agree with bringing this type of consultant on-board. Allows you to recruit an incredible level of talent and advice to give it be best chance of working. But just in case it doesn't, or it isn't the right direction for the business everyone can walk away with no significant damage done.

Midsummer Place in Milton Keynes will soon be welcoming two new exciting additions to its line up: Frasers Group's Sports Direct and Lane7. Sports Direct will offer a wide range of sports and lifestyle brands in their 50,000 sq ft store, while Lane 7 will bring their unique entertainment concept to the 40,000 sq ft space.   This expansion and repurposing of space further solidifies Midsummer Place as a top destination for fashion and entertainment, with both brands adding to the diverse mix of current retailers and F&B offerings.   Simon Anderson, Asset Manager at Ellandi “Securing both Frasers Group’s Sports Direct, and Lane 7 for Midsummer Place demonstrates both confidence in the market as well as highlighting the opportunity at Midsummer Place. These brands will complement the recent re-development of The Boulevard F&B quarter. We are transforming the centre, and in addition to the physical changes we are curating a very attractive tenant mix. This brings us one step closer to realising our vision to create a high-end, quality destination.”   Thanks also to Tom Ellams, Senior Asset Manager for getting this over the line. https://lnkd.in/eXiJ9WyN #destinationshopping #repurposingspaces #vibrantshoppingcentres #assetmanagement

It's a new year and most companies will surely want to grow and increase their revenues. 📈 To help companies in this regard, some smart guy called "Igor Ansoff" decided to produce a growth matrix. He came up with 4 growth strategies: -Market penetration. -Product development. -Market extension. -Diversification. Market penetration: You sell casual clothes in San Francisco. You have just one store in the city, so you decided to open 2 new pop-up stores in other busy parts of town. To attract new customers, to begin a "20% off" sale for purchases above $75. Product development: Business is good, but you need more revenue. You realise that the professionals in the city like athleisure. So, you decided to add "athleisure" and "outdoor" apparel sections to your 3 stores. Market extension: Now sales have doubled, but the Oliver Twist in you wants more. So you decided to open 2 new stores in Los Angeles and San Diego. You still carry the casual, athleisure, and outdoor apparels in the new stores. Diversification: In a few years, you look back at see how far you've come. You say to yourself: "the sky is the limit". You decided to follow you childhood passion of being a restaurateur. So you open a nice place in New York to serve nice-tasting meals. #business #growthstrategy #management _____________ Looking to become a "growth enabler" in your company? Our FREE "business acumen" course is you best bet. It can be completed in 36mins. 🔗 in the comment section.

It's a new year and most companies will surely want to grow and increase their revenues. 📈 To help companies in this regard, some smart guy called "Igor Ansoff" decided to produce a growth matrix. He came up with 4 growth strategies: -Market penetration. -Product development. -Market extension. -Diversification. Market penetration: You sell casual clothes in San Francisco. You have just one store in the city, so you decided to open 2 new pop-up stores in other busy parts of town. To attract new customers, to begin a "20% off" sale for purchases above $75. Product development: Business is good, but you need more revenue. You realise that the professionals in the city like athleisure. So, you decided to add "athleisure" and "outdoor" apparel sections to your 3 stores. Market extension: Now sales have doubled, but the Oliver Twist in you wants more. So you decided to open 2 new stores in Los Angeles and San Diego. You still carry the casual, athleisure, and outdoor apparels in the new stores. Diversification: In a few years, you look back at see how far you've come. You say to yourself: "the sky is the limit". You decided to follow you childhood passion of being a restaurateur. So you open a nice place in New York to serve nice-tasting meals. #business #growthstrategy #management _____________ Looking to become a "growth enabler" in your company? Our MBA course is you best bet. It can be completed under 4hrs. 🔗 in the comment section.

Positive Retail updates! We've had a busy start to the year. 👊 Opened an incredible pop-up in St Leonards and are on the hunt for a permanent space there. 👊 Looking for an East London location—please see the post below. If anyone has any leads, let us know! 👊 Feeling buoyed that our brand of resale is absolutely needed and wanted in the world! So many brilliant interactions with customers and partner brands; it's affirming to open another location to great applause. If you read the news and took it in, you'd think now was an appalling time for retail, and I guess for a lot, it is. However, we are so thrilled that customers are wanting to shop consciously. Started the year strong and cannot wait to unfold our growth plans. Not that it’s all about growth, but when things work, follow your gut and dream very big, I say! #founderstories #founderjourney #growthmindset #growthstrategy #retail #retailnews #retailinnovation #sustainablebusiness #sustainableclothing #sustanability

INDUSTRY NETWORKING: People Who Changed My Life   By Mike Todaro, AAPN Managing Director Who have you met that changed your life, your career, even your very being? I met my list at AAPN events. For example:   Lynsey Jones is a proven industry icon. With a Bachelors and Masters in Textiles from the NC State Wilson College of Textiles , she truly “walked the walk” all the way up to a C-Suite apparel industry executive. Like so many at the top of our industry, Lynsey began her career at Abercrombie, then spent over 10 years at VF, Crop. including opening and running their Americas sourcing office in Panama.    She spent five years at Carter’s as a vice president, including running their Hong Kong sourcing officer of over two years. When she returned to Atlanta, she had five departments reporting to her.   Once Sue Strickland and I realized that Lynsey was “the one,” the right person for us to transition the AAPN to for the future, we got to work – together. Yet, it all started when we first met, shown in the bottom photo, in Miami at our 2013 Annual Conference. Lynsey is sitting with Tom Nelson of VF corp.   THE CHANGE? You know when you know. At first blush, Lynsey was tough, strong, fast and focused – a natural C-Suite, big picture exec. We never dreamed she was the one to take us to the next level – until one day we did. #ProAmericas #AmericasTextiles #WesternHemisphere #Fibers #Yarns #Fabrics #SewnProducts #Apparel #Fashion #Knitting #Weaving #Sustainability #ApparelIQ #SupplyChain #Reshoring #Nearshoring #WesternHemisphere #CAFTADR #USMCA

It is generally all doom and gloom when business media write about department stores. This article by the FT strikes a more positive, balanced tone. I particularly like the quotes by ex-Selfridges employee and current Fenwick’s CEO, John Edgar: “When I first started working at Selfridges . . . it was like a stage set being reset every morning for the performance of the day and that’s a different mentality to somebody just unlocking the door and saying ‘Right, now we’re open, can we take some money?’” “That’s what we try and do in this type of business and that’s what department stores are about — it’s about a performance for the day to entice people to excite themselves.” “We’re trading on experience . . . exclusivity, uniqueness, and hospitality.” …to which I would add sustainability. There is something about the theatre, longevity and community-building powers of department stores that simply cannot be replicated by any other type of business. Don’t write us off just yet.

Hot take, all luxury department stores (Saks, Neiman’s, and Nordstrom’s (not that they are in the same tier of luxury as the other 2)won’t exist in another 15 years as anything more then malls within a mall (aka big boxes with 50 leased boutiques inside and MAYBE a small amount of owned mens and woman’s contemporary. The reason being they don’t know how to buy goods anymore, brands are going to want to protect themselves from there constant markdowns caused from there poor buying choices, and brands are going to want to manage there own inventory. End of day, private equity owns everything now and are going to find this a safer play than managing stores as they previously were with no understanding of how to do so. We are already seeing this happen with Saks in NY as now more of that store is leased than owned!!

Ansoff growth matrix presents four different directions that businesses can take to grow their physical products. They include; *Market penetration. *Market extension. *Product development. *Diversification. When these four avenues are strategically explored, companies can successfully grow their products thus, their revenue.