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The New Rules of Retail
Book

The New Rules of Retail

Competing in the World's Toughest Marketplace

Robin Lewis and Michael Dart
St. Martin’s Press, 2010
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Retailing has changed dramatically: Producers and marketers no longer control what, how and if customers buy. Modern-day consumers now tell you what they want to buy, how they want to buy it and whether they’ll let you sell it to them. Retail industry consultants Robin Lewis and Michael Dart combine experience and original research in their pragmatic, useful analysis of how the industry has evolved since the rise of the Internet. They offer a clear, logically progressive discussion, with instructive observations about stores, brands and the three “new rules of retail.” Although their explanation is long on theory and examples, it’s short on specific how-tos. Nonetheless, getAbstract recommends this eye-opening book – and eye-catching, too, with its great charts and diagrams – to manufacturers, marketers and retailers. Consumers, too, will relish its fascinating insights into their psyches.

Summary

“Economic Tsunami”

The CEOs of 21 leading US retailers – including Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Home Shopping Network and Brooks Brothers – gathered in 2008 to discuss the coming recession, consumer spending and likely changes to the retail industry. Participants concurred that the recession would trigger a “true paradigm shift” in consumers’ perceptions of value and shopping behavior. Mickey Drexler, CEO of J. Crew, predicted, “Price would no longer equal value, and that value would no longer be measured by price.” The executives concluded that they had to profoundly alter their businesses to survive, let alone thrive.

Examining marketplace conditions and how they evolved can help you project how the “evolutionary forces” of retail will play out in your business or purchasing in the future.

“Wave I (1850-1950) – The Producer-Driven Economy”

In the late 1800s, 65% of the US’s 60 million citizens lived in rural communities. Two forms of retail distribution arose: Montgomery Ward pioneered department store shopping and Sears, Roebuck & Co. led the way in mail-order catalogs. As towns became cities, larger department stores formed – Marshall Field...

About the Authors

Robin Lewis, CEO and publisher of The Robin Report, is a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Michael Dart is a senior partner and managing director at Kurt Salmon Associates.

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