这家奢侈品零售商的复兴秘诀：快速失败，然后前进

最近萨克斯刚体会过想赢得获得购物者支持多么困难，哪怕是在自己的大本营。今年1月，萨克斯关闭了曼哈顿下城的一家女性时尚店，从开张到关门才两年。

福克斯曾担任CVS pharmacy总裁，负责 800亿美元的零售业务，曾经因为果断放弃业绩不佳的门店而收获分析师赞誉，她当前重点是找出萨克斯的突破口。“我投资的每一美元都要尽可能获得最大回报。”她表示。

为了实现目标，福克思上任第一年动作不断，大刀阔斧撤销了过去五年HBC积极扩张的多数项目。加拿大丰业银行的零售和消费者分析师帕特丽夏·贝克认为，之前的扩张计划导致业务发展“东一下西一下没重点”。

其中包括通过出售一半苦苦挣扎的欧洲业务，出售位于萨克斯以南10个街区的Lord & Taylor旗舰店以及Gilt Groupe以偿还HBC的巨额债务，种种举措推动近期债券机构对HBC的评级上升。最近HBC还宣布关闭多达20家Off Fifth折扣店，也叫停了在加拿大的扩张计划，之前萨克斯号称要开七家店，最后决定只开三家。

这并不是说HBC业务全线收缩，公司也计划在新泽西州东卢瑟福市的美国梦大型商场新开设萨克斯百货店。

但种种举动确实表明，HBC正在加倍努力推动业绩最佳的萨克斯百货店发展，尤其是旗舰店。尽管HBC没有公布各个门店的业绩数据，但曼哈顿旗舰店每年至少能带来6亿美元收入，占萨克斯总销售额的15%。

Saks was recently reminded of how hard it is to win over the modern shopper, even on its home turf. In January, it closed a women’s store in Lower Manhattan after only two years.

But Foulkes, previously president of CVS pharmacy’s $80 billion retail business, won kudos from analysts for dropping an underperforming location and zeroing in on where Saks can win. “The next dollar I invest has to be in the place with the most upside,” she says.

To enable that, Foulkes has been busy in her first year on the job making big moves to undo much of HBC’s aggressive expansion in the last half decade, one that led it to “go around chasing stars,” as Scotiabank retail and consumer analyst Patricia Baker puts it.

That has included paying down HBC’s sizeable debt by selling off half of its struggling European business, its Lord & Taylor flagship 10 blocks south of Saks’, and Gilt Groupe; moves that won it recent upgrades from debt agencies. HBC also recently announced the closure of up to 20 Off Fifth discount stores and halted its Canadian expansion of Saks, which had called for seven stores, opting instead to cap it at three.

That’s not to say HBC is only in contraction mode—the company is planning a new Saks store at the American Dream mega-mall being built in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

But it does signal that HBC is doubling down on best performing business—Saks—particularly the flagship. Though HBC doesn’t break out individual stores’ numbers, the Manhattan flagship generates at least $600 million a year, or 15% of so of Saks’ total sales.

“第五大道旗舰店是萨克斯百货连锁店的门面。”丰业银行的贝克表示。不过萨克斯不希望所谓的“分店”变成死水。所以现在Vêtements and Jacquemus之类前卫品牌也在分店商店销售，不仅在曼哈顿提供。

其他新想法也进入了其他市场的“分店”。举例来说，“集合”业务主要关注新兴品牌，也包括巩固迈特里克口中的“萨克斯时尚权威”。

“我们在时尚生态系统中的角色就是向消费者介绍品牌。” 他说。

改造萨克斯店铺安排时有个更微妙的点，将价格定位和品牌混合起来，而不是像以前一样将高端设计师的产品放在同一区域。例如，五层有Acne和Alexander Wang之类亲民品牌，旁边就是Comme des Garçons和Simone Rocha等设计师品牌。

在迈特里克和福克斯领导下，萨克斯的新陈代谢大为加快。快速失败，然后继续前进。他表示，这只是对顾客行为变化的反映。“很显然，奢侈品消费者不像以前一样宽容和耐心。”迈特里克说。（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审校：夏林

“The Saks brand is only going to be as strong as that Fifth Avenue store,” says Scotiabank’s Baker. And Saks doesn’t want its so-called “branches” to be seen as backwaters. So edgy brands like Vêtements and Jacquemus are now sold at other stores too, not just Manhattan.

Other ideas have also made their way to its “branches” in other markets. Take ‘The Collective’, an area that focuses up and coming brands, including to solidify what Metrick calls “Saks’ fashion authority.”

“Our role in the fashion ecosystem is to be the place to introduce brands to our consumer,” he says.

A more subtle part of Saks’ store remodel has been to mix up price points and brands rather than consign all ultra high end designer items in the same areas, as they were before. On the fifth floor for instance, more accessible brands like Acne and Alexander Wang are next to designers like Comme des Garçons and Simone Rocha.

Under Metrick and Foulkes, Saks has a much faster metabolism now. Fail fast and move on. And that, he says, is merely a reflection of how customer behavior has evolved. “The luxury consumer is certainly less forgiving and less patient that they used to be,” Metrick says.