The old saying that there are riches in niches is proving to be increasingly accurate. As consumers demand greater personalisation, brands that meet those requests are seeing steady sales growth - as well as healthy margins. In the past, brands grew their sales by trying to provide something for everyone. Today, that strategy is becoming increasingly unprofitable. New brands that focus on narrowly defined market segments are grabbing the high margin business. And those super narrower segments ar...
Jun 28, 2021•26 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Getting into the fashion industry as a designer is not easy. Staying in the industry can be even more difficult. Especially nowadays when companies are facing so much uncertainty. That’s gotten many designers wondering what alternatives might be available for them. If you love the fashion industry but are looking for a way to pivot from some the industry’s traditional careers, then this is the podcast for you! I’m Jane Singer and thank you for joining me on A Seat at The Table. This episode is p...
Jun 19, 2021•28 min•Season 4Ep. 4
What does it take to create a business selling very high end, exclusive products online - without any physical retail presence? How do you manage to standout from all of the noise and chaos on social media, let alone establish the level of trust necessary to convince customers, who are an ocean away, to spend tens of thousands of dollars on something they have not been able to touch or examine? I’m Jane Singer and thank you for joining me on A Seat at The Table. This episode is part of our new L...
Jun 13, 2021•31 min•Season 4Ep. 3
When we think of eBay we usually think ‘that’s where you sell all of those things from your closets, basement or garage that you no longer want. It’s that auction site.' That was how eBay started, but a lot has changed since then. Today it is a fast growing massive marketplace where savvy sellers can set up their own online stores. Consider this: In 2020, eBay’s global gross merchandise volume reached $100 billion, up 16.9% year-on-year. It ranks second after Amazon in terms of GMV. And it is th...
Jun 06, 2021•38 min•Season 4Ep. 2
E-commerce is a tech driven channel and so when retailers look to enhance their online performance the first place they look is for more technology solutions. However, the consumer is still a human being - whether shopping offline or online. So connecting with them on a more personal basis is proving to be as important as the functionality that tech provides. For a growing number of retailers, the ability to humanise their online stores is showing game changing results. In this episode I’m talki...
Jun 01, 2021•33 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Never in recent times has leadership been put to the test the way it has during the past year. Suddenly managers found themselves not only facing unprecedented business conditions, but they also needed to work with teams that were now working from home. Navigating these challenging circumstances was the perfect opportunity for executives to develop new leadership skills. To learn fast, take risks and test boundaries - without the fear of failure. Who better to speak with now as we head into the ...
May 25, 2021•33 min•Season 3Ep. 12
There once was a time when brands would only dabble in emerging markets. Most brands avoided them. Too complicated. Too risky. Not enough potential revenue to justify the investment. But that’s starting to change - and that change is being driven by two key factors. Traditional developed markets are highly competitive (every brand wants to be in these markets) and they are mature markets - making growth more difficult. But that’s been the case for a while. What’s changing the game is that now em...
May 09, 2021•30 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Today a strong brand can be a company’s most valuable asset. Companies who’ve done branding right have racked up massive brand valuations like Apple at $263 billion, Amazon at $254 billion, Microsoft at $140 billion … and it’s not just tech brands. Coca-cola weighs in at $64 billion, Louis Vuitton at $47 billion, Nike at $39 billion and Walmart at $29 billion. And that’s only the top of the list. Building a brand is long term investment, but it’s one that can pay off handsomely. As we’ve seen du...
May 03, 2021•34 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Learn more about SPINEXPO: www.spinexpo.com Connect with Luca Suriano: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucsur/ A Seat at The Table website: seat.fm The Current Situation in Sourcing: https://bit.ly/current_situtation Inspiring Tech Leaders - The Technology Podcast Interviews with Tech Leaders and insights on the latest emerging technology trends. Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Visit A Seat at The Table' s website at https://seat.fm...
Apr 24, 2021•41 min•Season 3Ep. 9
If you’re a brand looking for serious growth opportunities than chances are you’ve been looking at China’s dynamic consumer market. Never before has there been a market that has offered so much opportunity. 1.3 billion people, a huge rapidly increasing middle class, and e-commerce sales figures so massive that it almost sounds as if you’re making them up. While the opportunities are great, so are the challenges. If you’re entering China thinking that the same strategies that have worked brillian...
Apr 15, 2021•59 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Regardless of where you live, Amazon probably plays a role in your life. For many of us, Amazon has become the go-to place when we need something - and want it delivered - or when it’s something we can’t find locally. Or maybe we’re looking for product reviews. For most retailers, more often than not, it’s the 800 ton gorilla that has either eaten your business - or is about to! We all know that Amazon has the benefits of scale, a multi faceted business model that powers further growth, investor...
Apr 03, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 3Ep. 7
It’s difficult to talk about apparel without also talking about materials. And that quickly leads to conversations about sustainability. Not so much about the need to use more sustainable materials. - most people are pretty clear on that. The challenge is how to check all of the boxes - and there are a lot! - that brands need to check these days. I’m Jane Singer, and welcome to A Seat at The Table. The question so many brands struggle with is “how to meet requests for better performance, better ...
Mar 27, 2021•39 min•Season 3Ep. 6
If you’re like most of us, you’ve seen video meetings go from a temporary measure to become part of the ‘new normal’. Love them or leave them, Zoom, Teams, Skype and other apps are here to stay. So smart leaders are adapting and conquering what is really just one more step in an overall migration to all things digital. So how do we bridge what is a clear divide between in person and online? Where can we improve the way we communicate information and ideas? What can we do to win the day in this s...
Mar 21, 2021•42 min•Season 3Ep. 5
As retail looks forward to returning to normal, most of the attention is focused on which brands will be opening stores and what the new omni-channel strategies might look like. However, we might overlooking what else needs to change. Will post-pandemic retail simply be a rollout of they we ‘always did things’. Or will brands reimagine new ways to connect with consumers so they can drive both sales and profits. I’m Jane Singer and Welcome to A Seat at The Table. I put that question to Andrew Smi...
Mar 14, 2021•47 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Now with the vaccine rollout seriously underway in many countries, a growing number of brands have solid reasons to feel optimistic that retail could start to rebound. At worst, there is a bit more clarity about the future. To get a 'behind the scenes' look at what retail might look like in the coming months, I reached out to Ariel Schuster, Vice Chairman at Newmark, a leading property consultant. In this podcast he shares an insider's view of what's happening with new tenants, new leases and th...
Mar 06, 2021•29 min•Season 3Ep. 3
E-commerce has continued to see strong year on year growth, even before the pandemic accelerated it to new heights. While sales growth might start to level off as we head back to more normal times, few doubt that e-commerce will remain an essential retail channel. One of the backbones of e-commerce is logistics. It takes incredible agility and resiliency to be able to provide merchandise on-demand to consumers in the US and Europe when it’s often sourced in Asia - even when there’s no global hea...
Feb 28, 2021•39 min•Season 3Ep. 2
When most people talk about trendy fashion they’re usually referring to international designer brands or cutting edge street fashion. Few would be looking to a 120 year-old image wear company whose heritage is supplying t-shirts with team logos or polos embroidered with corporate branding. However they would be overlooking a company that has pivoted to serve the fast growing demand for show stopping garments that just happen to be represent teams, universities and corporate branding. I’m Jane Si...
Feb 20, 2021•38 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Today, brand value is one of the most valuable assets a company can have. For many, it’s proving to be their only asset. Yet most companies don’t really know how to build a high value brand. Others simply don’t see brand building as a long term investment. The few who have strategically - and often painstakingly - invested in building a brand have reaped the rewards. From Apple, with its trillion dollar valuation, to Coke-a-Cola, the godfather of global brands - and including everything from lux...
Feb 10, 2021•46 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Logistics has moved from the backroom to the boardroom. The demand for tighter control over inventory as heightened awareness of the critical role that logistics is playing in creating more responsive and more resilient supply chains. That logistics is a lynchpin in top functioning supply chains has been made painfully clear during the past six to eight months as even the best service providers were stymied by various pandemic related impacts, a dramatic imbalance in global imports and exports, ...
Feb 05, 2021•42 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Sourcing executives are increasingly challenged with being faster, more agile, more sustainable, more transparent - oh, and also finding better products that their brand’s customers will want to buy. They are also facing a massive range of new technologies, that if implemented strategically, could be game changing. That is if they can get the team on board. If we connect all of the dots, what might the future of sourcing look like? I’m Jane Singer, and Welcome to a Seat at the Table. To get that...
Jan 30, 2021•41 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Africa has been rising to the top of many buyers’ ‘need to look into’ list. However the vastness of the continent - and the diversity amongst regions - makes this a daunting task. A new platform aims to make this easier by gathering key supplier information and organising it in an easy to search database. Not only that, the platform provides an entire ecosystem that ties in support services from inspection to freelance designers. Today I’m speaking with Dirk Robens, CEO of ABANA, a digital solut...
Jan 22, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 10
In recent years retail has gotten a bad rap - especially fashion retail. Too often stores have fallen into a slump, neglected by management’s shift in attention to building up their e-commerce channels. And just as often because brands have too many stores and too little revenue to maintain them all properly. That’s led to a rash of retail closures in many key markets around the world. But is retail really fated to become just a memory of ‘the way we used to shop?’ Or can the right people with a...
Jan 15, 2021•42 min•Season 2Ep. 9
In an era where technology plays an increasingly dominant role and companies are being told ‘digitise or die’. Is there still a role for human talent? And if so, for how long? From major advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, to the growing use of self-service platforms at retail, where do people fit into Industry 4.0? Can machines and bots do it all? If they can - is this the future vision that we aspire to? Today I’m speaking with Dr. Stephen Patton, who’s visionary view of ...
Jan 06, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 8
After a year that has been particularly unkind to apparel, many of us are wondering what the fate of the category might be. Consumers are spending, but just not on apparel. Even before the pandemic, many brands were struggling. So where are the opportunities for fashion brands? And what do we need to do move away from relying on discounts and promotions? Today I’m speaking with Glenn McMahon, a fashion and brand consultant with an impressive multi-decade track record of helping brands become ret...
Dec 31, 2020•36 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Most brands want to be more sustainable, but they also need to meet price targets and also create products that consumers want to buy. At the same, mills and manufacturers around the world are often sitting on mountains of dead stock - rolls of perfectly good fabric that is destined to be dumped into landfill. My guest today was able to successfully connect the dots between these two scenarios and create a platform that provides brands with a sustainable source of high quality fashion fabrics wh...
Dec 24, 2020•33 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Everyone is looking for the next big thing. It turns out, that the next big thing is huge! We’re talking about space. And in the New Space Age the opportunities are of galactic proportions. If you’re like me you, when someone mentions the Space industry you probably think astronauts, rockets, planets and maybe even extraterrestrials. Today, the Space industry is all that (well maybe not the extraterrestrials) and more… a lot more! This massive next gen sector has opportunities for a vast range o...
Dec 17, 2020•37 min•Season 2Ep. 5
After nearly a year of lockdowns, mandatory store closures and people working from home, it’s becoming more difficult to envision what retail will look like when we get past the pandemic. Right now workout gear, yoga pants, hoodies and comfy tops are bestsellers. And shopping online is not just the channel of choice, for many it’s the only choice. The question on most of our minds is when will retail finally rebound? And what will consumers want to buy as life gets back to normal? So I got in to...
Dec 11, 2020•38 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Consumers are crying out for more personalised products - and brands are crying over too much inventory. Digitization is being hailed as the solution to both problems. It can make pre-production faster, make product design more flexible, and, of course, save costs. Digital printing has been one of the earliest technologies to gain real market share. Starting out as a solution for making customised t-shirts, the technology has now been used by almost every apparel category. Advancements in equipm...
Dec 05, 2020•31 min•Season 2Ep. 3
According to two leading U.S.-based real estate advisers, it’s not the property or the people that are the problem. What malls need are fresh new brands and innovative services to bring customers back - and get them to stay. Contact us at : insidefashionlive.net Learn more about Retail by MONA at www.retailbymona.com Show Summary Physical retail might be about to rise from the dead. Despite the popular narrative that ‘consumers only want to shop online’ and that ‘no one goes to malls any longer’...
Nov 24, 2020•34 min•Season 2Ep. 2
A solution that’s helping companies keep team members educated and engaged are learning management systems. You can contact us at: insidefashionlive.net Learn more about Eclipse Learning Partners : http://eclipselearningpartners.com/ Episode Summary One of the challenges in having most of your team members working remotely is training. Before, it was easy to organize on-site training and ensure that everyone was updated and educated across the entire department, division or company. Now, most co...
Nov 23, 2020•30 min•Season 2Ep. 1
