Polo Outplays the Recession
Who would’ve thought? Polo Ralph Lauren posted a 10% jump in profit for their fiscal second quarter, and did so while their main retail partners—Saks, Macy’s, and JC Penney’s—have been among the worst hit in the economic downturn. How’d Polo do it when the luxury consumer goods market is so depressed? According to MarketWatch, it is due to better than expected sales and a lower tax rate. But another key factor, hidden in the MarketWatch article, is the 12% jump in online sales. This jives with other luxury/lifestyle companies’ stories. If your retail partners are struggling, if conspicuous consumers feel “luxury guilt” and curtail their department store shopping, where do you find increased sales? Turns out it’s Asia (i.e., growing markets) and the Internet.
All of which begs a couple questions: Are the customers who no longer shop at Saks, et. al., moving to the Internet, or is the Internet generating new customers (and new types of customers) for Polo? One assumes a combination of both, though I have no actual data to support either. If the assumption is correct, then this recession may be shifting the retail landscape for good from B&M stores to online sales—which makes same-stores sales figures, long the standard by which retail growth has been measured, misleading. It also makes one wonder about the long-term viability of department stores when companies like Polo can do better selling their products themselves online. When the recession recesses, consumers will freely spend money again, but where and through which channels? My money’s not on the mall. — Garth Weber
Hand of God
Hand from Above from Chris O'Shea on Vimeo.
A very cool interactive experience piece. The real time editing of taking people out of frame is pretty crazy. Chris O’Shea is amazing. Found this at his website: chrisoshea.org
Not your bedtime book.
Found this while getting lost in the whirlpool of digital bookmarking. A.D.D. + FFFFound = Where the hell did the day go? Anyways, this is a pretty rad idea. For some reason when you take an ordinary hand held object and scale it to a massive size, it evokes a serious interest no matter how simple the content may be. I love the possibility of depth and simplicity of execution. It allows for a multitude of design and structural possibilities. Good stuff.