Retail
How is AI used in physical fashion stores?
From associate assistants and clienteling to computer vision for stock and checkout, AI is moving onto the shop floor. What works, what it requires and where privacy law draws hard lines.
Omnichannel in fashion retail: what it actually requires
Omnichannel is not a website plus stores. It is a set of shared data, stock, processes and incentives that let customers move freely between channels.
Open-to-buy explained: how fashion retailers budget their buying
Open-to-buy tells a buyer how much stock can still be purchased without breaking the plan. Here is how it is calculated, used and commonly misused.
Concession, consignment and wholesale: the three models compared
Who owns the stock, sets the price and carries the markdown risk depends on the commercial model. How wholesale, consignment and concessions differ.
What the physical fashion store is for now
Stores are no longer just places that hold stock. They are showrooms, service centres, fulfilment hubs and return points, and must be measured that way.
How the department store model works, and why it is changing
Department stores are part merchant, part landlord. How their model makes money, why it came under pressure and what brands should ask of them now.
The retail buying calendar: a year in the life of a fashion buyer
Fashion buyers work across several seasons at once. How the buying year is structured, what happens at each stage and how the calendar is shifting.
Clienteling: personal service in a data-driven fashion store
Clienteling turns store associates into relationship managers. What it is, what a programme needs, and how to introduce it without the common pitfalls.
Retail metrics explained: sell-through, GMROI and weeks of cover
Three metrics answer most questions about how fashion stock is performing. How to calculate sell-through, GMROI and weeks of cover, and read them together.