Branding

Coach was a $550 million business in 2000 when it went public and a $5 billion one a decade or so later. Now we're transforming it again into a lifestyle brand for women, with shoes, outerwear and capsule collections of tops and bottoms. A transformation has to be careful, nurtured. You have to understand what's distinctive about your brand and build on who you are. Consumers are smart — if you try to be something you're not, they'll see you as an impostor. Modify your product first and build interest and loyalty into what's coming.

It's surprising, though comforting, to find out that Lyons is humanly imperfect. Since her coronation as creative head of J.Crew in 2008, the company once known for its preppy Nantucket ancestry has become a force in fashion, with Lyons at the center of its evolution. She has created a high-low look that reflects her own boy-girl style--androgyny with some sequins and a dash of nerdy glasses. Along with annual revenue that has more than tripled to $2.2 billion since 2003, the cult of J.Crew has

Grocery shoppers are already using digital in myriad ways, from product research to purchasing groceries online for at-home delivery or in-store pickup. Meanwhile, brands have been building robust websites, as well as employing video and social media to market their products. For shoppers, however, the divide between using digital to research products and actually buying them remains wide, according to a new eMarketer report, CPG's Digital Conundrum: Turning Digital Shoppers into Digital Buyers. Nonetheless, the consumer product goods (CPG) category is poised for significant growth in online sales.

Interbrand, a consultancy, has named Walmart the most valuable retail brand for 2013. The retailer retained its top spot from 2012. Rising through the ranks were Macy's, which increased brand value by 62% and moved up nine spots on the...

Interbrand's 2013 Best Retail Brands Report, which ranks the 50 most valuable U.S. retail brands, as well as the leading store brands from around the world, was released today. Interbrand’s brand valuations are based on the firm’s analysis of the financial performance of a retailer, the role a brand plays in shoppers’ purchasing decisions and the competitive strength of a brand.

In the opening session of NEMOA's directXchange conference in Boston yesterday, Moosejaw's CEO Eoin Comerford discussed how his brand has cultivated this passionate customer base. He left attendees with four tips on how they can build a brand that customers will love (and in some cases hate).

Under Armour is making a renewed push into retail and opening a specialty store in Baltimore, with CNBC's Brian Shactman reporting.

With the advent of e-commerce, retail is changing more than nearly any other industry. In this evolving environment, a few trailblazers have set themselves apart and are revolutionizing the way we perceive and consume retail. Some retailers have altered their merchandising strategies to accommodate today's fast-paced shoppers. Others are making e-commerce more personalized than ever. 

Target has debuted six brands that will be available exclusively online. The one-stop shop is not taking its e-commerce site Target.com for granted. While continuing to draw people into its physical stores with sales and other incentives, the retailer acknowledges the need to change as shoppers' habits change. Target divisional merchandise manager Theresa Schmidt recognizes that consumers are going online more often to shop from the comfort of their own homes, and the need to not only draw new consumers to its online site but also retain existing online consumers...

During the first big wave of data warehousing in the 1990s, companies were sometimes described as being "data rich and information poor," a reference to the lack of business insights that still prevailed even after large amount of data had been collected and centralized. With the explosion of communications channels in recent years, that phrase has new currency, as many retailers have been struggling to integrate all these new data sources — and to make use of them to drive business results.