Hafiz Azly

Great post Sherry S. Thanks for sharing. When pricing power erodes, scale stops being an advantage. Agility becomes the only real defense. Too often, legacy retail responded to that moment not by rebuilding flexibility, but by leveraging the balance sheet to extend the runway. Debt buys time. ⏰ It does not buy adaptability. Markets are ruthless about this distinction. Interest expense doesn’t adjust for brand equity. Vendor confidence doesn’t survive prolonged leverage. Fixed real estate costs don’t bend when demand volatility increases. What we’re seeing play out isn’t a collapse of demand for retail or luxury in my opinion. It’s the capital market repricing of business models that couldn’t evolve fast enough.📉 This is the uncomfortable truth for boards and CFOs: you can restructure liabilities, but you can’t refinance an inflexible operating system. Chapter 11 won’t answer whether the category is broken. It will answer whether financial resets can substitute for structural change. Capital is already signaling the answer. 📣 In a world defined by demand volatility, cultural speed, and tighter capital, operating-model agility, not leverage is the real margin of safety. The next phase of retail value creation won’t come from balance-sheet engineering. It will come from rebuilding flexibility into how inventory is planned, committed, produced, and replenished. Markets are now repricing that reality in real-time. Kornit Digital https://lnkd.in/e-jfWtg3

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JUST IN: Saks Global, the parent company of luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue, filed for bankruptcy amid luxury market strains. Americans have shifted their retail habits in recent years, and some legacy retailers have struggled to keep up. Many shoppers have grown disillusioned with the luxury market, complaining about higher prices for lower quality items. And those who are still shopping luxury are increasingly buying from the brands themselves in a direct-to-consumer strategy, cutting out middlemen like department stores. https://cnn.it/49lMyR5

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Add Designer Brands Inc. to the list of footwear and fashion firms conducting layoffs in early 2026. The DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse parent did a round of layoffs at the end of January, although it wasn’t immediately clear how many employees were impacted. Sources indicated that the layoffs were conducted across operations and brands. “As we continue the progress we’ve made in advancing our strategies, last week we took actions to simplify our organizational structure, reduce complexity, and improve speed and accountability,” a Designer Brands spokeswoman told Footwear News. “These changes strengthen our ability to execute, manage costs, and create long-term value for our customers, our teams and our business.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/ezhGwu4f

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The news of Saks Global's bankruptcy filing is a wake-up call for the retail industry. Just over a year ago, they acquired Neiman Marcus in a deal worth approximately $2.7 billion, hoping to create a new luxury department store giant. However, the debt burden from the highly leveraged acquisition quickly plunged the company into a liquidity crisis. ([NJBIZ][1]) For me, this has three lessons: 1️⃣ Scale does not equal competitiveness. Mergers and acquisitions can expand size, but if the profit model doesn't improve, the risks are actually greater. 2️⃣ Cash flow is always more important than the story. ven luxury retail brands cannot ignore cash flow and supply chain stability. 3️⃣ The retail industry is being reshaped. Online competition, direct-sales branding, and changing consumer preferences are all challenging the traditional department store model. Often, the strategy itself is not wrong. The problem lies in the timing, structure, and execution. [1]: https://lnkd.in/g6z99hge "Luxury retailer Saks files Chapter 11"

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Here are some interesting stories from the world of retail for Wednesday, March 11: 🏬 Kohl's signaled improvement in its apparel category in the first quarter, but it warned of another year of declining sales overall. For Q4, total sales fell 3.9% and comparable sales were down by 2.8%. 👖 Fabletics is launching its first denim collection, signaling a shift in consumer preferences away from athleisure. The collection, priced between $79.95 and $174.95, will be available online and in select stores. 🤖 OpenAI has scaled back its plans to turn ChatGPT into a fully integrated shopping destination. The company will now abandon processing purchases inside the chatbot. 🧱 Lego has published its full-year 2025 results, with revenues rising 12% to DKr83.5bn ($12.9bn) and operating profit increasing 18% to DKr22bn, while consumer sales grew 16%. 🧴 Olaplex stock has plummeted nearly 95% since its 2021 IPO due to weakened demand, regulatory challenges, and a lawsuit alleging harmful ingredients. Olaplex is now focusing on product innovation. 🥩 Around 3,800 workers at JBS’s beef processing plant in Greeley, Colorado, plan to strike from March 16th, potentially disrupting production at one of the largest US beef facilities. 💰 Amazon has drawn about $126 billion of peak demand for its US bond sale, one of the largest ever for a corporate offering. The demand underscores how investor appetite for hyperscaler debt remains strong. 👔 Hugo Boss reported an annual operating profit of €391m, surpassing forecasts. It confirmed its 2026 outlook and plans to realign its brand and channels, focusing on high-growth categories. 🍧 Costco Canada has introduced a new dessert to its food court menu, the Caramel Brownie Sundae, expanding its lineup of sweet treats that already includes ice cream cones and various sundaes. 🍫 Shares in Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprüngli fell yesterday, after the company lowered its 2026 organic sales growth guidance to 4%–6%, down from its previous medium-term target of 6%–8%. 📱 Apple produced about 25% of its global iPhones in India in 2025, assembling around 55m devices, up 53% from 36m in 2024, as it accelerates efforts to reduce reliance on China and avoid US tariffs. 📦 Amazon’s e-commerce business summoned a large group of engineers to a meeting for a deep dive into a spate of outages, including incidents linked to AI coding tools. 🇬🇧 British consumer spending grew slowly in February as households grew more pessimistic about the outlook for the economy with the Middle East conflict raising concerns about a fresh ‌rise in inflation. 🚫 Perplexity AI must for now stop using its Comet web browser agent to make purchases on behalf of shoppers from Amazon's online marketplace, a court has ruled. 🛋️ The Brand House Collective COO, James Schisler, is resigning to pursue other opportunities. Schisler joined the company nine months ago. #retail #retailnews #economy #DailyRetailNews

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Saks lenders and luxury brands are reportedly in last-effort discussions to avoid a court clash over the ownership of millions of dollars’ worth of designer stock, according to reports, as the US department store group restructures under Chapter 11 and pushes ahead with store closures. #fashionnews #Saks

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Many U.S. apparel buyers think they’re saving money by sticking to traditional sourcing hubs. But when tariffs, anti-dumping duties, compliance costs, delays, and risk premiums are added, the real cost impact tells a different story. 📦 China: On paper, duties may look manageable — but in reality, added tariffs, trade tensions, extended lead times, and risk buffers often make the effective landed cost feel like 100%+. 📦 India: Between higher duties, complex structures, compliance overhead, and frequent production inefficiencies, many buyers experience cost leakage that can feel 4–5× higher than expected. 🇧🇩 Bangladesh tells a different story ✔ More favorable duty structure ✔ Strong RMG compliance ecosystem ✔ Scalable capacity & competitive FOB ✔ Predictable lead times for long-term planning Smart buyers don’t just look at unit price. They look at total landed cost, risk exposure, and margin sustainability. That’s why more U.S. apparel importers are quietly shifting production to Bangladesh — not to save cents, but to protect dollars. #ApparelSourcing #USApparelBuyers #BangladeshRMG #TariffStrategy #LandedCost #GlobalSourcing #SupplyChainRisk #MarginProtection #ApparelImports

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