A conversation with Managing Editor of Glossy, Hilary Milnes about the resurgence of the retail store and where the luxury world is at in the transition from wholesale to direct-to-consumer.
Since joining Digiday in 2015, Hilary Milnes has worked her way from retail reporter to Managing Editor of Glossy, Digiday Media’s online publication covering the impact of technology on the fashion, beauty, and luxury industries. As the host of the Glossy podcast, she talks to founders, designers, and industry leaders at the forefront of that change. On this episode of Well Made, she’s discussing the resurgence of the retail store and where the luxury world is at in the transition from wholesale to direct-to-consumer.
On this episode, Hilary talks about brands realigning their physical retail strategy to evolve with their digital strategy (1:30). She talks about the cost of customer acquisition changing how a sustainable digital-first brand gets built. (4:13). Stephan and Hilary talk about retail concepts moving away from the showroom model (8:42), multi-brand retailers as an offline solution for brands without a large product offering (13:20), and how brands can navigate partnerships with and against Amazon (20:20). With dozens of private labels popping up, Hilary answers if Amazon can sell luxury and be a fashion destination (26:40). She illuminates on the areas brands will need to focus on in order to scale and gain exposure (36:47), and lastly, she predicts how brands will evolve in this increasingly complex digital-first world (41:55).
Links and images from this post are on the Lumi blog.