Episode Details

This week we've got a blockbuster panel featuring three of the most experienced and insightful veterans of the luxury world: Karen Katz (former President & CEO of the Neiman Marcus Group, Steve Sadove (former Chairman and CEO of Saks) and Oliver Chen (Managing director and senior equity research analyst at Cowen and Company). 

We cover a lot of territory, first trying to align on a working definition of what "luxury" really means today and how luxury was evolving pre-COVID. Then we shift into what's next, including our dream team's quick takes on luxury re-commerce, the role of the in-store experience, the importance of multi-brand retail (online and off), sustainability, exclusivity, storytelling and more. We wrap up getting everyone's view on why it's so hard for legacy brands to innovate and  whether .com spin-outs make any sense at all.

But first we open up with the top retail stories that caught our attention this past week, with a big focus on what we can take away from Black Friday and Cyber Monday performance as the threat of Omicron looms, more profitless prosperity from Allbirds as they report their first quarterly earnings as a public company, and Amazon's rise to parcel delivery supremacy.

About Karen Katz

Katz, who is a graduate of the University of Texas, is the former chief executive, president and director of the Neiman Marcus Group. She stepped down from the role in January 2019. Since 2014 she has also been on the board of directors at Under Armour.

Katz has worked in a number of key executive and leadership roles at Neiman Marcus since joining the group as a merchandise manager in 1985. Most recently she has leveraged Neiman Marcus’ brick and mortar assets to launch an omni-channel strategy that includes merging planning and buying teams for all departments and integrating customers’ online and in-store experiences with in-store apps and personalised web dashboards.

Under Katz, Neiman Marcus acquired luxury e-commerce site MyTheresa.com, the Munich-based luxury e-tailer. She also expanded MyTheresa’s e-commerce offerings to bolster the Neiman Marcus omni-channel strategy and oversaw the opening of the retailer’s first New York City flagship in 2018, a seven-story retail project situated in the Hudson Yards in Manhattan’s far West Side.

About Steve Sadove

Between 2002 and 2013, Mr. Sadove held positions of increasing responsibility with Saks Incorporated, serving as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from 2007 to 2013.

Prior to joining Saks, Mr. Sadove built a distinguished marketing and consumer products career spanning more than 25 years and held senior positions at companies including General Foods (now Kraft) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company as President of Clairol. He led Clairol to become the number one hair care business in the United States, relaunched the Herbal Essences brand into a $700 million business and completed the sale of the beauty care business to Procter & Gamble. Mr. Sadove is also a founding partner of JW Levin Management Partners, a private equity firm.

Mr. Sadove is a former Chair of the National Retail Federation and serves as an advisor to Mastercard. He serves on numerous community and civic boards including Hamilton College as Chairman of the Board of Trustees and AmeriCares.

About Oliver Chen

Oliver Chen has joined Cowen and Company’s Equity Research department as a Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst. He covers over 30 stocks in the Retail & Luxury Sectors.

Oliver is a graduate of Georgetown University, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is a