IADS Retail Park

🌍 Fifty-eight department stores. One volatile year. Maya and Anchita unpack the I.A.D.S. Global Department Store Monitor — from the Saks collapse and Japan's boom-to-bust reversal, to Latin America's resilience and the rise of recommerce as a structural layer. 📖 Read the exclusive: Access here LinkedIn | Substack | www.iads.org This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other s...

In this episode, Maya and Anchita unpack David Baverez ’s "New China" presentation: Why the $600B US-China trade runs through Hong Kong, how China's 30-35% manufacturing share shifted power from consumers to suppliers, and what the "economy of war" means for retail strategy 🏭. Discover the demographic shifts reshaping Chinese consumers, why BYD and Huawei are outpacing Western brands, and how Chi...

What happens when a 170-year-old retail icon makes a deal that backfires? 🎲 BHV , the beloved Parisian department store, bet on SHEIN —and lost. Brand departures, public backlash, and a 40% reduction in retail space followed. Now, Brookfield Asset Management plans a five-star hotel 🏨 where shoppers once browsed DIY tools. Host Maya Sankoh sits down with Christine Montard , IADS. Director of Mark...

🛍️ In this episode of IADS Retail Park, Maya and Anchita unpack Xiaohongshu (Red Note)—the platform transforming how international retailers reach 350 million affluent Chinese consumers. 📖 Read the full IADS Exclusive: “Unlocking Chinese Consumer Trends via Xiaohongshu” 👉 Access the exclusive here For more insights, follow us on LinkedIn at International Association of Department Stores - IADS ,...

For over a century, merchants built retail empires through margin discipline, inventory velocity, and vendor relationships. Today, those skills no longer guarantee relevance. In this episode 🎙️, Maya speaks with Christine Montard explore groundbreaking research from the 2025 IADS Academy cohort on how merchants balance intuition with data-driven decisions—and why the future belongs to those who ma...

In this episode, Maya and Christine unpack the seismic shift in luxury retail—where sales staff evolved into brand ambassadors, relationship architects, and cultural translators. 🏬✨ What do Chanel , Louis Vuitton , and Kering have in common? They bet big on people, not just platforms. From clienteling apps boosting sales by 20% to recruiting from hospitality and finance, brands rewrote the playb...

Twenty-seven years after its final flight, Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport is preparing for a different kind of landing—one that challenges every assumption about what makes retail destinations work. In this episode 🎙️, Maya speaks with Christine Montard , Director of Markets and Events at IADS, about her firsthand visit to Kai Tak during the 2025 IADS General Assembly in Hong Kong. Christine breaks d...

Maya and Selvane unpack the radical transformation at Åhléns under new owner Ayad al-Saffar . 🏬 What do Inglot, private label kitchen tools, and a 47-store network have in common? They're all weapons in a war against intermediaries. ✂️ By slashing third-party distributors and pivoting to 90% wholesale, Al-Saffar is turning Sweden's second-highest retail density into a competitive advantage—and pl...

In this episode, we unpack the 2026 NRF Big Show —the largest yet, with 41,000 attendees and a provocative tension: when tech companies dominate retail’s flagship event, who truly owns the future? From REI ’s “selective openness” and FairPrice ’s 17% basket lift through AI, to the stark divide between Amazon ’s fortress and Walmart ’s federation strategies—discover what retailers must own to remai...

In this episode of IADS Retail Park 🎧, Maya sits down with Christine , Director of Markets and Events at IADS and author of this week’s exclusive investigation into what’s being called “The SHEIN Paradox.” When SHEIN opened its first permanent European store at Paris’s historic BHV Marais in November 2025, 7,000 visitors showed up on day one. Within weeks, the floors were empty, online sales had...

In this Season 2 premiere 🎙️, Maya sits down with Selvane , Managing Director of IADS, to discuss her year-long investigation into diversity, equity, and inclusion at retail's most critical turning point 📊. Through research across six global regions with leaders from Nordstrom , Tesco , Falabella , and Galeries Lafayette , IADS' 2025 White Paper reveals four key patterns that separate authentic D...

In this episode of IADS. Retail Park 🎧, Maya sits down with Christine , author of this week’s IADS Exclusive on Macy’s transformation. From pioneering retail innovations in 1858 to closing 150 stores while investing in 350 upgraded locations, Macy’s story raises a fundamental question facing department stores globally: can concentration replace expansion as a path to growth? Christine breaks down...

In this episode of The I.A.D.S. Retail Park 🎧, Maya and Christopher pull back the curtain on Google’s Project X—Back in 2023 the moonshot factory tackling humanity’s biggest challenges. ✨ What do Waymo , Tidal , and Intrinsic have in common? They aim for 10X impact, not 10% improvement. 🚀 From embracing failure as “moonshot compost” to spending 20% of time on creative pursuits, our hosts unpack...

In this episode of IADS Retail Park 🎧, Maya and Anchita zoom in on a customer group retailers can’t afford to overlook: the silver generation . As birth rates drop 📉, people live longer 🧬, and more spending power sits with Gen X and older , they ask a key question: how do you build experiences for aging customers without leaning on lazy stereotypes ? Drawing on examples like  Le Bon Marché’s Ro...

In this episode of IADS Retail Park 🎧, Maya and Christine look at what happens when retailers start acting like neighbourhood builders. 🏙️ IKEA , Walmart , Breuninger , and John Lewis are all turning old malls, car parks, and land banks into mixed‑use districts where people live, work, and spend their free time. From IKEA’s Livat “ Meeting Places ” in Shanghai to Walmart’s mall conversion in Pitt...

In this episode of The I.A.D.S. Retail Park 🎧, Maya and Christine pull back the curtain on digital transformation in heritage organizations. ✨ What separates fast retailers from slow ones in a world where crises strike every twelve months? From rolling budgets and “forcasgility” to double ERP roadmaps and raw data ownership, our hosts unpack the paradigm shifts redefining retail operations. 🛍️📊...

In this episode of IADS Retail Park 🎧, Maya and Anchita unpack what happens when department stores face the unthinkable— wars 🎯, currency collapse 💸, and complete economic chaos ⚡. Through exclusive IADS research with retailers at the epicentre of global crises, they reveal the raw playbook: why cash is king , how people come first , and the critical difference between iterative 🔄 and protoco...

In this episode of The I.A.D.S. Retail Park 🎧, Maya and Anchita pull back the curtain on relational shopping’s business impact. ✨ What do Magasin du Nord and Lane Crawford have in common? They’ve turned customer data into loyalty engines. 🛍️ From booking personal shoppers to WeChat mini-programs that 6x sales, our hosts unpack how retailers bridge online and offline—and why Western stores must p...

In this episode of The I.A.D.S. Retail Park 🎧, Maya and Christopher explore Green Pea , the world’s first green retail park in Turin. 🌱 What do Patagonia, Brunello Cuccinelli, and a building you can disassemble with a screwdriver have in common? They’re all part of a manifesto-driven retail experiment. From energy-capturing floors to 20 million annual visitors, our hosts unpack how sustainabilit...

In this episode of IADS Retail Park 🎧, Maya and Christine dissect the bold new era where brands don’t stop at products—they shape full lifestyles. Why are icons like Louis Vuitton , Saint Laurent , and Selfridges diving into beauty lines, homeware, sports, and even film? 🏆💄🏠 From LV’s jump into Formula 1 and cosmetics to Zara ’s thriving home business and Selfridges’ quirky post-Covid garden c...

In this episode of The I.A.D.S. Retail Park 🎧, Maya and Christine explore Benedict Evans ’ provocative take on retail transformation. What do Netflix, Shopify, and Shein have in common? ✨ They’ve all used tech not to upgrade existing models, but to unbundle and rebuild entire value chains. From L’Oréal’s 25% direct-to-consumer shift to Amazon’s $31 billion ad business, our hosts unpack how every...

In this episode of IADS Retail Park 🎧, Maya and Christine pull back the velvet rope on retail’s most surprising reinvention: hospitality. ✨ What do Louis Vuitton , IKEA , and Selfridges have in common? They’ve all realised that in 2025, the real competition isn’t just about who sells the most shoes—it’s about who can make you linger, dine, post, and stay.🍽️🛋️ From Armani ’s first foray into bran...

In this episode of The I.A.D.S. Retail Park 🎧, Maya and Selvane dissect the I.A.D.S. 100 report, revealing how department stores worldwide weathered the unprecedented 2019-2021 period. 📊 From BHG’s stunning 62% growth in China to Japan’s tourism-dependent stores losing two-thirds of their sales, this deep dive uncovers the strategies that separated survivors from strugglers. 🌍 Why did stores wi...

In this episode of The I.A.D.S. Retail Park 🎧, Maya sits down with Selvane to decode the conscious customer revolution that’s reshaping retail from the ground up. 🌱 From the explosion of fast fashion to today’s sustainability-first shoppers, they explore how 50% of consumers now actively seek greener options - and what this means for department stores racing to adapt. 🛍️ How do you balance custo...

In this episode of The I.A.D.S. Retail Park 🎧, Maya welcomes Selvane to rethink one of retail’s most overused buzzwords—omnichannel. What if being “ everywhere at once ” isn’t actually the goal? 🤯 Together, they unpack groundbreaking research from Erasmus University’s Robert Rooderkerk that challenges a decade of retail assumptions. Discover why the smartest retailers aren’t multiplying touchpoi...