A pedestrian walks past the Saks Fifth Avenue Inc. women’s shop on Brookfield Place in New York, USA
Allison Joyce | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Marc Metrick, chief executive of Saks Fifth Avenue, said luxury retail was like “comfort food” to some shoppers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“People were buying things at the height of the pandemic that had no absolute functional end-use, but they love fashion,” Metrick said Thursday during a virtual presentation at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show. “I think what we learned is this [consumers] Think of luxury as retail convenience food. … It was her way of feeling – it was something so much more and so much deeper than a pair of shoes. “
“Why else would you buy 110 millimeter pumps … from a luxury brand when you work at home and at Zoom all day?” he said. “You do it because you love fashion, and it’s your oreo cookie. It’s yours – something that makes you feel better.”
For Saks he added: “That was a proof of concept [that] Fashion will prevail. “
Luxury retailers like LVMH’s high-end department store chain Neiman Marcus and Tiffany reported a similar trend over the past year: wealthy shoppers looking to forego even more for themselves during troubled times. Many of these consumers have spent less money on travel and restaurants because so many social activities were curtailed during the health crisis, and instead called on more designer handbags, diamond rings and extravagant home decor.
Metrick said interest in Saks’ personal shopper service has also increased during the pandemic, partly for safety reasons but also because people are looking for activity.
“When you buy luxury products, you want the experience,” he said. “They don’t want it to be just a transaction.”
A store within a store called “Barneys at Saks” opened earlier this month on the fifth floor of the flagship store on Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City. The department store chain Barneys New York filed for bankruptcy in 2019, but the brand lives on at Saks. Another of these mini-stores is slated to open later this month in Greenwich, Connecticut.
“Business is still important,” said Metrick. “Especially for luxury it is the theater.”
