Two points to consider:

1. Rent The Runway and Nordstrom are both “classy” organizations. They can help feed off of their good reputations.
2. Anything that can add foot traffic to a retail location is a good idea.

Having visited a couple of the Nordstrom Local stores in Los Angeles, count me as underwhelmed. Bored employees sitting around with nothing to do while looking into their phones, a “stylist” who didn’t know how to do a return, a surly tailor and a haircut that took two hours – none of which fits into their premium lifestyle. Nordstrom Local is effectively becoming a returns outlet, not an extension of their brand.

As Ms. Jensen points out, convenience matters. Clothing rentals have really resonated with younger, affluent customers in cities, and it is savvy of Nordstrom to give those customers a new reason to enter their stores.

Sometimes partnerships rise to a level above win/win. They go beyond some simple back office synergies. They elevate to win/win/win. Both brands AND the customer benefit. That happened recently with Apple and Best Buy. Feels like the same thing is happening here. At a minimum it’s a very positive experiment. It’s a recognition of the evolution taking place and it’s a proactive move to adapt.

This partnership would excite me if there were a selection of Rent the Runway fashions in the store I could choose from with the help of a Nordstrom stylist. Currently, it’s a self-serve drop-off box. Yawn.

Kudos to Rent the Runway for leveraging platform partnerships under multiple models. Just as it is helping Neiman Marcus build a bridge to new generations of customers through shop-in-shops, the partnership with Nordstrom will drive awareness for RTR and provide convenience for its LA-based customers. Creative partnerships for the win!

The Rent the Runway and Nordstrom mashups are just the kind of retail mashups that could help stimulate interest/traffic in an existing brand, as well as offer a new interaction channel for an emerging digital native brand. While this on paper makes complete sense, it’s all in the execution of these services where both the Rent the Runway and Nordstrom teams could mutually benefit.

The key for the Nordstrom team is to promote that Rent the Runway’s services, benefits, and advantages are now in the store. Otherwise the drop boxes will get lost in the mix, and maybe become a curiosity to their customers.

Mitigating the last mile is the greatest challenge for digital native brands, and drawing customers to the brick-and-mortar stores is the key for department stores and the Nordstrom team.

Rent the Runway drop-off boxes. Some of my colleagues here are spot on. If the service in-store is horrid, the customer blames both companies. That is pure “no wins”! Who wants to be uncomfortable is the question. Roller coaster rides generally lose customers.

It’s a win for Rent The Runway and an act of hipster desperation for Nordstrom. If there was a Rent the Runway boutique in the stores, maybe I’d be a little more positive. On the other hand, if my business was selling clothes, I’m not sure I’d be that enthusiastic about helping the clothing rental business, unless I owned a piece of it.

Outside of generating traffic (which is theoretically a good thing) I am not sure how much value this brings to Nordstrom. Do people really build their “ideal closet” by purchasing items that coordinate well with one-time rentals? Perhaps if Norstrom has access to the customer data that would be good value, but I doubt that is part of the deal.

For the moment, this is a no-lose for Nordstrom. However, I seriously doubt the longevity of Rent the Runway. They are the beneficiaries of tremendous hype and VC interest because there’s too much money looking for a place to land. We have plenty of recent experience to make clear that investor excitement is unrelated to potential for success.

There is an interesting dynamic going on for D2C apparel companies that are going the other way and establishing themselves in brick-and-mortar mostly because of access. It’s a win-win because:

1. The benefit to Nordstrom is generating foot traffic from returns. Potentially even unique customers.
2. The benefit to RTR subscribers is additional convenience – easy returns especially since gowns are bulky as well as the best benefit which is fitting for bought pieces. Also, a piece that is fitted increases the conversion from rent-to-own.

This is what department stores do, isn’t it? Get a hot idea in, draw traffic, sell them a bunch of goods. Right? Seems over the years they’ve lost that sensibility and have somehow stuck to a “we’re apparel sellers,” um, on sale, mentality. Whereas, the thinking needs to be (is now?): RtR is a good idea, of course they should be in our store! Just like Nordstrom’s is actually executing.

Retail’s future is a hybrid one. Physical and digital, stores and online, selling and subscribing, buying and renting, and it transcends individual brands and banners.

This is a great move by both companies that adds even greater convenience and says that the path to winning must place the customer at the heart of the value equation.

For right now, this is a sensible mash-up of two retail brands. The thing with most mash-ups, however, is that they are only incrementally better than the individual concepts being combined. To truly transcend that incremental behavior, they need to do something unique that neither could do on their own. In some ways, this is symptomatic of department stores — adding incrementally “better” concepts to the store and hoping for the best, rather than creating something unique and innovative. Hopefully, there will be more to this relationship in the near future for consumers to enjoy.