By George Anderson
Many retailers are putting greater emphasis on store and/or proprietary brands as a means to differentiate themselves from competitors.
Management at Saks Inc., however, has taken the position that to differentiate it needs to de-emphasize its private labels.
According to a company release, Ronald Frasch, vice chairman and chief merchant of Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises, said, "The discontinuation of our private label brand is consistent with our merchandising strategy, permitting us to focus our resources on unique, upscale merchandise from our most productive designers."
"In the future," he added, "our private label initiatives will be more aligned with this overall vision of the company and will be developed by our internal merchant team in conjunction with our existing trading partners."
According to a report in the Cincinnati Business Courier, Saks is looking to push name designer fashions such as Chanel, Roberto Cavalli and Valentino to more effectively and directly compete with the likes of Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.
Moderator's Comment: What is your reaction to Saks Inc.'s decision to pull back from its own private label? - George Anderson - Moderator