Ira Niemark passed away on April 20, 2019. Three years ago, we interviewed retail’s elder statesman about the future of retail, and the iconic department store that stole his heart.
Don’t tell Ira Neimark that the department store is dead.
At 93, Neimark may not be clocking in for work anymore, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an opinion about what the retail industry needs to do to energize the customer experience at the store level.
Ira Neimark is a man of the old school, and he can rattle off the names and competitive advantages of just about every department store that ever existed. But his heart belongs to Bergdorf Goodman, where for 17 years he established himself as “the benevolent dictator,” and catapulted the store to legendary status. He broke standards by being one of the only CEOs and General Managers to spend most of his time on the sales floor.
Neimark is a master raconteur and his three books, including his latest tome, The Rise of Bergdorf Goodman and the Fall of Bonwit Teller (2015, GamePlan Books,Inc.) is an insightful chronicle of New York’s golden age of luxury retail. While he says he is weary of interviews, we found that he still has plenty to say about the shortcomings of today’s department store.
BERTRAND PELLEGRIN: Department stores get plenty of scrutiny for not always measuring up to smaller scale boutiques, especially where customer service is concerned. Do you think department stores still have work to do?
IRA NEIMARK: The generation of executives operating retail stores today particularly department stores, are not familiar with the art of customer service. There are exceptions of course, but as a rule, most require a completely new mindset. Sales people, like spark plugs in a car, generate business. Their expense can easily be covered by a fair commission system.
So you think there’s a lack of investment in customer service training?
Customer Service has to start with the CEO. I observed for over 50 years, when the CEO believes in the customer comes first, since the customer pays our pay our salaries, then the whole organization gets on board. If the CEO is indifferent to customer service, so will his organization.
Besides customer service, what are some of the details that aren’t being delivered today?
What is missing is the excitement of something new every day. Target’s promotion of Designer clothes at ridiculously low prices is an excellent example of excitement bringing hoards of customers into their stores. Major fashion shows as major events also attract customers into stores.
In my own book, Branding the Man, I argue that by the early 2000’s, rather than mentor the male shopper, many American stores had begun to give in to the “casual business” attire that had taken over corporate America. Do you believe that men’s retail is still an important investment for retailers?
My experience both with Bergdorf Goodman Men and with Hermès, where I was a board member, showed that there are very many men of good taste and income who are interested in quality and appearance. These customers in most cases are above the age of 30. Even those of moderate income recognize the importance of “looking right”. There are others of all ages who have no sense of style, who wear casual T shirts and jeans to nearly all occasions. To them, Casual Friday is every day.
In your book, you emphasize that a store’s reputation is built on a consistent experience. What makes that more difficult today than before?
Most of my retail business experience has been with luxury retail and high end department stores. In all cases, no matter how large the store, the customer was made to feel welcome and treated as a valued asset.
I made a point of doing all my office work on a podium at the foot of the escalator. I made sure that every customer was taken care of on the selling floor. I walked around and observed sales people and customers. I call it an MBWA degree. Management By Walking Around.
So what are retail executives cutting back on?
Things like unbelievable store hours, staggered sales people, or recording the store’s telephone operators. These reinforce the importance of consistent customer satisfaction.
It’s easy to say “things were better before than they are now.” In your opinion, what modern retailer impresses you?
There is one retailer who in my opinion, consistently stands out and that’s Nordstrom.The family running that business, more than many others, understands how their customers would like to be treated. Their continued success, due to outstanding customer service, is an exception to the rule. But It should not be an exception, it should be the goal of all retailers.
(NEW YORK) – The woman who conceived of Fashion’s Night Out did her best to encourage New Yorkers to shop.
After a circus of media and screaming fans at Bergdorf Goodman, Anna Wintour zipped over to the Meatpacking District in a black Cadillac Escalade, which paused in front of the Stella McCartney boutique.
By this time the crowd of press photographers had grown unruly and desperate for anyone who was even remotely a celebrity. Inside, a rather rumpled and ordinary assortment of guests waited for Something To Happen — anything — especially since they weren’t shopping and the bar was holding back on the champagne until some auspicious moment.
But it was Kate Hudson who made her entrance first and a sea of cellphones were raised as everyone tried to score an image of Ms. Hudson before the bodyguards ushered her into a fitting room in the back of the store.
Vogue Editor Anna Wintour at the Stella McCartney Boutique.
It was Ms. Wintour, though, who sent them all into a true frenzy with some simply frozen in their tracks. She waded upstream through the photographers and citizen journalists, her trademark bob gleaming in the spark of flashbulbs. It appeared that her visit was unclear and unscheduled: was she to visit Kate in the dressing room? Where’s Stella anyway? And who do you have to &%$ to get a drink around here?
The decision was made after some murmers into a cellphone. We’re leaving. I managed to present her with a copy of my book, Branding the Man, which she carefully examined as if it were the cover of a magazine, and then thanked me, her eyes flashing beneath her bangs.
With Actress Lucy Liu at Alexander McQueen
The scene was more or less the same throughout the Meatpacking District, with revelers behaving like it was New Year’s Eve, but with better liquor. Indeed, the longest lines weren’t at the fitting rooms or cash registers, but at the bar. At Christian Louboutin, I half-expected people to start drinking out of the floor sample shoes. It was a blase group of young things who clearly had no intention of buying shoes, only of clearing out what was left of the mini-bottles of champagne.
Meanwhile at Alexander McQueen, Actress Lucy Liu looked stunning in head-to-toe McQueen. “It’s fierce, isn’t it?” she said to all who admired her, which was pretty much everybody. As Hostess with the Mostess, she did her best to talk about the clothes — in-between requests for a picture.
By Midnight the irritating drizzle sent everyone scurrying into any restaurant that would take them, while others just huddled in the hopes of finding a taxi.
A cunning clutch does double duty.
A group of girls clutched ingenious little clutches with the word “Taxi” inscribed in neon letter (the purses, designed by Regine Bash, are available at www.2enlight10.com). They didn’t really seem to help them get a cab, but they sure looked cute trying.