Competing in the World's Toughest MarketplaceBy Robin Lewis and Michael DartPalgrave Macmillan, $24.95, 256 pages
Perhaps no industry has undergone as much change the last few years as the retail sector. Good thing we have a collaboration of two retail experts—Robin Lewis and Michael Dart—to help us sort it all out. Dart, is a principal at Kurt Salmon Associates and one of Consulting magazine's 2010 Top 25 Consultants. Robin Lewis is the founder of the Goldman Sachs retail consulting subsidiary, Vantage Marketplace, and has advised Kohl's, Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Liz Claiborne, Ralph Lauren and Sara Lee, among others. In The New Rules of Retail , the duo present a 360-degree look at the past, present and future of retail. Among their well-researched conclusions: Almost half of retailers will soon be gone. So, how do retailers make sure they are in the right half? Winners will create "experiential and distributional superiority: and control the value chain. Case studies from Zappos, The Gap and Apple offer real-life scenarios to help cement their case.
