“NMG is a relationship business,” said Geoffroy van Raemdonck, Neiman Marcus Group CEO.
Photo credit Jesse Crimes, courtesy of Neiman Marcus Group
Everyone in retail has heard the apocryphal story about how Stanley Marcus, known to all as Mr. Stanley, would greet his customers at the Neiman Marcus door in Dallas every morning. He knew his customers by name, knew what they wanted and treated them as the VIPs they were. They returned the favor by giving Mr. Stanley and his Neiman Marcus store their lifelong loyalty.
But then Neiman Marcus was sold to Carter-Hawley Hale, Mr. Stanley went into emeritus mode and the company grew. It’s not that his single-minded dedication to service passed away, but the “money men” took over and the primary goal became servicing the bottom line.
For any retailer, running the business primarily by and for the balance sheet is a mistake, but for a luxury retailer like Neiman Marcus, it’s the…