What We've Read: Why Luxury Brands are Skipping Regional Watch Fairs and How AI is Changing Retail

1. Watch Brands Are Thinking Twice About Going to the Fair

Events like Salon QP in London, which once drew large brands and independents alike, now see exhibitor numbers falling as focus on retail locations grows.

Read this on The New York Times. 

2. Luxury Brands Are Changing How They Operate Internally to React Faster to Customers

Luxury brands including Bottega Veneta, Theory and Rag & Bone are changing internal structures in order to make way for new digital and organizational initiatives that position to better compete in a faster-paced industry.

Read this on Glossy. 

3. Augmented Reality is Set to Transform Fashion and Retail

“At some point, we’re going to look back and think, how did we not have a digital layer on the physical world,” Greg Jones, director of VR and AR at Google, said at Shoptalk Europe.

Read this on Forbes. 

4. Michael Kors Wants Customers to Feel Like They’ve Met Michael Kors

The luxury brand is relying on in-store personalized services to win customers back. 

Read this on Bloomberg. 

5. Luxury Travel Brands Can’t Afford to Be So Far Behind in Digital Engagement

Social profiles and websites are the new shop window. Luxury brands can no longer afford to see their digital presences fall so far behind the quality of their products and services. 

— Samantha Shankman

Read this on Skift.  

Cover image credit: Salon QP