Daily LInks
1. Artificial Intelligence can help retailers using markdowns to dispose inventory: AI and machine learning are being used to generate smarter pricing methods, with 73 percent of retail executives expecting their companies to engage in intelligent automation pricing by 2021. – Read More on American Marketer
2. Nike’s Heidi O’Neill on the brand’s digital — and coronavirus — strategy: “We’re weaving our content from our activity apps into a much more kind of deep way into e-commerce experiences, and we are definitely trying to just get super personal, and through data and analytics monitor the types of workouts that are important.” – Read More on Modern Retail
3. Christian Louboutin on red sole litigation: “We are a small company in a way, and to have to fight people who have such huge companies that put 27 lawyers on your back over something that is yours is very stressful. I wish it didn’t happen.” – See More on Bloomberg
4. RETRO READ: Red Soles, High Heels, and a Global Quest for Trademark Rights. “We had to manage the message from the point of the client because either side could easily have won the legal fight but lost the public opinion fight, and, in doing so, especially from Louboutin’s point of view, it would have dramatically affected the business. So, we took extraordinary pains to both manage the message as well fight the case in court.” – Read More on TFL
5. Italian brand Valentino appoints former Gucci exec as CEO: Former Gucci executive Jacopo Venturini has been appointed as the new chief executive of Italian luxury brand Valentino starting from June, the group said on Tuesday. He was previously executive vice president, merchandising and global markets at Kering’s powerhouse Gucci, a role he left in October last year. – Read More on Reuters
6. Luxury stores test the water in a Paris devoid of tourists: At Hermes shop assistant discreetly kept count of the number of people milling around at any one time – around 50 at one point in early afternoon, across two floors. And one shopper said she had been told to make an appointment if she wanted to discuss buying a pricey “Kelly” handbag. – Read More on Reuters