2020 to 2026: How DEI became retail's legal minefield

The $10 trillion management problem

In this episode of IADS Retail Park 🎙️, Maya [https://www.linkedin.com/in/maya-sankoh/] and Selvane [https://www.linkedin.com/in/selvanemohandas/], Managing Director of IADS, dissect this week's exclusive on the $10 trillion cost of manager disengagement. Drawing on Gallup's 2025 and 2026 State of the Global Workplace reports, Maya unpacks why $40 billion in enterprise AI investment is producing near-zero returns — and why both failures trace to the same layer. ➡️Click here to read the full Exclusive! [https://iads.substack.com/p/iads-exclusive-the-10-trillion-management] For more insights and updates, follow us on LinkedIn at International Association of Department Stores - IADS [https://fr.linkedin.com/company/international-association-of-department-stores], check out our Substack [https://iads.substack.com/], visit our website at www.iads.org [https://www.iads.org/] for additional resources, and learn more here [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Association_of_Department_Stores]! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iads.substack.com/subscribe [https://iads.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Two businesses, one store: Why omnichannel still hasn't solved its own architecture

Department stores have run two business models simultaneously for over fifteen years. The result is a financial architecture that punishes omnichannel behaviour from the inside out. In this episode, Maya [https://www.linkedin.com/in/maya-sankoh/] and Selvane [https://www.linkedin.com/in/selvanemohandas/], unpack why the bottleneck was never technological, what a 7–10% ship-from-store cancellation rate reveals about incentive structures, and how the omni-cluster model redefines what the store is actually for 🏛️. ➡️Click here to dive even further into this week’s IADS Exclusive: The Next Chapter of Omnichannel [https://iads.substack.com/p/iads-exclusive-the-next-chapter-of] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iads.substack.com/subscribe [https://iads.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

One door: How single-location department stores defy retail expansion logic

What does it take to build a retail empire on a single address? Maya [https://www.linkedin.com/in/maya-sankoh/] and Christine [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinemontard/] examine the strategic logic behind the world's most iconic single-location department stores. From Royal Navy ship timbers to circus performances after closing hours, this episode explores why singularity can be more defensible than scale—and what La Samaritaine's €750 million lesson reveals about when it fails.🔗 Click here to read the full exclusive [https://iads.substack.com/p/iads-exclusive-one-door-how-single]!Stay connected: Follow us on LinkedIn [https://fr.linkedin.com/company/international-association-of-department-stores] · Read our latest on Substack [https://iads.substack.com/] · Explore www.iads.org [http://www.iads.org] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iads.substack.com/subscribe [https://iads.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Can Printemps rewrite New York's luxury retail playbook from Wall Street?

Zara has closed 600+ stores since 2019—but total selling space has grown. Their new flagships look like "monobrand department stores" with local architecture, cafés, and luxury-grade design. What can department stores learn from this transformation? Maya [https://www.linkedin.com/in/maya-sankoh/] and Selvane [https://www.linkedin.com/in/selvanemohandas/] explore the "fewer, larger, better" strategy, the experience trap, and where Zara's limits create opportunity for department stores. 🏬🌍 👉Click here to read the full exclusive. [https://iads.substack.com/p/iads-exclusive-zara-competitor-benchmark] This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iads.substack.com/subscribe [https://iads.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Why India's 45-day festival economy rewrites the retail playbook

45 days. 50% of annual grocery sales. 30-40% of automobile revenue. India’s festival season isn’t a shopping event — it’s an economic restructuring that happens every year. 🪔 This week on IADS Retail Park 🎙️, Maya [https://www.linkedin.com/in/maya-sankoh/] and Anchita [https://www.linkedin.com/in/anchita-ranka-72b36a194/] examine how Amazon India turned a five-day sale into a month-long phenomenon where 85% of customers now come from non-metro cities. UPI accounts for 78% of digital payments. Luxury brands like Jimmy Choo and Christian Louboutin are launching Diwali collections. But the North-South gambling divide proves one truth: understanding micro-contexts isn’t optional when a billion consumers are watching. 🎧 In this episode: Why 30-50% of annual sales compress into 45 days 📊. Amazon India scaled to 85% non-metro customers—what tier-2 cities revealed 🏙️. UPI hit 78% of digital payments and changed festival spending 💳. Galeries Lafayette enters Delhi and Mumbai, but one festival strategy won’t work for both 🎯. The Diwali gambling paradox: North vs. South, and what it means for campaigns 🎲. 🔗 Click here to read the full India Festival Economy Exclusive by Anchita Ranka [https://iads.substack.com/p/iads-exclusive-what-do-retailers]! For more insights and updates—connect with us on LinkedIn [https://fr.linkedin.com/company/international-association-of-department-stores] 💼, discover our exclusives on Substack [https://iads.substack.com/] 📰, and explore www.iads.org [https://www.iads.org/] 🌐 for additional resources. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iads.substack.com/subscribe [https://iads.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]