In “Crossing Fifth Avenue” Ira Neimark gives a detailed account of how he built Bergdorf Goodman into a new fashion
empire. The book gives an insider’s account on how luxury retailing rose to what
it is today. In the book you are given a detailed description of how Ira went
from being a pageboy to the CEO of Bergdorf Goodman, and all of his life and
business lessons he acquired along the way.
To me this story represented the ultimate Cinderella story
by showing me that you truly can go from having nothing to having everything.
Ira built his career on making friends and building relationships with the
world’s fashion elite. The store went from being old and boring to new and
chic, Bergdorf Goodman is now the place to shop if you want to look or feel
important. Ira has brought in big name clients like Princess Diana, Jackie O,
Donald Trump, Salvadore Dali, and even John Lennon. These are all people who I
am sure Ira not only built business relationships with, but also became their
good friends. The biggest lesson this book could have ever taught me was the
importance of networking.
The book helped me realize that you have to be fearless
in your career. Ira threw Bergdorf’s into a lot of unfamiliar territories and
he understood that was what he had to do to succeed. Ira single handedly brought Parisian couture
back into the mainstream of American fashion. He also brought in an array of
French and Italian high-class designers; he managed to market these new brands
by throwing fabulous events and parties.
Besides the underlying theme of networking the book also
has Ira’s life lessons scattered throughout it. One of my favorite lessons
learned was: “When building a business, you have to know both who your present
customer is, and who you want your new customer to be. After that, the
objective is deciding what type of merchandise or service will satisfy them
both.” This made the idea of retail seem so simple to me. The most important
thing in retail is knowing your customer and catering to them, the goods you
put into your retail establishment are secondary. I have never looked at a
store that way, I always thought that what you sold in the store was what would
attract the customers, so how you treated them would never really matter. I now
know that the goods may attract the customer at first, but the customer service
policy of the business is what keeps the customers coming back.
Another
one of Ira’s lesson learned that stuck out to me was: “In the retail fashion
business it is as imperative to have a knowledgeable fashion director, as well
as an imaginative publicity director, as it is to have “a nose” in the perfume
business. Both perform a function that is unique and special and that will lead
to success” I thought this was very true, because although Mr. Neimark helped
Bergdorf’s become a fashion empire, it was his actual creative staff that
helped him know what route to go. No matter how business savvy you are, it is
very important to know your stuff. A businessman may not understand what’s in
style at the moment, but a well-educated fashion director should always know
what’s “In”. As a team the CEO and business side of the company should work
with the Fashion Director and the creative side of the company, to find out
what the customer wants and what will sale. Ira Neimark had this system down
pretty well that is why Bergdorf was leaving its competitors in the dust during
Ira’s seventeen-year career. That is also why Bergdorf is still a leading
retailer, even after Ira has left the company. Thanks to Ira Neimark, Bergdorf
Goodman will always be the definition of American luxury retailing.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment