Saks to Acquire Neiman Marcus
The parent of Saks Fifth Avenue sealed a $2.65 billion deal to buy rival Neiman Marcus, according to people familiar with the matter, creating a powerhouse in luxury retailing that seeks to hang onto wealthy shoppers — all with a little help from Amazon.com. Amazon and Salesforce will take minority stakes in the combined company, to be called Saks Global, and offer their technological expertise, said The Wall Street Journal, which reported the $2.65 billion deal earlier in the day. Marc Metrick, CEO of Saks's e-commerce business, will run the combined company.
Total Retail's Take: Juan Pellerano-Rendon, chief marketing officer at Swap, a retail technology platform that manages e-commerce operations for direct-to-consumer brands, shared his thoughts on the merger in an email to Total Retail.
"The move to acquire Neiman Marcus is unsurprising as multibrand retailers struggle. Recent failures like Matches Fashion, Net-a-Porter, and Farfetch's bailout highlight the industry's challenges. This deal aims to save Saks and Neiman Marcus from a similar fate. While skeptics cite the FTC blocking Tapestry's acquisition of Capri, that case involved "accessible luxury," which isn't the focus here. The FTC may take a lenient approach."
