In episode 426 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Emily Essner, chief marketing officer of Saks, the premier digital platform for luxury fashion in North America. During the wide-ranging conversation, Essner discusses the fashion retailer's quarterly Saks Luxury Pulse survey (0:55) and key findings from its most recent survey data released in September (2:33), including how consumers look to luxury retailers for fashion inspiration (4:45). She shares why consumers trust Saks as a luxury market authority (7:12) and how the brand is capitalizing on consumer and fashion trends identified in the survey (9:00).

Furthermore, Essner discusses how Saks collects customer feedback (10:20), shares an example of how the company has used that information to improve the customer experience (12:05), and details the retailer's marketing strategy for this holiday shopping season (14:25). Lastly, she shares Saks' approach to customer retention vs. acquisition (16:35) and why it's investing in returning customers for growth (18:45).

Emily Essner is chief marketing officer of Saks. She is responsible for the marketing strategy, including growth, brand, data analytics, creative and communications across the Saks Fifth Avenue ecosystem. Previously, she held various leadership roles across marketing and business operations at Saks Fifth Avenue, including chief marketing officer, as well as corporate strategy positions at HBC. Prior to joining Saks Fifth Avenue, Essner was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. She holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations and Spanish from Mount Holyoke College.