Drexler: Owning brand names and avoiding wholesale prevents competitor markdowns
Mickey Drexler · Mickey Drexler: The Art of Selling with Retail's Merchant Prince · Feb 4, 2025 · at 19:19
Former Gap and J.Crew CEO Mickey Drexler discusses why owning a proprietary retail brand shields a business from direct price competition.
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“When I joined Ann Taylor Brooks Brothers, and I saw it decline dramatically then, because, you know, no merchants running it, the quality, they would take quality out to maintain price, but they had a protective device about Competitors. They owned their name. They didn't sell wholesale. No one could take a mark down.”
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