Saks Tailors Retro Logo to Its Strategy

Washington Post
January 26, 2007
by Ylan Q. Mui



Roxanne Roik





Saks Fifth Avenue is known as one of the finest luxury department stores. However, in recent years business has declined due to a conflict in its retail image. Saks had always catered to older wealthy women with traditional tastes, but competition from stores such as Neiman Marcus seems to have contributed to "an identity crisis", according to chief executive Steve Sadove, for Saks' own image. The store has tried to appeal to a younger market by introducing trendier merchandise, conflicting with the particular tastes of the store's traditionalist clientele. In an attempt to salvage the image that made Saks a success, it has licensed a new logo, a square logo with a "retro" feel. The sleeker symbol has "Saks Fifth Avenue" written in cursive in a black square, an attempt to create a distinguishable signature symbol for the store. The article discussed Saks' attempts to restore its image and attract their desired demographic of wealthy 35-55 year old women, their "classic customer". The company is even launching a private-label Saks Fifth Avenue Collection, with "Signature, Classic, and Sport" lines and restoring the petites section. All of these attempts to restore Saks Fifth Avenue to its glory days of catering to a high end clientele in my opinion, may very well work. The article cited that sales did indeed increase for the company as a result. I think this licensing revival is an excellent strategic move for the company because it will enable Saks to redefine itself to customers and bring back those "classic" customers it may have been losing. Licensing a brand with a successful logo is essential for bringing in good business, because a logo is the most recognizable representation of a company and the most influential component in advertising for a company. A new logo will indicate to consumers that Saks has changed and perhaps overcome its "identity crisis", sparking the interest of potential new clients as well as possibly renewing the interest of previous clients. Therefore, I think licensing a new brand logo is an excellent move for Saks!