endy Liebmann is smitten with stores. The founder

of WSL Strategic Retail speaks about the redemp-

tive qualities of shopping the way some people talk

about a Caribbean vacation or spa getaway.

WSL, a consulting firm, helps clients create results-

oriented retail strategies to drive business, advising

them on everything from distribution strategies to cor-

porate culture. Liebmann challenges retailers to find new

approaches to selling products and services. While WSL

has a special interest in retail and beauty, it counts food and

beverage, pets, financial services and health care firms among

its clients. As WSL’s chief executive and chief shopping officer,

Liebmann travels around the world—she visited Bonn, Zur-

ich and Lima, Peru, in 2011—giving speeches about embracing

change and preaching her message of customer-centricity. Not

simply concerned with the here and now, Liebmann makes bold

predictions about the industry’s future, looking out 10 to 15 years.

Her strong belief in the preeminence of the consumer led Lieb-

mann to develop “How America Shops,” a biannual survey that

decodes the customer’s collective behavior and mind-set.

FOR RETAIL EXPERT WENDY LIEBMANN, SHOPPING IS NOT ONLY A PERSONAL PASSION— IT’S SERIOUS BUSINESS. BY SHARON EDELSON PHOTOGRAPHED BY MICHAEL NAGLE

THE RETAIL ISSUE

BB1204-PG32-WELL-Wendy.a;15.indd 33 3/28/12 3:10 PM03282012151145

Does shopping ever seem like a chore? “Shopping never feels like work for us,”

Liebmann says. “You need to have a passion about shopping and retailing. You

don’t have to love to shop, but you have to love the adventure of it, the journey. I

love shopping for clothes the most and I appreciate a great lipstick.”

Liebmann was raised in a small town in Australia’s bush country surrounded

by strong women. “I grew up in a family where you were allowed to speak your

mind if you had the facts,” she says. “My mother was always the business ambas-

sador. My grandmother worked with my father exporting sheepskin and wool to

Europe for fashion and America for uniforms. Shopping was an adventure for us

because we’d go to Sydney and have tea in a department store. The adventure of

shopping and the experience of it was very exciting.”

Her mother taught Liebmann the im-

portance of making a good first impression.

“I’m very passionate about lipstick and hair

color,” she says, patting her chestnut locks.

Liebmann is devoted to a distinctive shade

of lipstick, M.A.C. Red, that’s somewhere

between red and orange. “My mother always

said, ‘Keep your lipstick on straight and you

can do anything.’”

Liebmann moved to the U.S. in 1979

and got a job at Revlon International. Af-

ter six years, she left Revlon and did an 18-month stint at Del Labs working on

Lip Quencher, which introduced her to key beauty players at Walgreens, CVS and

Wal-Mart. She started her business in 1986 with the idea of helping companies

determine the optimum distribution channels for their products. She also hit upon

the notion that retailers might find it valuable to get a better understanding of their

customers. “Big companies like Wal-Mart were saying, ‘I want to know about my

shopper. She’s becoming much more complicated,’” Liebmann says. Her first client

was Del Labs. Then, Quick Chek, a New Jersey–based chain of convenience stores

selling gas, food and coffee that was looking to add beauty and pharmacy, asked

Liebmann for help creating a new format that would appeal to women.

etailers today have many more challenges. When she started WSL, Lieb-

mann covered 10 different shopping channels. Today, she follows 30, in-

cluding online, mobile, TV home shopping, social media and more. Then,

there’s the economy. One of the unfortunate implications of the reces-

sion for retailers is the demise of the aspirational shopper, that post-college work-

ing woman who spent a disproportionate amount of her paycheck on fashion and

beauty. “Saks Fifth Avenue is recognizing that the aspirational shopper isn’t coming

back anymore,” Liebmann says. “You have to create unique experiences.”

“Wendy over the years has provided trend forecasting and consumer insights,

how they’re thinking, shopping, saving and trading up,” says Stephen Sadove, chair-

man and ceo of Saks Fifth Avenue. “She has a perspective that cuts across all

channels, from luxury to Wal-Mart. She’s very proactive in terms of how shopping

behaviors influence [buying]. I’ve used Wendy for much broader trends than just

beauty. She has a global perspective and she’s very well grounded.”

In 1993, Liebmann was interested in the TV shopping phenomenon and

wanted to explore it further. She wondered if it was a ripple or a wave. That year,

one network gave Liebmann access to its shoppers. “Our research busted all

the myths,” she says. “All incomes bought jewelry. People are now willing to buy

things without touching and feeling. You can never presume or assume. What’s

interesting about TV shopping is that it hasn’t grown dramatically as a channel

to buy things. TV can influence the way people buy product in other places. Look

at Bare Escentuals. It built credibility through TV shopping and infomercials.”

Liebmann is closely watching mobile and digital commerce for signs of a ripple

bubbling up to something bigger. “Ten years ago, dollar stores were a ripple,” she

said. “Now, they’re a wave.”

Whenever she visits a foreign country, Liebmann makes a point of seeing where

and how the locals shop. “There are markets where things are bubbling up,” she says.

“A lot of things are developing in Turkey, China and New Zealand.”

Mall culture is growing in Lima, for example, where entrepreneurs are modern-

izing the traditional juice stands found on city streets and bringing them to bur-

geoning shopping malls. Metro supermarket’s Real Future Store in Bonn, Germany,

is a favorite of Liebmann’s because it tests new concepts, such as sound and smell

showers in the seafood department that envelop customers with a wraparound un-

derwater experience.

“I follow the shopper,” Liebmann is fond of saying. “She will lead us to the future

and change the way retailers think. The reality of listening to shoppers makes our

clients step back and listen. A client once

said to me, ‘You make us feel uncomfort-

able.’ I shake them up a bit.”

There’s no sugarcoated advice falling

from Liebmann’s lips. “I was giving a speech

to a group of chief executives and I said, ‘Get

rid of your real estate departments and turn

them into digital marketing departments,’”

she recalls. “You could hear all the air being

sucked out of the room.”

Services such as nail spas and blow-dry

bars are catching on at chains like Walgreens and Duane Reade, while Sephora

is creating shop-in-shops for brands like Make Up For Ever at some locations.

“We’re doing ongoing consumer research where consumers evaluate the in-store

experience and tell us what they expect from beauty companies,” says Liebmann,

who helped Boots U.K. develop a market-entry strategy when it decided to ex-

pand to the U.S.

After testing its concept at Target and CVS, Boots chose the mass retailer over the

drug chain. “We wanted to bring our legendary service from the U.K. to the U.S.,”

says Boots ceo Steve Lloyd. “Wendy very much helped us shape the approach we

took in the trial. Putting service into the mass market was seen as a bit different.

Wendy was very supportive and Target embraced the program.”

In 2007, Liebmann helped luxury and mass market clients navigate the reces-

sion. “They were fearful and stopped thinking about the future,” she says. Lieb-

mann last year began urging clients to realistically consider the future, adjust their

expectations and examine their business, warts and all. “Pragmatic provocateurs”

is what Liebmann calls her team. “We provoke thinking and being really practical.”

That’s not to say that Liebmann doesn’t appreciate a bit of fantasy and whimsy from

time to time. Retail theater, in other words.

Liebmann invited a reporter to join her on a “retail safari,” a service WSL offers

clients that includes tours of notable stores followed by a brainstorming session. On

a recent rainy Friday, Liebmann was waiting inside Eataly, the vast Italian market-

place with cafés, a gelato bar, restaurants, fresh meat, fish, pasta, produce and more.

Liebmann understands the nature of the retail beast and dressed accordingly. For

the Eataly excursion, she wore patterned pants, a black raincoat and black Converse

sneakers. “Never underestimate the power of a comfortable pair of shoes,” she says.

“When I go shopping, I like to go hands free.” Liebmann wasn’t carrying a handbag,

but every so often, she pulled an iPhone out of her pocket and snapped something

that caught her eye.

Walking into Eataly’s fish market, she recalled the time she took a fragrance cli-

ent on safari to Whole Foods at Time Warner Center. As they descended the esca-

lator, the sight and scent of fresh flowers became overwhelming. “Retailers forget

that it’s okay to have smells,” she says. “Odors bring back memories. We don’t use

smells and fragrance enough, natural or not.”

Despite her enthusiasm for beauty and fashion, two food retailers are at the top

of Liebmann’s list of favorites in New York. “The holistic experience at Eataly is

pretty stunning,” she says, adding that her other pick is Whole Foods at Time War-

ner Center. Both retailers do an extra-special job of creating experiences for shop-

pers. “Sight, sound, innovation, wonderful service—you just want to stay forever.”

34 WWD BEAUTY INC

“A CLIENT ONCE SAID TO ME, ‘YOU MAKE US FEEL

UNCOMFORTABLE.’ I SHAKE THEM UP A BIT.”

R

WmCu

An inspiring new shopping area, Britomart, in Auckland, NZ, is

built in old shipping containers.

Wonderful “retail” merchandising in Cusco, Peru.

Building retail relationships with

every age. My new favorite, The French Market in

Auckland.

New retail technology at Real Future Store, in Germany. “Sound showers” create the smell and sound of the sea in the fish market.

I look for smart shopping and retail marketing everywhere. This was in Istanbul.

Richard Serra sculptures at Dia Beacon, N.Y. Great “retail” inspiration —how to use space and light.

Great retail starts from the street.

Barneys New York and Lady Gaga made

a bold statement last Christmas.

WENDY’S WORLD

A GLOBAL INSPIRATION TOUR