obal’s Q1 revenue fell nearly 16 per cent year over year to US$1.6 billion, and multiple vendors, including beauty brand Sunday Riley, have complained about the company’s failure to pay back overdue debts.  Meanwhile, some retail experts have questioned the thinking behind the company’s recent growth strategies, including partnerships with big-box players like Amazon and Costco and AI-enabled personalisation plan. Marie Driscoll, a chartered financial analyst and a professor at Parsons, The New School and the Fashion Institute of Technology, said the launch of Saks Fifth Avenue on Amazon may have attracted some new digital luxury shoppers, but it came at a cost. “Let’s face it, so much of luxury is in storytelling, marketing and creating experiences around a fabulous product,” said Driscoll.  SageBerry Consulting’s president and founder Steve Dennis said the retailer needs to settle its finances before attempting any more quick fixes.  “At the risk of stating the obvious, it seems like it’s a complete train wreck at the moment,” said Dennis.  How did Saks Global get to this point? “Saks Global’s problems of today have been in the making for the past decade as many of its luxury brands began their own direct-to-consumer strategy, disintermediating luxury department stores,” Driscoll told Inside Retail. “The formation of Saks Global – combining Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman in 2024 represents further consolidation, but really contraction – of the department store industry, a long-term secular reality. “Selling other people’s stuff is a low-margin business; the only differentiator is fashion point-of-view and customer service, and the customer service Saks Global offers doesn’t compare with service and experience of its luxury competition. “Their relationship with their vendor base makes the fashion POV (a curated assortment with the customer in mind and Saks take on prevailing fashion trends) increasingly difficult to execute.” Dennis noted that multiline, high-end department stores that have been facing a shrinking market for 15 years. Any recent growth has likely come from raising prices, rather than increasing the number of transactions per trip or volume of customers over time, he said. “Obviously over the long-run, this leads you to vulnerability, because your older, higher-spending customers are literally dying off or entering their lower-spending years,” said Dennis. Raising prices without increasing the value of the shopping experience in itself also turns off aspirational shoppers, who are currently burdened by tariff concerns in addition to the growing cost of living.  Where can Saks Global go from here? At this point in time, Dennis believes that Saks Global’s chances for revitalisation are slim. “It’s not clear to me how they haven’t filed for bankruptcy, as it’s their only hope for cleaning this up,” he said.  Pointing to Saks Global’s level of debt, current cash flow and quality of inventory, Dennis stated that the retailer is facing “as close to an impossible situation” as possible.  One option would be for Saks Global to sell Bergdorf Goodman, he said. If the company could find a reasonable buyer, such as Harrods, he suggested, it could raise enough cash for Saks Global to recoup its losses and focus on staying competitive.  Meanwhile, Driscoll believes Saks Global needs to refocus on the customer experience. “A return to customer centricity, engaging shoppers in stores, creating events, connecting online and in-store seamlessly is necessary to repair Saks relationships with shoppers,” said Driscoll. “Additionally, they need to regain the trust of their vendors, so quickly making back payments will partially allay emotional vendors. Much damage has been done on that front.” However, she acknowledged that balancing consumer-centricity and brand equity while improving financial results will not be an easy task for Saks Global to accomplish, especially as the company’s workforce shrinks.  She noted that Saks Global would likely close some less-profitable stores in the future, which could enable it to focus on delivering “a heightened in-store focus on experience, service and product” in the remaining stores.  Saks seeks out financial assistance On August 8, Saks Global announced that it had raised US$600 million of new capital in the form of asset-based notes issued by a special purpose entity SGUS LLC that is entirely owned subsidiary of Saks Global. Of that figure, US$400 million will go to Saks Global through an intercompany loan, with the remaining US$200 million to be funded in the future, and which will be critical to paying back vendors. “With this transaction, we are embarking on Saks Global’s next chapter, with the financial flexibility to drive long-term value and growth for our stakeholders, particularly our brand partners,” Marc Metrick, CEO of Saks Global’s operating group, stated. “Our bolstered liquidity position, combined with our improved inventory flow and the work we have done to strategically integrate our businesses, positions us to continue executing on our strategy to advance the luxury shopping experience for our customers.” Time will tell if the latest financial boost will help set Saks Global on steadier footing, or if it will prove to be a relatively ineffective band-aid.