Image by http://money.cnn.com/2002/05/21/news/companies/gap/index.htm via CrunchBase
Mickey Drexler is one of the most successful merchants ever. Known for his attention to detail, Mickey helped take J. Crew Group private earlier this year.
He was well liked by Steve Jobs and has served on the Apple (AAPL) board since 1999, when he was still the head of the Gap (GPS).
He and Steve Jobs share a lot of similarities: detail-oriented, product focus, and students of best practices.
Drexler recently spoke about Jobs in this Globe and Mail interview:
In 2010, on Charlie Rose�s program, Drexler also spoke about what he learned about retailing from Apple opening its stores:
When Apple opened their stores 12 years ago, Steve Jobs knew that he had to control his distribution and his product. He couldn�t depend upon most of the companies that are bankrupt or out of business today to control it.
Now, you go online today � and I do this as practice. We do in our company, because we are starting to do some outside brands. Name the price and where you buy it, and every single brand, and this is what astounds me,is that the off-pricers are eating business, you know, left and right from the regular pricers.
And it can�t continue that way unless you differentiate yourself. Because consumers today are sophisticated enough, I don�t really care where I buy my brands if I get quick delivery online � you might not pay taxes which might not be fair, or you get free shipping and it�s there the next day and you can return it. I�m not going to go someplace else to buy it at one-third more. And there is a million examples.
And no one is talking about in Manhattan, department stores are opening up off price. Nordstrom rack is opening on Union Square, will have every label that the department stores have, I guess, 30 blocks away. What�s going to happen? Guilt, what�s happening. It�s on discount.
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