Walmart Is Borrowing Luxury’s Playbook To Gain An Edge On Amazon In Fashion

Denise Incandela, who joined Walmart a year ago to oversee fashion on Walmart.com, Jet.com, and Shoes.com, knows that her employer’s name is more likely to conjure thoughts of canned corn, toothpaste, or cat food than attractive clothes. “Why would [shoppers] consider fashion from our platforms?” she asked rhetorically at WWD’s Digital Forum in New York on Sept. 13. “It’s certainly what we’ve been spending all our time on over the last year.” Incandela believes she has the answer to that question, based on her luxury background (paywall) as president of global digital at Ralph Lauren and before that working as a top executive at the high-end retailer Saks Fifth Avenue. The lessons she learned in those jobs are playing a part in a “major transformation” at Walmart, to make its sites destinations for clothes shoppers and attractive partners to fashion brands. Read more at Quartz.