Since joining Neiman Marcus Group as chief executive officer in 2018, Geoffroy van Raemdonck has been spearheading a transformation plan for the company that includes luxury legacy retailers Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.

Unable to realize his vision weighted down by nearly $6 billion in debt, Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy in May 2020, not long after it temporarily shuttered its stores due to Covid.

By September 2020, it completed its restructuring plan and eliminated $4 billion in existing debt.

“With the successful implementation of our restructuring, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman will continue to be the preeminent luxury shopping destinations for years to come. We emerge from Chapter 11 as a stronger, more innovative retailer, brand partner and employer,” van Raemdonck said in a statement.

Van Raemdonck has been true to his word. The company streamlined its full-priced retail footprint – closing seven full-line NM stores, including announced plans to close Natick, MA in 2021 – and closing all but five of its Last Call off-price outlets. It now operates 37 Neiman Marcus and two Bergdorf Goodman stores and the Horchow direct-to-consumer home furnishings brand.

The results of van Raemdonck’s transformation of the company are being realized. While NMG no longer publicly releases financials, during its fourth quarter, covering May through July 2021, it reported comparable sales grew 6% over the same period in 2019, including a 7% uptick in comparable online sales.

By leaning into its top 20 strongest luxury brands, Neiman Marcus achieved nearly 50% growth in those brands’ sales compared with same quarter 2019. This bump came on top of 35% growth for its top 20 brands during the third quarter this year. At the end of the quarter, net debt stood at $700 million.  

Amidst all that change, including a fall “Re-Introduce Yourself” campaign intended to re-introduce the new face of Neiman Marcus, the company has returned to its luxury roots established in 1907.

As far reaching as its goal to revolutionize the company, which it describes as “relationship businesses that leads with love for our customers, associates, brand partners, and communities,” Neiman Marcus continues to honor its legacy.

You might say it’s following a “Back to the Future” strategy and the hallmark of that is its revered holiday gift book, now in its 95th year.

Meet the HENRYs breaks new ground by uncovering a new target consumer--Millennials with money.

It's a segment of the largest generation of Americans with more discretionary income than the rest of the cohort today and poised to acquire more money in the future.

These are the millennials that matter most to brands today and tomorrow

For the foreseeable future, millennial HENRYs (High Earners Not Rich Yet) will be the consumers that every brand manager, marketer and retail executive will need to know well.

This subset of the largest generation of Americans, earns between $100K and $250K–the income cohort that accounts for 40 percent of all household spending. Most important, however, these are the consumers who are on track to become the ultra-affluent ($250K +) of the future.

This forward-looking book examines trends and profiles emerging disruptive brands that millennial HENRYs are drawn to, and explains how many of these innovative brands are setting themselves apart from the traditional top-tier luxury brands.

It takes you on a deep-dive into the steps the smartest of the traditional luxury brands and retailers are taking to keep up with a new generation of consumers who are anything but traditional in their approach to luxury spending.

Everyone has heard the adage, “The bigger the challenges, the greater the opportunity,” but often the reverse is true too: The bigger the opportunity, the greater the challenges. Both apply for home brands that aim to grow in the U.S. consumer market.“

Here are the five biggest challenges that every home furnishings brand faces entering or expanding in the U.S. market, whether selling through brick-and-mortar retail, B2C e-commerce or through the design trade.

While most businesses are entranced by the growth opportunities in China – 1.4 billion people with GDP growth averaging ~9% per year since 1980 – the U.S. market is far larger in market size yet with only one-fourth the total number of consumers – 328 million people living in 138 million U.S. households. The U.S. economy leads the world, $21.4 trillion as compared with $14.3 trillion in China, according to The World Bank.

In reality, China may be the world’s biggest producer, but the U.S. is the biggest consumer market.

Further, the U.S. is where more of the world’s wealth resides. There are 20.6 million U.S. millionaires, more than the five next largest countries combined, including China’s 2.3 million millionaires.

As for the home furnishings market, Americans spent $380.7 billion in 2020 on goods for their home, including $238.8 billion on furniture and furnishings alone. Add to that the $90.4 billion spent on home services, and the total market opportunity in the U.S. is rapidly approaching a half-trillion dollars.