Tamara Mellon Quotes

As retail goes through a fundamental shift into the digital world, I believe Ocado's model and the high standards of customer service it provides will see it emerge as a powerful online player.

It is a matter of course and of absolute necessity to the conduct of business, that any discretionary businessman must be free to deal or not to deal in any given case; to limit or withhold the equipment under his control, without reservation.

Walmart is going to be very good at this e-commerce game.

We have the brand, and we have the fulfillment capability. Now we had to get the Net, and that's the easiest part of the game.

It is a well-known fact that bringing in technologies in retail sector is good for consumers.

Brands will increasingly handle their own e-commerce and rely less and less on local distribution partners. Why should they give away their profit margins?

I wanted control over the merchandising, the actual packaging of the product. That was a big factor. The only way for me to exercise control on all those levels was to start my own label.

I think overall it is better for businesses to stay private because you have more latitude, more freedom.

We really see the future of what we call 'distributed commerce,' so how we get our content, our products, and our brands to consumers.

Retail is undergoing a massive change, and there is a chance for new leaders to emerge and older brands to reinvent themselves.

You have to have a unique product that Amazon just can't source. It's all about the product. Why is it important? Why is it different? Amazon are not merchants. They are technology platform guys.

We're not waiting for the fashion cycle to have 180 buyers come in and see the collection and go, 'We like it, we'll buy it, and we'll have it in June.' The only one we're selling to is Net-A-Porter, and the rest is through our site.

Art.com is a fantastic opportunity to move into the consumer space, as we have the content and now we have the means to go to the consumer and sell to them directly.

If you control your distribution, you control your image.

Lands' End has undergone three major changes over the past couple of decades. The first was the introduction of an 800 number, in 1978; the second was express delivery, in 1994; and the third was the introduction of a Web site, in 1995. The first two innovations cut the average transaction time-the time between the moment of ordering and the moment the goods are received-from three weeks to four days. The third innovation has cut the transaction time from four days to, well, four days.

Look at the world of books nowadays. People just download books. They don't go to a bookstore. Amazon is wiping out Borders and Barnes and Noble. Those are brilliant examples of ephemeralization doing more with less at a better price.

Some businesses offer such a lousy customer experience that they are prime candidates for competition from Internet based stores.

I have Twitter so I can tell people what I want them to buy and they give me money.

When you grow a business, it belongs to a lot of other people besides you. As much as you want to control it, the minute you go public, it becomes a business . . .

Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.

The biggest thing is online shopping. So that you don't have to dress up, go down Bond Street or Rodeo or wherever, go and be intimidated by shop assistants to buy Gucci shoes or a Prada dress. You can just go online and, if it doesn't fit you, send it back. And I think that is the biggest, biggest difference, because that means everybody can do it.

The internet has been incredible in regards to the selling of my CD. I don't know how it's affected or will affect my acting career.

The online shopping paradigm is finally changing. Indeed, I think we’ve seen more innovation in the last 10 months than in the last 10 years. We’ve seen an explosion of interesting technologies and opportunities that seek to change online shopping.

It's important to keep up the idea of the brand, even beyond sales.

It [eBook] is like introducing the machine gun to a revolutionary war. It changes everything. If you can reach your fans directly without having to go through a middle man, the entire economics of the publishing business changes.