A luxury watch today is considered somewhat of an investment with its intricate, carefully crafted design that works harmoniously with the technical aspects of a watch.

However, to create such a thing requires a particular set of skills that, according to LVMH-owned luxury watch company Tag Heuer, is rapidly on the decline.

It’s why earlier this year, the retailer launched an apprenticeship program to train aspiring watchmakers. The one-year training program, which started in February in New Jersey, is a part of LVMH’s larger Métiers d’Excellence Institute, first established in Europe in 2014 and expanded to North America in 2022. The luxury conglomerate runs similar training programs in partnership with other brands under its umbrella like Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton that train young luxury hopefuls in design, craft, and retail.

“At LVMH, we have 289 métiers around the world, or trades, that represent about 80,000 of our employees [that] are working in these roles,” Gena Smith, chief human resources officer at LVMH North America, told Retail Brew. “These are creative [and] retail roles, which is another very important material for us…we really rely on these positions and the skills and these métiers to drive our business.”

Keep reading here.—JS

Many of us get our feel-goods from fitness, healthy eating, and sunshine. How about getting a funny text from a pal or reading a catch-up email from an old friend? Make good-mood moments central to your marketing game.

Listrak can show you how it’s done. As retail’s leading customer engagement platform, they provide truly top-notch SMS and email marketing to more than 1k big-timers like Hunter Boots, Untuckit, and Le Creuset.

To help you crush it, they’ve put together the 2024 Cross-Channel Benchmark Report. This bad boy goes in on how to drive click-through rates, conversion rates, and rev by using email and SMS to deliver campaigns your customers actually wanna see.

Send your audience a message.

It’s proxy season, the time of year when shareholders of public companies come together to vote on major initiatives, and apparently climate change is top of mind for investors.

A new study from sustainability nonprofit Ceres found that shareholders have filed 263 climate-related resolutions this year, a record number for a proxy season, and that the consumer goods sector saw the largest share, with more than 70 proposals.

• Of those, 28 proposals were in the consumer staples sector, and 45 were in the consumer discretionary category, which includes hotels, restaurants, and retailers.

Why are CPG companies seeing more proposals than sectors generally more associated with carbon emissions, such as energy and industry?

Keep reading here.—AV

If you’re a retailer and want to scale your business beyond the mom and pop level, you’re going to need some help. Today, we’re focusing on companies innovating to make growth more attainable.

Get it to me: Pandion, a parcel delivery network, announced a $41.5 million Series B last week that it will use for new tech, expanding geographically, reducing delivery times, and growing its leadership team.

• Pandion helps retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue manage packages by picking them up at fulfillment centers, sorting them, and completing last-mile delivery.
• Right now, Pandion, which specializes in residential e-commerce delivery, reaches more than 80% of homes in the US and owns sortation centers near Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and Philadelphia—with more planned.

Keep reading here.—KM

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