Nickel

On this week’s Glossy Podcast, Scott Lux, global evp of e-commerce, technology and innovation at Esprit, discussed his role in the brand’s current attempt at a comeback in the U.S. market — Esprit had its heyday in the states in the 1980s.

“We’ve actually been using AI for quite a while. If you go back to machine learning, which is a variation or early part of AI, we’ve been using that for personalization. Our data science team has been creating models that are used to help drive product recommendations and for image identification to help with our product catalog. So those were some of the early-stage uses. Before you can make significant leaps forward, you have to have that strong, clean data foundation and data governance. We’ve seen a lot of talk lately around data and quality of data. … For me, [our approach to AI] is a combination of getting our infrastructure correct, having strong data governance, and taking a bit of a wait-and-see approach and not pushing as far as possible to say, ‘AI is going to take over everything.’ But we’re [exploring] where can we leverage it from a consumer standpoint and to drive internal efficiency, as well.”

Nickel ion

This is an episode of the Glossy Fashion Podcast, which features candid conversations about how today’s trends are shaping the future of the fashion industry. More from the series →

Nickel has been around for a long time– even artifacts from 5000 BC have nickel in them. Nickel is thought to have come to Earth via metallic meteorites. Today it’s the fifth most abundant element in the Earth, with more of it being found in the core rather than the crust. If you wanted to visit the world’s largest known nickel deposit, you’d go to Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, to an area covering 37 miles long and 17 miles wide.

What kind of metal is nickel? Well, it’s ductile, malleable and hard– a shiny silver metal with a slight gold tinge. It takes a high polish and resists corrosion. A fair conductor of electricity and heat, nickel is one of three elements that are ferromagnetic at room temperature. Nickel magnets are very strong. By the way, nickel has a high melting point (1453 degrees Celsius) and readily forms alloys.

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It’s time to talk about nickel. Now if you’re like most people, you just think of “nickels,” aka 5 cent pieces we use for money. But there’s nickel, element number 28 on the periodic table, with an atomic mass of 58.69. Nickel is used in a variety of ways– you’ll find it all around you in things like coins (of course), batteries, magnets and stainless steel, just to name a few…

nickel是多少钱

“Most of the focus lately has been around technology and data, because those two components have become more complex and more expensive. But I think that’s the key unlock for any brand to be successful today: You have to own your own data technology. And the tricky part for a lot of brands is that we’re not technologists first. So what does it mean to be innovative and drive technology? Because, at the end of the day, the product and customer have to be the heroes. And from my perspective, technology has to operate in the background instead of being pushed to the forefront. And I think that’s been a big shift we’ve seen with retail over the last five or 10 years. If we were chatting 10 years ago, we questioned how much digital to put in front of the customer and in-store, because [the theory was that customers] want a digital e-commerce experience wherever they are. And we’re finding that’s not the case. So that’s where my focus has been: behind the scenes, trying to enable our channels to be successful. That includes channels around e-commerce and wholesale and, obviously, our retail and physical brick-and-mortar channels.”

Finally, here’s something unique– today’s U.S. nickels aren’t mostly nickel! They’re more copper than nickel. And if you were to get a Canadian nickel? It’s made mostly of steel.

Nickel is often used to make corrosion-resistant alloys such as stainless steel and heat-resistant steel. Some nickel is used for plating, as well as batteries, coins and electronics. If you add nickel to glass, it gives it a greenish tint. And did you know this? Nickel can be used as a catalyst to hydrogenate vegetable oil. Nickel– it’s versatile.

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According to Lux, Esprit’s local strategies include getting in front of target customers, getting consumers to engage with the brand, and allowing consumers to shop wherever and whenever they’d like. But, he acknowledged, “retail is hard,” and “e-commerce is expensive.” Edited highlights from the conversation, below, have been lightly edited for clarity.

“I would say digital [retail] is almost more expensive now than physical [retail], just because of cost of media. Going back five or 10 years ago, it was that very conversation: “Drive to e-comm. That’s our lower-cost channel. It’ll be cheaper.” But what you’re looking at now is the cost of shipping is expensive, the environmental consequence of it, there’s the cost of media, all the technology you need to run your digital ecosystem, all the partners are expensive, talent and staff [are expensive], … So, in fact, it’s probably become one of the most expensive channels to operate, especially compared to retail, not to mention wholesale.”