• Wall Street Journal, Thursday, February 25, 2010 10:39 AM

Rachel Dodes reports that, in an attempt to differentiate itself from other luxury-goods retailers, Saks will announce several new product lines in 2010. Exclusive brands eventually will constitute about 20% of its merchandise, up from 10% today.

"It's incumbent on us not to be just a place where you can buy the big brands," says Saks CEO Stephen Sadove. "Those brands are still critical -- the Chanels, the Pradas the Guccis -- but even within those brands, we need to find things that are unique to us."

Deals for exclusive lines often require retailers to bear all the inventory risk, Dodes points out, but if customers respond, margins can be higher, and Saks should be able to react faster to sales trends.

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