Dive Brief:

• Creating two new roles at the company, luxury retailer Neiman Marcus Group announced Monday that it appointed Nabil Aliffi as chief brand officer and promoted Stefanie Tsen Ward to chief retail officer, according to a company press release.
• Both will report to Neiman Marcus Brand President Ryan Ross, who joined the company in August. Aliffi’s role will be focused on creating omnichannel experiences for the company and its more than 2,000 brand partners. Additionally, he will drive innovation and expand on customer touchpoints. Meanwhile, Tsen Ward is responsible for the company’s integrated retail strategy and customer experience offered by associates, working closely with Aliffi on bringing experiences to stores.
• The appointments are part of Neiman Marcus’ “Revolutionize Luxury Experiences” growth strategy, with the company saying it’s made investments in technology and supply chain operations over the past few years. It has committed to making a $200 million strategic investment in stores over three years, per the release.

Dive Insight:

The new chief brand and retail roles are the next steps in Neiman Marcus Group’s retail transformation, according to the company.

"Neiman Marcus is the leading integrated luxury retailer in the U.S., recently achieving tremendous transformation," Ross said in a statement. "These strategic roles will further define the magic of the iconic brand by driving areas that directly impact our customer and fuel our growth.”

Aliffi was previously the global chief creative officer of Soho House & Co., and worked at Selfridges and Urban Outfitters after co-founding Vulture Magazine. Tsen Ward began working at Neiman Marcus in 2018 and most recently acted as senior vice president of customer engagement and west region integrated retail. 

Ross added that Tsen Ward was instrumental in the company’s remote selling capabilities and that Aliffi knows “how to create a platform for loyal engagement across channels."

The luxury retailer announced in June 2021 that it would invest $500 million in technology, with an initial deal to acquire the cloud-based software-as-a-service platform Stylyze. Such funding arose from its debt refinancing in March of that year, following a bankruptcy. Neiman Marcus Group recently made “significant” updates to its namesake brand’s mobile app, per the release.

Since then, Neiman Marcus Group hired a new chief technology officer in January 2022, and later appointed new e-commerce and store senior vice presidents to its Bergdorf Goodman brand in April.

In a $200 million deal, luxury online marketplace Farfetch announced it invested in Neiman Marcus Group last April. The first project stemming from the investment was to re-platform Bergdorf Goodman’s mobile app and website using Farfetch Platform Solutions.