Rihanna's Savage X Fenty to open stores in 5 US cities

Dive Brief:

Savage X Fenty, the DTC lingerie brand founded by musician-entrepreneur Rihanna, will open its first-ever brick-and-mortar retail location in Las Vegas later this month, the brand said in an email to Retail Dive.
The retailer said it also plans to open stores in Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., in early 2022.
"On the heels of the brand's incredible growth since first launching in 2018, this new direct-to-consumer experience is the next step to bringing a fuller expression of the brand to consumers in key markets," the company said.

Dive Insight:

In expanding beyond e-commerce, Rihanna's direct-to-consumer lingerie line is following TechStyle Fashion Group sibling Fabletics.

The activewear brand last year announced a further expansion of its brick-and-mortar operations, though its ambitions have been scaled back. Both brands began as DTC companies that offer hefty discounts only to customers who agree to regular shipments of clothing. They join a host of DTC players in turning to brick and mortar to fuel sales.

Stores are proving to be important marketing and customer-acquisition tools despite the rise of e-commerce. Even as retail is still being reshaped by the pandemic, accelerating the growth of online clothing sales, physical locations remain a draw, according to recent research from Forrester. Last year the firm found that 72% of retail sales in the U.S. will take place at a store into 2024. Consumers' top reasons for shopping in person are to test products (47%) and being able to walk out with a purchase item after (38%), Forrester found.

That could change as omicron and potentially other COVID-19 variants again deter wary shoppers from crowded indoor spaces. But stores are also emerging as important fulfillment hubs for online customers who don't want to wait on package delivery.

Savage X Fenty's expansion into physical retail comes about a year after French luxury conglomerate LVMH put its plans for a high-end, ready-to-wear Fenty fashion house on hold, though LVMH also pledged to continue investing in the "Fenty ecosystem."