这家百货公司大力推行高科技为哪般？科技战略能否解决高端零售业困境？

诺德斯特龙（Nordstorm）人等了几十年，终于等到了这一天，他们正用这最后几分钟的时间来享受这一刻。

今年4月一个湿漉漉的上午，曼哈顿西57大街上，诺德斯特龙公司的几十名员工列队站在这家高端百货公司连锁在这新开的商场门内。诺德斯特龙公司成立于117年前，总部位于西雅图，是美国零售业的知名优秀品牌，但这家离中央公园只有一个街区之隔的男装商场，确是这个公司在纽约这个时尚之都的第一家全品类商场。

人们在布鲁斯·诺德斯特龙到场时更加激动了，这位已入耋耄之年的名誉主席被员工亲切称为“布鲁斯先生”（而他们都称自己为诺迪人，意为诺德斯特龙人）。布鲁斯掌舵时，带领公司走向全美；现在他正沿着欢迎的队伍走来，赢得了人们的欢呼声。人群里还包括他的三个儿子：布莱克、埃里克和皮特，他们是诺德斯特龙公司的联合总裁，也是家族里掌管公司的第四代。

正式开业时间是10点，随着时间临近，商店经理示意大家安静，做最后的动员演讲。她说：“大家在这要干得开心！要把注意力几种在你面前的那个顾客身上！”售货员围成一个圈，鼓掌，高喊公司口号：“做好准备，勇创世界一流！”商场开门了，诺德斯特龙此刻终于加入了纽约市的高端零售业竞赛，开始和萨克斯第五大道精品百货商店（Saks Fifth Avenue）、布鲁明戴尔（Bloomingdale’s）、波道夫·古德曼（Bergdorf Goodman）展开竞争。

这不仅是个总面积47000平方英尺的商场，还是个设计精巧的高科技购物实验室；这样的商场还有好几个，诺德斯特龙热切地用这些商场做试验，看看哪些方式才能在电商称霸的时代让互动性强的高端零售业更具竞争力。商场共三层，布局像个迷宫，其中的科技设计并不招摇但十分重要。一些设计非常实用，比如自助箱，购物者可以自行退货（在线购物也可以用自助箱退货），几乎立刻就能拿到退款。还有一些科技卖点令人啧啧称奇：在套装区，顾客可以从投影屏幕上看到自己穿上定制的西服时会是什么模样？这能称得上是对“量两次，裁一次”（意为三思而后行）这句谚语的数字化演示。另外，一些设计简直是把你宠上天：如果你在网上“预定”了产品，想在付款之前先试穿，你会发现商场里有一个专门为你准备的试衣间，上面还有你的名字呢。

The Nordies had waited decades for this day, and they were ?taking a few final moments to savor it.

On a damp morning in April, dozens of Nordstrom employees formed a long greeting line just inside the entrance to the upscale department store chain’s new location, on West 57th Street in Manhattan. The 117-year-old, Seattle-based company is one of American retail’s most respected names, but this men’s emporium, just a block from Central Park, would be its first full-service store in the nation’s fashion capital.

The party mood intensified with the arrival of Bruce ?Nordstrom, the octogenarian chairman emeritus affectionately dubbed “Mr. Bruce” by employees (“Nordies” is their shared nickname). When he led Nordstrom, Mr. Bruce had helped the company go nationwide; now he earned an ovation as he walked along the receiving line. The onlookers included his three sons, Blake, Erik, and Pete—now Nordstrom’s copresidents, and the fourth generation of the family to run the company.

As the 10 a.m. opening neared, the store manager hushed the room to give the employees a final pep talk. “Have fun out there, and focus on that one customer in front of you,” she said. The salespeople converged in a circle, pumped their hands, and shouted a Nordstrom mantra: “Let’s get ready for our world-class day!” The doors opened, and with that, Nordstrom finally had a horse in New York City’s high-end retail race, competing with stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, and Bergdorf Goodman.

But the 47,000-square-foot emporium is also a sophisticated shopping-tech laboratory—one of several where Nordstrom is urgently experimenting with ways to make upscale, high-touch retail more competitive in an e-commerce-driven era. The mazelike layout, spread over three floors, showcases subtle but important technological enhancements. Some are super-practical—such as self-service bins where shoppers can drop off returns (including online purchases) and get credit almost immediately. Others have a wow factor: In the suits section, customers can see how bespoke jackets would look on life-size avatars of themselves, projected on screens, a digital take on the adage, “Measure twice, cut once.” And yet others pamper you: If you’ve “reserved” a product online to try on before you buy, there’ll be a fitting room waiting for you—with your name on the door.

?

曼哈顿的店说明诺德斯特龙对实体商店信心十足，也说明了要想让实体商店成功，科技十分重要。在百货商店业界，诺德斯特龙的科技化程度之高，无出其右者。现在该公司全品类销售业务30%的销售额都来自线上，这一成功也使公司很大程度上避开了零售业戏剧般的冲击。该公司2017年的营业额超过155亿美元，2007年是91亿美元，增势稳定，而它各主要竞争对手的业绩则停滞不前或出现缩水。销售增长并未影响诺德斯特龙公司一贯贴心的顾客服务，该公司的贴心服务享誉业内，甚至催生了上世纪的一本经典商业著作《诺德斯特龙方式》。

然而，远处的阴云仍不能忽视。诺德斯特龙的零售业务主要依赖商场，不断缩水的商场客流量已经产生了负面影响，该公司全品类商店的销售额已连跌五年，越来越依靠打折连锁店Nordstrom Rack的销售增长。但有专家担心这棵卖减价产品的摇钱树会影响公司主品牌的声誉。而公司花大价钱投资科技、开新店铺，这些投资哪怕最后能证明物有所值，也已经侵蚀了利润，吓坏了华尔街：公司股价和2015年年初的最高点比，已经下跌了40%。

诺德斯特龙对此的回应：加倍努力尝试新项目——不仅在纽约，还包括线上和美国其它地方。“有时要想改变，得放弃长久以来的一些成功之道。”公司联合总裁埃里克·诺德斯特龙这样告诉《财富》杂志。

要是在眼光锐利（注意力时间却不长）的普通股东眼皮底下做出转变，放弃就难上加难了。“为了发展必须要做的事却无法立刻盈利。”科技咨询公司L2的战略师汤姆·葛汉尼说。其他一些零售公司通过私有化来实现自我变革，最近包括三位联合总裁在内的诺德斯特龙家族也试图这么做。但他们想买该公司其余68%股权的提案在3月被董事会以价格过低为由拒绝了。（三兄弟都是董事会成员，但在会谈中都回避了。）

“不做好顾客服务，科技含量再高、功能再花哨也白搭。”

首席数字官，肯·沃泽尔

如果诺德斯特龙的数字实验进展顺利，公司股东们应该能看到他们渴望得到的利润。这些科技项目旨在以建立可盈利的亲密客户关系为目标，更新当期的商业模式。以前这种亲密的客户关系可能意味着提供送货上门服务，或者给客户打电话告诉她新上的裙子里有一条她可能会喜欢；现在则是利用通讯类手机软件让销售人员和顾客建立联系，或者启用“地理围栏”功能，这样如果有个忠实顾客要来店里试穿他在网上预定的商品，他快走到时销售人员就能知道他的位置了。

公司高管说，如果服务能够和科技相辅相成，就能形成良性循环，让电商业务吸引顾客走进利润率更高的实体店，提高实体店销量。这是21世纪零售商的生存法则——但只有服务理念对了，法则才能奏效。“如果我们不把服务做好，”诺德斯特龙的首席数字官肯·沃泽尔说：“科技含量再高、功能再花哨也白搭。”

诺德斯特龙成立于1901年，由瑞典移民约翰·W·诺德斯特龙（为了纪念他，公司的股票代码是他的姓名首字母缩写JWN）和人合伙创立的。在此之前，诺德斯特龙在克朗代克掘到了金，用赚来的钱在西雅图市区开了家鞋店。公司早年以品质上乘、服务优良而闻名。二战期间皮革属于限量供给物资，诺德斯特龙就给供货商们预付款项，保证了比较好的货源。

20世纪60年代，诺德斯特龙把业务范围从鞋子扩大到了时尚业；到80年代，它的商业版图已经从太平洋西北地区和加州大本营扩展到了东海岸。管理层在店铺拓展上深思熟虑，不急于求成，只有确定当地经济条件合适时才增设店铺。诺德斯特龙目前能拥有122家全品类百货商店和239家折扣店而不债台高筑，也得益于这种审慎的作风。更重要的是，根据诺德斯特龙的说法，公司的所有店铺都能盈利。

后来，诺德斯特龙逐渐得到了认可，被视为高端消费场所，即使不用魅力四射来形容，也代表了中上层的品位，而萦绕在一些店铺里的现场钢琴演奏可谓是品牌氛围的一个缩影。顾客的忠诚度源自贴心的服务和自由的退换政策。“诺德斯特龙的成功关键在于：像波道夫对待最富有的客户那样对待中等收入以上的顾客。”该公司的长期持股人、史密得资本管理（Smead Capital Management）公司的比尔·史密得说。谦虚的公司文化让这种待客之道得以延续。几十年来，公司的管理层都需要从楼层经理做起，这样才能熟悉职员和顾客的体验感受（后来这招被同为西雅图企业的星巴克和其它一些公司也学去了）。直到今天，公司的顶层管理人员仍然要自己接电话。

公司一直是家族经营，诺德斯特龙兄弟现在的管理方式有些特殊。三兄弟不爱抛头露面，他们从2000年就接管公司，2015年被任命为公司的联合总裁；公司没有首席执行官。兄弟三人各有主管领域，埃里克主要负责电商、布莱克负责折扣店和科技、皮特负责采购和品牌合作。在公司的西雅图总部，他们既能感受到家乡，也能感受到生死存亡的威胁。从他们的办公室看出去，几个街区之外能看到大量吊车正忙着搭建亚马逊公司高耸入云的新大楼。

The Manhattan store illustrates just how much faith Nordstrom has in physical stores—and how crucial tech is to its vision of making them work. No department store has been more successful at embracing technology—30% of sales for Nordstrom’s full-service store division now come online—and that success has helped Nordstrom dodge much of the drama buffeting retail. The company’s revenues in 2017 topped $15.5 billion, up from $9.1 billion in 2007, a stretch of steady growth during which its closest competitors saw sales flatline or fall. And growth hasn’t tarnished its reputation for attentive customer service, an approach so legendary that it inspired one of the last century’s classic business books, The Nordstrom Way.

Still, there are unignorable clouds on the horizon. Nordstrom is very much a mall-based retailer, and the steady dwindling of mall traffic has taken its toll: Sales at full-service stores have been declining for five years. The company has become increasingly dependent for growth on its discount Nordstrom Rack chain, an off-price gravy train that some experts fear could threaten the cachet of the main brand. And big investments in technology and new stores, valuable though they may prove to be, have eroded profits and spooked Wall Street: Shares are down 40% from their all-time highs of early 2015.

Nordstrom’s response: a redoubled effort to test new initiatives—not just in New York, but online and nationwide. “Sometimes to change, you have to let go of what’s been successful for a long time,” copresident Erik Nordstrom tells Fortune.

Letting go is particularly challenging because the transformation is unfolding under the sharp eyes (and short attention spans) of public-market shareholders. “Right now the things that are necessary to grow are not profitable,” says Tom Gehani, a strategist at digital consultancy L2. Other retailers have gone private to reinvent themselves, and members of the Nordstrom family, including the copresidents, recently tried to do the same. But their offer to buy the 68% of Nordstrom they don’t already own was rejected by the board in March as too low. (The three brothers, who each hold board seats, recused themselves from the talks.)

“If we don’t get (customer service) right, no amount of technology or whiz-bang features will be enough.”

Ken Worzel, Chief Digital Officer

Still, if Nordstrom’s digital experiments play out as its leaders hope, shareholders should see the earnings they crave. The chain’s tech push aims to update a business model centered on close and profitable relationships with customers. In an earlier era such close ties might have meant home delivery, or giving a customer a call to say a new dress she might like has arrived; today it’s connecting salespeople to customers via a messenger app, or deploying “geofencing” so Nordstrom knows a loyalist is nearing the store to try on an item he ordered online.

When service and technology harmonize, executives say, they create a virtuous cycle where e-commerce drives traffic to stores, leading to more sales at higher margins. That’s a recipe for 21st-century retail survival—but it works only if the service ethos remains strong. “If we don’t get those things right,” says Ken Worzel, Nordstrom’s chief digital officer, “no amount of technology or whiz-bang features will be enough.”

Nordstrom was founded in 1901 by Swedish immigrant John W. Nord?strom (its stock ticker is JWN, in his honor) and a business partner, after Nordstrom struck gold in the Klon?dike and opened a shoe store in downtown Seattle with his winnings. The company built a reputation for quality goods and good customer service early on. During World War II, when leather was rationed, Nordstrom paid vendors upfront, enabling the chain to get its hands on better merchandise.

In the 1960s Nordstrom moved beyond shoes and into fashion; by the late 1980s it had expanded its footprint from its Pacific Northwest and California roots to the East Coast. Management added stores patiently and deliberately, and only when they were confident that local economics supported them. Such caution is one reason Nordstrom has reached its present size—122 full-service department stores and 239 Racks—without piling on the debt. What’s more, Nordstrom says, all of its stores are profitable.

Nordstrom gradually gained credibility as a high-end destination, upper-middle-classy if not glamorous, its atmosphere epitomized by the live piano music that still graces some of its lobbies. Loyal customers basked in attentive service and a liberal return policy. “The key to Nordstrom is to treat people of above-average income the same way the highest-end people get treated at Bergdorf’s,” says longtime shareholder Bill Smead of Smead Capital Management. That approach was well served by a culture of corporate humility. To stay in touch with the experience of workers and customers, new executives for decades started by working the store floor (a tactic later borrowed by fellow Seattle retailer Starbucks, among others). To this day, top execs answer their own phones.

The company remains a family business, run in an unusual arrangement by the Nordstrom brothers. The publicity-averse trio took charge in 2000 and adopted the copresident title in 2015; there is no CEO. Each has his main bailiwick: Erik focuses more on e-commerce, Blake on Nordstrom Rack and tech, and Pete on merchandising and brand partnerships. Their Seattle headquarters keep them in touch with their roots and also with their biggest existential threat. From their ?offices, they can see the many cranes erecting Amazon’s towering new buildings, a few blocks away.

掌门人三兄弟

诺德斯特龙的联合总裁

布莱克·诺德斯特龙

2000至2015年期间担任公司总裁，2015年和其他两兄弟共同担任联合总裁。如今主管折扣店和科技。

埃里克·诺德斯特龙

主管电商，公司在电商领域大胆投资、勇于创新。电商的一个主要目标：吸引更多在线客户走进实体店。

皮特·诺德斯特龙

主管采购和品牌合作。在品牌合作业务中，他为说服“主营线上”的品牌进驻诺德斯特龙做出了贡献。

诺德斯特龙长期以来都拥抱科技而非惧怕科技。早在上世纪90年代中期，它就开始尝试线上销售和送货到家业务了。2002年，它是首批使用销售数据实时监控系统的公司之一，因此能更好地判断应该储备哪些商品。科技元素也运用到了打折店里；诺德斯特龙打折店是首批打破销售流程的零售店之一，店员们配备了移动设备，因而能在店里的任何角落收款结账。

近几年，诺德斯特龙收购了一些电商公司的股权，借此扩展自己对线上零售的理解，收购或者投资了包括Bonono、Shoes of Prey、HauteLook在内的品牌（而投资设计师服务品牌Trunk Club的经历就不那么愉快了，这次投资亏了一半多）。“他们在一个缺乏创新的行业里成功实现了创新。”里克·卡鲁索说，里克的公司拥有洛杉矶的格罗夫购物中心（The Grove），里面有一家诺德斯特龙高档商店。

令诺德斯特龙人骄傲的是，这些创新中很多都是围绕实体店展开的。西雅图机场附近的一个小商场里，诺德斯特龙有一个被他们称为“体验概念店”的店铺，那是一个现场实验室，把新项目在真实的客户中进行试验。正是在这里，公司对线上预定线下试穿的功能进行了微调；这个地方还是实地试验路边取货服务的地方。（他们还准备在拥堵的曼哈顿推出这项服务！祝您们好运！诺迪人！）

《财富》杂志于5月去店中参访时，购物者正在体验一个旨在优化公司手机app的功能。如果顾客看中的鞋缺货，利用“扫码购物”（Scan and Shop）功能，扫描二维码，就能在Nordstrom.com网站上查找这个产品。这个功能和公司app里“造型师委员会”（Style Board）的功能相得益彰，开通“造型师委员会”功能，顾客的个人造型师会给她发送着装建议，告诉她哪些服饰或许能搭配她刚买的商品——就像是现代版的知心销售打电话告诉有新货到店一样。“他们不只是在追求那些很炫的东西，他们是在选择真正符合公司传承的元素。”曾任职诺德斯特龙管理层多年、目前就职于科特国际（Kotter International）咨询公司的凯茜·葛史说。

诺德斯特龙的主导理念是，如果创新能提升客户忠诚度，实现的收入可以远超成本，如果这些创新之举吸引线上顾客走进实体商店就更是如此，因为他们在实体店买得更多。“如何把流量带进实体店？他们现在要为此奋战了。”普华永道的客户市场主管史蒂夫·巴尔说。

THREE AT THE TOP

Nordstrom’s copresidents

Blake Nordstrom

He served as president from 2000 until 2015, when his brothers joined him as copresidents. Today he specializes in Rack stores and tech.

Erik Nordstrom

Erik focuses on e-commerce, where the chain has been an aggressive investor and innovator. One key goal: luring more online shoppers into stores.

Pete Nordstrom

His responsibilities include merchandising and brand partnerships. In the latter arena, he has helped persuade “digital-first” brands to sell in Nordstrom’s stores.

But Nordstrom has a long tradition of embracing technology rather than cowering before it. ?It was experimenting with online sales and home delivery as early as the mid-1990s. In 2002 it was among the first retailers to deploy systems that monitored sales minute by minute, helping it make better decisions about which merchandise to stock. The tech savvy extends to the Rack chain too; it was one of the first retailers to deploy line-busting tech by equipping staff with mobile devices that can ring up a sale anywhere in the store.

In recent years Nordstrom has taken stakes in e-commerce companies to broaden its understanding of digital retail, buying or investing in such brands as Bonobos, Shoes of Prey, and HauteLook (and, less happily, stylist service Trunk Club, an investment of which it had to write down more than half). “They’ve proven to be innovative in an industry that lacks innovation,” says Rick Caruso, whose company owns The Grove in Los Angeles, home to one of Nordstrom’s top stores.

Many of those innovations are proudly store-centric. In a modest mall near Seattle’s airport, Nordstrom operates a branch that it dubs its “Experience Concept Store”—a living lab where it tests new initiatives with real-world customers. Here it fine-tuned the now-popular feature that lets customers reserve clothing online but try it on in stores; the location was also a proving ground for curbside pickup. (?Nordstrom is likely to offer that in congested Manhattan. Godspeed, Nordies!)

When Fortune visited the store in May, shoppers were trying out a feature designed to beef up Nordstrom’s app. Scan and Shop helps customers use a QR code scan to find products on Nordstrom.com when, say, a shoe they like isn’t available in-store. The feature complements the app’s Style Board feature, which allows a customer’s personal stylist to send her “look” suggestions, for items that might match something she just bought—the updated version of having a favorite salesperson call you with a hot tip. “They’re not just chasing shiny objects,” says Kathy Gersch, a longtime Nordstrom executive who now works at consulting firm Kotter International. “They’re picking things that are really close to their heritage.”

Nordstrom’s guiding ideal is that innovations that build loyalty will more than offset their costs—especially if they lure ?e-commerce customers to brick-and-mortar locations, where they might shop more. “How are they going to drive traffic into the stores? That’s their battle now,” says PwC consumer markets leader Steve Barr.

不喜欢商场的顾客可能有一天会走进一家像Local这样的店铺，这是诺德斯特龙去年秋天在西好莱坞开的实验式门店。这个服务站面积3000平方英尺（和便利店面积差不多），里面几乎没有商品；更像是一个地区网络中的一根辐条。顾客可以在线选购商品，在这试穿，试穿的衣服是从附近九家全品类商店中调来的。他们可以在这和造型师聊一聊，或者找裁缝改衣服（诺德斯特龙聘用了1300名裁缝，居全美首位，而改衣服可以增加人们光顾的次数）。他们甚至还可以只是在这喝一杯。

Local的诞生是对新型购物习惯的妥协：“这种方式可以让不逛商场的人认识这个品牌。”诺德斯特龙主管客户体验的高级副总裁谢伊说。这样做有风险，因为这意味着创造了不直接产生营收的实体店面。但业界资深人士喜欢这个概念，认为诺德斯特龙会继续拓展这项业务。“他们得把零售业所有的成规都抛诸脑后。”弗里斯研究所（Forrester Research）的分析员苏查雷塔·科达利说。

诺德斯特龙的这些试验还有余地回旋，部分是因为目前公司的客户忠诚度很高。研究公司Prosper Insights & Analytics提供给《财富》杂志的数据表明，诺德斯特龙的顾客中有65%有可能强烈推荐这家店，而梅西百货的顾客只有41%。另外一家公司Coresight研究公司发现诺德斯特龙顾客的平均年龄为43岁，平均家庭收入为10.1万美元，比同行其它公司的顾客更年轻也更富有。然而，现在哪怕是忠实的主顾也会货比三家，Prosper公司说，诺德斯特龙公司常客中有60%同时也是亚马逊的金牌会员，这就让公司处于不发展就会死亡的境地。

发展需要用数据吸引顶级品牌的进驻。诺德斯特龙的忠诚度项目（占营业收入的51%）可以收集公司3300万顾客中许多人的购物习惯，从而帮助品牌集中火力销售卖得最好的产品。“一些竞争对手后撤了，还有一些没有这项技术，所以我们认为，如果这项技术做得好，能帮我们占据有利地位。”布莱克·诺德斯特龙说。再加上这个品牌享有服务贴心的美誉，打好数据这张牌，有力帮助了公司成功和许多主营线上却希望通过百货商店提高曝光率的品牌合作，其中包括服装品牌Everlane和球鞋品Greats等。

“科技+关怀”的配方进一步提高了诺德斯特龙的档次，这一点也十分重要。管理层避免使用“奢侈品”这个词，但皮特·诺德斯特龙说，“设计师”品牌是公司业务中增速最快的，这类产品的销售占它所在店铺销售额的20%，而诺德斯特龙是全美香奈尔销量最高的公司之一。

来公司五年的奥利维亚·金帮着公司向上攀爬。作为公司主管创意项目的副总，“快闪店”的业务也由她负责，利用这个业务每个月引入一些独特又备受追捧的品牌。比如纽约男装商场的一个特色快闪店引入了前卫设计师川久保玲的品牌，之前的快闪品牌还包括Allbirds这个硅谷精英衷爱的环保鞋，还有格温妮丝·帕尔特洛的生活方式品牌Goop。这么做的理念是为了展示定制产品或者各种稀奇古怪的产品，从而打破金口中公司以前“呆板无趣”的形象。金说，无论顾客是要买在特殊场合穿的华伦天奴还是通勤穿的万斯（Vans），“他们都希望能有人引领潮流，希望有人提出建议。”

诺德斯特龙西雅图的董事会办公室里，一个电子钟正在缓慢倒数，这个里程碑式的重要时刻已经逐渐逼近了：一个超大型女装商场将于2019年秋天在纽约开幕，店铺位置就在男装商场对面，面积有32万平方英尺，只比公司的西雅图旗舰店小一些。这个店铺将集合目前公司正在研发的各类科技和创新元素。距开业还有一年多的时间，人们就能看到这些尝试到底能否适应如今异常混乱的零售业业态。

Shoppers who dislike malls could someday wind up in a place like Nordstrom’s Local test store, which opened last fall in West Hollywood. The 3,000-square-foot service hub (about the size of a convenience store) holds almost no merchandise; it’s more of a spoke in a regional network. Customers can pick up online orders and try on items pulled from nine nearby full-line stores. They can meet a stylist or get an alteration (Nordstrom is the largest employer of tailors in the country, with 1,300, and alterations encourage more store visits). Or they can just have a drink.

Local is a concession to new shopping habits: “It’s a way to introduce the brand to people who may not go to the mall,” says Shea Jensen, Nordstrom’s SVP of customer experience. It’s risky, since it means creating physical locations that don’t directly generate revenue. But industry veterans like it and expect Nordstrom to expand it. “They have to throw all kinds of retail orthodoxies out the window,” says Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Kodali.

Nordstrom has wiggle room for such experimentation, in part, because current customers are as loyal as they come. Data compiled for Fortune by research firm Prosper Insights & Analytics show that 65% of Nordstrom shoppers are likely to strongly recommend the store, compared with 41% of Macy’s shoppers. Another firm, Coresight Research, found Nordstrom’s average shopper is 43 years old and has a household income of $101,000, skewing younger and wealthier than many of its peers. Still, even loyalists shop around these days—Prosper says 60% of Nordstrom regulars also are Amazon Prime members—and that keeps the company on an evolve-or-die footing.

Evolution means leveraging data to lure top brands. Nordstrom’s loyalty program (which accounts for 51% of revenue) lets it glean information about the buying habits of many of its 33 million shoppers, which can help brands zero in on which products sell well. “Some competitors are retreating, and others don’t have this tech, so we think we have an advantage if we do this right,” says Blake Nordstrom. Combined with the chain’s customer-friendly reputation, the data play has helped it partner with digital-first names that want the exposure a department store can provide, including apparel brand Everlane and sneaker-maker Greats.

Just as important, the tech-plus-touch formula is helping Nordstrom move further upscale. Management avoids the word “luxury,” but Pete Nordstrom says “designer” is the fastest-growing part of the company’s business. The category now accounts for about 20% of sales in stores that carry it, and Nordstrom is a top seller of Chanel couture in the U.S.

Olivia Kim, who joined the company five years ago, has helped Nordstrom climb those rungs. As VP of creative projects, she’s in charge of its “pop-ins,” monthly installations that feature unusual and sought-after brands. The New York men’s store, for example, features a pop-in by edgy designer Comme des Gar?ons, and previous installations have included Allbirds, the eco-friendly shoe favored by Silicon Valley elites, and Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand. The idea is to showcase custom pieces or quirky items that help Nordstrom shed what Kim says was formerly a “beige” image. “They want to be pushed. They want to be educated,” Kim says of customers—whether they’re shopping for special-occasion Valentino or workaday Vans.

In Nordstrom’s Seattle boardroom, a digital clock slowly counts down to a looming milestone: the fall 2019 opening of a women’s megastore in New York, across the street from the men’s store, in a 320,000-square-foot space second in size only to Nordstrom’s Seattle flagship. The store will bring together all the tech and store innovations that Nordstrom has been developing. But the year-plus between now and then will test how well that experimentation fits in today’s insanely tumultuous retail climate.

你如果只在网上购物的话，就没办法去逛设计师的快闪店，或者喝杯饮料，和造型师聊一聊正在试穿的这件衣服。这就是为什么一个健全的诺德斯特龙需要一个健全的百货商店体系。诺德斯特龙公司认为，加拿大可以成为价值10亿美元的大市场，现在公司在加拿大有6个全品类商店和3家折扣店，而且分析师称，仅纽约的超大型商场一年销售额就能达到5亿美元。诺德斯特龙折扣店的业务占公司全美销售额的34%，2011年只有20%。但该公司认为，折扣店的发展壮大不会从全品类商店中抢客源，因为按照管理层的说法，1/3的折扣店顾客最终会仅在诺德斯特龙正价店里购物。

几年来，公司的资本支出大部分都用于科技投资，但在未来几年，随着大部分数码基建工作的完成，诺德斯特龙计划将支出平均用于科技和店铺优化。为使自己免受百货店客流减少的影响，诺德斯特龙给自己开在百货商场里的店铺建了更多入口，这样购物者从停车场能直接走进商店。该公司同时正把一些店铺从商场里迁出。比如说，公司计划把在堪萨斯州欧弗兰帕克（Overland Park）一个商场里的店铺迁到附近密苏里州堪萨斯城的一个更炫的乡村俱乐部广场（Country Club Plaza）里。

总体来说，诺德斯特龙计划收紧资本开支，控制在销售额的4%这一历史平均水平，而2015年的峰值数据为7%。热爱这个公司的实验精神和勇气的人们认为这是公司对华尔街做出的让步。

他们说，私有化可以让诺德斯特龙更多地进行试验，而这些试验是让公司在业内处于领先地位的关键所在。许多观察者认为，创始人家族可能会再次寻求私有化，尽管诺德斯特龙三兄弟拒绝讨论这个问题，诺德斯特龙家族和盟友们却在最近的一份监管文件中留下了这个可能性。

当被问到诺德斯特龙公司目前的创新程度是否达到了公司自己的要求时，布莱克·诺德斯特龙微笑着避开了这个问题：“我们觉得，作为上市公司，我们也可以创新。”目前看起来，那必须得够了。（365娱乐场）

原文刊载于2018年6月1日《财富》杂志。

译者:Agatha

You can’t visit a designer pop-in, or grab a drink while trying on clothes with a stylist, if you’re doing all your shopping online. That’s why a healthy Nordstrom requires a healthy fleet of department stores. The company thinks Canada, where it now has six full-line and three Rack stores, can become a $1 billion market, and analysts say the New York megastore alone could yield $500 million a year in sales. The Rack business generates 34% of the company’s U.S. sales, up from 20% in 2011. But Nordstrom believes Rack can grow bigger without cannibalizing the full-price stores; one-third of Rack customers eventually shop at Nordstrom proper, executives say.

In recent years, the company’s capital spending was heavily skewed toward tech. But in the near future, with much of the digital heavy lifting done, Nordstrom plans to spend roughly equally on tech and store improvements. To insulate itself from declining traffic at malls, Nordstrom is building out more entrances at its mall-based stores so shoppers can walk directly to the store from the parking lot. It’s also relocating some stores away from malls. It plans to shut a shop in a mall in Overland Park, Kans., for example, and move it to the glitzier Country Club Plaza in nearby Kansas City, Mo.

In general, Nordstrom plans to be less aggressive about capital spending, holding it near its historical average of 4% of sales, down from a peak of 7% in 2015. Fans of the company’s laboratory-driven daring see that as a concession to Wall Street.

Being private, they note, would allow Nord?strom to do more of the experimentation that has kept it at the top of its field. Many observers expect the founding family to try going private again—while the brothers decline to discuss the issue, the family and its allies left the possibility open in a recent regulatory filing.

Asked whether his namesake company is currently able to be as inventive as it wants to be, Blake Nordstrom smiles and skirts the question: “We think we can be innovative as a public company.” That, it seems, will have to be enough for now.

This article originally appeared in the June 1, 2018 issue of Fortune.