Stanley Marcus (1905–2002,) fully Harold Stanley Marcus, was an American retail-store executive. His publicity campaigns gave the Neiman Marcus stores a reputation for luxury and fashion.
Born in Dallas, Texas, Marcus earned a master’s degree in business from Harvard in 1926, began his career at the store as a floor-man, and set to work on building the store’s image. By 1929, he was the merchandising manager of all apparel units.
Marcus took control of the company from his father in 1950. He advanced the exclusivity and uniqueness of the Neiman-Marcus brand. Through lavish in-store promotional events and expert purchasing, Marcus secured the retailer’s standing as an upscale destination while dramatically growing both the customer base and store locations. He grew annual sales from $20.6mn to $58.5mn, annual profits from $880,000 to $2.1mn, and grew its operations from just one outlet to four.
Marcus secured the future expansion of the business through its acquisition by Broadway-Hale Stores in 1969 (renamed Carter Hawley Hale Stores in 1975.) He was the corporation’s director from 1969 and the chairman emeritus since 1975.
Marcus wrote Minding the Store (1974) and Quest for the Best (1979.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by H. Stanley Marcus
Consumers are statistics. Customers are people.
—H. Stanley Marcus
Topics: Customers
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