What: The newly merged Saks Global is leveraging advanced data analytics and machine learning to deliver tailored shopping experiences, while navigating vendor payment challenges and restructuring its multi-brand operations.

Why it is important: The integration of AI and first-party data is setting new standards for customer engagement, but also exposes the operational and financial complexities of large-scale retail transformation.

Saks Global is undergoing a profound transformation as it integrates Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman into a single luxury retail powerhouse. Central to its strategy is the rollout of AI-powered personalisation, designed to create highly tailored shopping experiences across both digital and physical channels. Early results show significant improvements in conversion rates and revenue per visitor, validating the group’s investment in advanced data analytics and machine learning. However, this technological leap is unfolding alongside major operational and financial challenges. The company’s restructuring has led to extended vendor payment terms, a reduction in brand partnerships, and ongoing liquidity concerns, sparking tension within the luxury ecosystem. Organizational changes, including the consolidation of buying teams and a new management structure, aim to streamline operations and maximize the value of Saks Global’s multi-brand data ecosystem. As the group seeks to balance innovation with stability, its journey underscores the complexities of modernizing legacy luxury retailers in a market increasingly defined by digital disruption and heightened consumer expectations.

IADS Notes:

Saks Global’s transformation journey since its $2.7 billion merger with Neiman Marcus, as reported by Bloomberg (December 2024) and Forbes (January 2025), has been marked by both technological innovation and significant operational challenges. The integration of AI-powered personalisation, highlighted by Inside Retail (March 2025) and BCG (June 2025), is central to Saks Global’s strategy to reinvent the luxury shopping experience and drive revenue growth, with early results showing notable improvements in conversion and revenue per visitor. However, the company’s financial restructuring has created turbulence in vendor relationships, as detailed by WWD (June and July 2025), BoF (May 2025), and Vogue Business (June 2025), with extended payment terms, reduced brand partnerships, and ongoing liquidity concerns. The new management structure and digital integration, as covered by WWD (January and April 2025), aim to streamline operations and leverage the group’s multi-brand data ecosystem, but have also triggered cultural and organizational shifts. These developments underscore the complexity of modernizing legacy luxury retailers, balancing the promise of AI-driven personalisation and omnichannel innovation with the realities of financial and operational transformation.

Inside Saks Global’s personalisation strategy