The International Association of Department Stores (IADS) is a retail
trade association
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. An industry tra ...
founded in 1928 by a group of
department stores with the goal of introducing modern management methods derived from the
scientific management movement to their retail format.
History
In the middle of the 1920s, American management theories, such as the
scientific management of
F.W. Taylor, started spreading in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. The
International Management Institute (I.M.I.) was established in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
in 1927 to facilitate the diffusion of such ideas.
Edward Filene, a member of the I.M.I. Board of Directors and Chairman of
Filene's
Filene's (formally William Filene & Sons Co.) was an American department store chain; it was founded by William Filene in 1881. The success of the original full-line store in Boston, Massachusetts, was supplemented by the foundation of its off-p ...
department store in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, decided—with
Emile Bernheim
Emile Bernheim (1886–1985) was a Belgian industrialist. For more than half a century he was the president of the store '' A l'innovation'' in Brussels, which he founded in 1897 in Brussels. Soon other stores followed in Liège (1899), Verviers ...
of Innovation in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
(later known as
Galeria Inno
INNO is a department store chain that operates 16 stores in Belgium. It was founded in 1897 in Brussels as ''A l'Innovation''.
Since 2001, the chain has been owned by the Galeria Kaufhof group, which was subsequently acquired by Hudson's Bay Co ...
), Pierre Laguionie of the
Printemps
Printemps (; meaning "spring (season), springtime" in French language, French) is a French department store chain (french: grand magasin, links=no, literally "big store"). The Printemps stores focus on beauty, lifestyle, fashion, accessories ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and
Ragnar Sachs of
Nordiska Kompaniet
Nordiska Kompaniet (colloquially NK, and literally ''The Nordic Company'') is the name of two department stores located in Stockholm and Gothenburg, in Sweden.
The store in Stockholm receives some twelve million visitors annually, with the figur ...
in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
—to apply I.M.I.'s teachings about
scientific management to the department store retail format. They created the Association of Department Stores in Paris in 1928 under the supervision of the first General Secretary Werner Kaufmann, and were joined the same year by
Harrods
Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...
of
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and
Magasin du Nord
Magasin is a Danish chain of department stores. It has seven department stores with its flagship store located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The company is a subsidiary of the German department store retailer Peek & Cloppenburg Düsseldorf, Ma ...
of
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
.
According to James B. Jefferys, the interest of the IADS was first its limited scope, with memberships restricted to one per country to promote cooperation, and second its scientific approach, through methods laid out by one of the early General Secretaries of the IADS, Dr Hrant Pasdermadjian (1936-1954) (although his approach was severely judged in America). During his tenure, Pasdermadjian published scientific manuals on the different department store functions. as well as his book on department stores. His successor for 30 years, Dr James B. Jefferys, continued the task of bringing management research to department stores and continued publishing works on retailing.
After Kaufmann, Hermann Maria Spitzer, Pasdermadjian and Jefferys, Erik Kalderen, of Sweden's
Nordiska Kompaniet
Nordiska Kompaniet (colloquially NK, and literally ''The Nordic Company'') is the name of two department stores located in Stockholm and Gothenburg, in Sweden.
The store in Stockholm receives some twelve million visitors annually, with the figur ...
department store, became its first secretary, serving in that role for five years. He was followed by Maarten de Groot van Embden for 25 years, Armelle Mesguich for five years, and most recently Selvane Mohandas du Menil, who took office part way through the 2020
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, during which most stores were under
lockdown
A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely.
The term is used for a prison ...
. There have been eight general managers in the 85 years between 1936 and 2021.
As of 2021, IADS is the fifth oldest retail association in the world, after the Australian Retail Association (founded 1903), the
National Retail Federation
The National Retail Federation (NRF) is the world's largest retail trade association. Its members include department stores, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, and independent retailers, chain restaurants, grocery stores, and multi-level ma ...
in the United States (founded 1911), the Austrian Retail Association (founded 1921) and the German Retail Federation.
Operation and membership
IADS shares retail management experience and best practices, through meetings for CEOs, main functions at senior level in the member companies, dissemination of information and reports about department stores, and statistical and other surveys and consultancy on specific issues as requested by member companies, such as the increasing competition coming from online retail channels.
The membership has varied from 4 to 25 companies, with an increasingly greater internationalisation: since the 1990s it has included members from Asia and the Americas such as
Beijing Hualian Group,
The Mall Group
The Mall Group ( th, เดอะมอลล์กรุ๊ป) is one of Thailand's largest mall operators. Its brands include The Mall, Emporium, Siam Paragon, Power Mall, Gourmet Market, The Mall SkyPORT, EmQuartier, SportsMall, BeTren ...
, and
Falabella
The Falabella is an Argentine list of horse breeds, breed of small horse. It is among the smallest of horse breeds, with a height at the withers in the range ..
History
The ancestral stock of the horse of South America descended from horses bro ...
. As of 2021, it comprises 12 department store companies within its purview, with operations in 19 countries. The membership reflects the variety of the department store format,
and includes in alphabetical order:
Beijing Hualiang Group (
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
),
Breuninger (
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
), Centrobeco (
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
),
El Corte Inglés
El Corte Inglés S.A. (), headquartered in Madrid, is the biggest department store group in Europe and ranks third worldwide. Its primary source of sales is from department stores, followed by internet sales. It is a family business, with most s ...
(
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
),
El Palacio de Hierro
El Palacio de Hierro (officially ''El Palacio de Hierro S.A. de C.V.''; en, The Iron Palace) is an upscale chain of department stores in Mexico. Its flagship store in Polanco, Mexico City, reopened in 2016 after an extensive renovation of US$300 ...
(
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
),
Falabella
The Falabella is an Argentine list of horse breeds, breed of small horse. It is among the smallest of horse breeds, with a height at the withers in the range ..
History
The ancestral stock of the horse of South America descended from horses bro ...
(
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
),
Galeries Lafayette
The Galeries Lafayette () is an upmarket French department store chain, the biggest in Europe. Its flagship store is on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris but it now operates in a number of other locations in France and oth ...
(
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
),
Lifestyle International (
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
),
Magasin du Nord
Magasin is a Danish chain of department stores. It has seven department stores with its flagship store located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The company is a subsidiary of the German department store retailer Peek & Cloppenburg Düsseldorf, Ma ...
(
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
),
Manor (
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
),
The Mall Group
The Mall Group ( th, เดอะมอลล์กรุ๊ป) is one of Thailand's largest mall operators. Its brands include The Mall, Emporium, Siam Paragon, Power Mall, Gourmet Market, The Mall SkyPORT, EmQuartier, SportsMall, BeTren ...
(
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
),
SM Store (
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
).
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official website
Retail trade associations
Organizations established in 1928
Trade associations based in France