McKinsey goes to the mall

McKinsey & Co., a firm known for advising the corporate C-suite, is opening up a retail store for ordinary customers, said Alistair Gray in the Financial Times. “In a first for the high-minded management consultancy” to a bevy of Fortune 500 companies—and some authoritarian governments—McKinsey will be “flogging underwear, makeup and jewelry to customers” through a rotation of retailers at a popup store in the Mall of America outside Minneapolis. The outlet is designed to give McKinsey insight on how “to keep stores relevant in the age of Amazon.” Retailers include jeweler Kendra Scott, Elevé cosmetics, and ThirdLove, a lingerie company, and customers will be able to try out gadgets including smart mirrors and pay for items using cryptocurrency. As you buy your lingerie, “in the background, McKinsey will be crunching data on shopper behavior.”