How has How to Sell Now evolved?

How to Sell Now’s business focus keeps shifting

Vogue Business launched How to Sell Now in 2019 as Vogue’s B2B companion, and it has since gone through multiple iterations and editor changes.

The format reflects how quickly the retail and fashion selling landscape has changed. The newest thrust in the coverage emphasizes modern sales channels—especially social commerce and AI—because buying behavior is increasingly driven by what people see on their phones and what tools recommend to them.

A few of the clearest themes running through the series include:

• Social selling momentum: Instagram began piloting shoppable posts in the U.S. in November 2016 with 20 retailers, which set the groundwork for today’s commerce features.
• AI as a sales lever: the series continues to track how AI is being used across fashion and luxury selling operations.
• Direct-to-consumer tension: as luxury brands lean into DTC, multi-brand retail is pulled in competing directions—wholesale still matters for reach, but brand control and data are increasingly central.
• What makes products “worth it”: consumers are researching more before buying, which changes how luxury brands communicate value.
• Resale’s boundary collapse: secondhand is moving from “adjacent” to mainstream as the line between resale and traditional retail weakens.

For readers, the practical takeaway is that selling strategies are no longer only about stores and campaigns. They’re about designing the full funnel—discovery to purchase—across digital channels and using tools (including AI) to support that journey.

Why it matters

If you’re a marketer, retailer, or luxury brand operator, the series suggests the current reset is less about reinventing fashion and more about aligning distribution and messaging with how shoppers now research, discover, and buy.