How Luxury Giants In Europe And America Are Celebrating The Crisis

Prada 2010 autumn winter series

Compared with the trough of twelve months ago, sales of all kinds of fashion shops are steadily recovering. The top companies are optimistic that growth will continue until next year.

U.S.A

The first important lesson of this crisis is that the top leaders agreed that they should not be too optimistic about the recovery after the recession.

"We expect that consumers will be frustrated in the economic crisis, and they will still tighten their wallet in a short time."

Don Mountuori, publisher of Packaged Facts, said they recently released a report entitled "post recession American consumers".

"In response, retailers and marketers will need to relocate their brands."

Senior executives are trying their best to be innovative and forward-looking.

Reducing costs, better control of inventory and abandoning poor performance - last year's challenge enabled them to consolidate their companies through these methods.

In order to regenerate the business and rebuild relations with consumers, some measures are necessary: expand the global retail business; upgrade the Internet system of the company, including e-commerce and social media; broaden the price; pay attention to the one to one communication with consumers; strengthen marketing, visual merchandising and store display; re employ employees, in some cases, cancel the company freeze; make important decisions, and expand the categories, such as handbags and footwear.

Today, the trend of fashion industry has changed: the worst period has passed, and now the whole industry is full of hope.

"Now I feel the dawn of hope...

But it is very fragile. "

Stephen I. Sadove, chairman and chief executive officer of Saks Inc., said recently.

President and CEO of Est e e Lauder Cos

However, even if many companies strengthen advertising, marketing, store opening and employee employment, there are still uncertainties.

"Day after day, no one knows whether the financial market, raw material prices, labor shortages or even volcanic eruption will affect our business in the coming day, a week or a few months later."

Seth Morris, President of Carole Hochman Design Group said.

"I think consumers have enough money to spend, but they will weigh whether it is worth it."

How can the company learn lessons after this recession to ensure that the sprouting green shoots will not fade under the summer sun?

Giorgio Armani: Italians are good at creating all-around life brands from wearing to living.

Giorgio Armani is moving towards more independent stores and has reorganized many existing store stores.

"We did not reduce the number of shops in the recession, but now we are working hard to create more, and we plan to open more than 70 stores in all parts of the world including Brazil, China, India and Eastern Europe this year."

John Hooks, vice president of Giorgio Armani SpA, said.

He also said that Armani has some positive plans to refurbish many stores.

"We signed an agreement with Messi to promote the sale of Armani Jeans in the United States. Its sales in the US were not high before, but our goal is to start 200 stores in the next two years from the autumn."

Hooks said.

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Photo note: Giorgio Armani even opened a hotel in Dubai: "what I want is your guest at home.

When you come to the Armani hotel in Burj Dubai, you will be like a Armani home.

But core retailing is not the only sector that is expanding.

Armani spent much money to cooperate with Emmar Properties and launched a hotel with 160 rooms in Dubai.

The company plans to set up hotels, resorts and residential areas in several major cities, and the hotel in Dubai is the first to be completed in the plan.

"We are also considering new ways to quickly supply hot goods for our chain stores and franchises to improve our sales."

He said, "we try to guess what will be hot, and we have invested in IT to track important information, because we must have enough internal raw materials to make and produce goods as soon as possible."

Chanel 2011 early spring series

Chanel: French ladies also know how to behave in Rome as the Romans do.

For Bruno Pavlovsky, facts speak louder than words.

The Chanel's fashion director said that the company's performance began to recover in the second half of last year and is growing steadily, thanks to the untiring efforts of the brand to perfect quality and its innovation in raw materials and design.

"I think there is a good balance between the consumer's understanding of Chanel and what they found in Chanel."

He said, "they want to use their products comfortably, and that's why we succeed."

Photo note: Chanel not only runs show in Shanghai, but also introduces Shanghai World Expo series products.

Chanel is planning to open several new stores. There are 10 plans this year, two of which are in China, and one in Singapore, Vietnam, Lebanon and Turkey.

In New York, the company is revamping its branch in SoHo, where Karl Lagerfeld recently took the latest autumn advertisements.

Chanel continues to use rare raw materials to develop high-end goods, partly to prevent counterfeiters from producing cheap copies of their signature handbags.

"Compared with the past, high-end goods have become the center of our efforts."

Pavlovsky said, "I think the power of the brand is to mix all things together, such as creating classic styles with special materials, or creating more fashionable products with classic materials."

A few years ago, Chanel began to acquire many of its suppliers, including embroidery brand Lesage, bonnet brand Maison Michel and leather brand Lemari, to preserve French traditional custom crafts for centuries.

Recently, the brand began to organize various store activities to show consumers how to make Chanel handbags and coats.

"There is no end to such an activity, because we have new consumers everywhere, and China is a good example."

Pavlovsky said, "it's our eternal pursuit for us to communicate and demonstrate and keep the brand with a rich history."

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Photo note: Burberry 2010 spring summer ad invites Emma Watson to speak with her younger brother Alex Watson, the classic conservative product in the season.

Burberry: the brand operation wisdom of British gentlemen from windbreaker to cosmetics

Burberry has surged during the recession, and there has been no plan to stop and rally.

The report shows that the brand's sales in the second quarter increased by seven percentage points to 707 million pounds, or about 1 billion 100 million dollars.

The brand also has a series of new plans to stimulate consumer shopping.

In June, Burberry and its patent holder, Inter Parfums, will launch a total of 96 cosmetic brands called Burberry Beauty, which are inspired by their classic windbreaker.

In the beginning, the brand will be sold in 30 stores around the world and will continue to be extended to 30 to 40 stores next year.

Industry insiders estimate that each store will sell 500 thousand to 1 million euros in the first year, or about $670 thousand to $1 million 300 thousand.

Last month, Burberry launched a April rain capsule series consisting of 30 pieces, designed to attract consumers to continue to buy the first batch of the autumn Series in June.

The products include Burberry logo clothing and accessories: umbrellas, wallets, iPod sets and rubber boots with Burberry classic pattern.

The company's chief executive, Angela Ahrendts, said the company would never affect its core business because of the recession.

"Burberry has not made any significant adjustment in the direction of economic depression.

We are very clear that we will not cut any products that consumers are exposed to. We have put more effort into business operation and upgrading.

In return, we can continue to strengthen our brand and grow in the past two years. We are now confident about the future. "

She said.

Ahrendts also said she looked forward to the pre tax report issued by Burberry since March 31st, and the annual financial report will be released in May 31st.

In the new financial year, people expect to see faster growth.

Burberry is a pioneer in the use of social networking sites and e-marketing in luxury brands, and it will not slow down in this respect.

Recently, Burberry and Magnum Photos co founded the artofthetrench.com website, and planned to use the 3-D technology to broadcast the spring fashion show for the second time.

Chlo & Dolce&Gabbana: consolidate creative products

Chlo Ralph, chairman and CEO of Toledano, is using new ways to reach her customers.

The Paris based brand is planning some of its store activities including cocktail parties for its senior customers.

At the same time, the company has done a lot of efforts with the people, such as working with model Raquel Zimmermann to publish its background in the autumn fashion show on the Internet.

"We have optimized our system so that we can better understand consumers."

Toledano says.

Luxury consumers are seeking the creativity, value and significance of goods, he said.

Cautious retailers continue to keep their inventories at the lowest level, and brands also reduce the general price of the spring series - 15% less than the same period last year.

"We have seen consumers react positively, but it is meaningless to arrange moderate prices just for moderate prices."

Toledano said, "if the product is not special, let's forget it."

The holiday wear series occupies 60% to 65% of the Chlo clothing series, so it's the key to release the right products at the right time.

Iconic commodities, though expensive, are still particularly popular.

He explained: "you should never compromise on quality, because that is us: Chlo is not a street brand, it is a luxury brand."

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Last September, the flow of brand stores has risen, and will rebound in April this year, he predicts.

Sales in China are growing rapidly, and Chlo also hopes to set up several branches here.

In other areas, the company will mainly expand the existing stores.

The same emphasis will continue to be placed on the consolidation of products, as well as Dolce&Gabbana.

"We have been striving to improve our quality (handicrafts, raw materials and product mix) and strive to better express DNA, because this is the two driving force for our future progress."

Cristiana Ruella, managing director and member of the board of directors of the company, said, "we have been making these two efforts in the economic crisis. We are now looking forward to the proceeds."

She also said that the autumn series increased by ten percentage points over the same period last year.

"We have also received optimistic feedback from our customers. This year, our sales have increased."

She said.

Dolce&Gabbana plans to open 14 branches this year, mainly in Asia, especially in China.

Companies will also continue to invest in advertising and websites, including blogzine Swide and dandgstore.com, in order to make nearly 2 million users use better each month.

Prada and Valentino: strengthening cost control

"I do not feel that we are going out of recession, because last year we were in good condition, the retail sales increased by 15%, the revenue increased, and the year-on-year sales continued to maintain, although wholesale sales were slightly weaker."

Sebastian Suhl, chief operating officer of Prada SpA, said.

"We have been very cost conscious and have worked hard to control inventory and the flexibility of replenishment, especially in leather goods."

Suhl said the first thing to do now is to open new stores, which require important public relations activities and support from store activities, such as cocktail parties at the opening ceremony.

"We plan to open 43 new Prada stores and 25 Miu Miu this year -- in the US, Europe, the Asia Pacific region and Japan."

Suhl said that when it comes to return on special projects, Seoul's Prada Transformer is actually one of the biggest brands of this brand, and also a huge platform, attracting 100 thousand visitors.

Valentino 2010 autumn winter series

Another well-known Italy luxury brand Valentino once again feels positive development momentum.

"Thank God.

Although we adjusted some fiscal policies last year and cut costs, we could still manage to keep growing.

Our development may have slowed down slightly last year, but we are accelerating now, and we are more optimistic. "

Stefano Sassi, chief executive of Valentino, said.

He also said that although the company did not hire new employees last year, they are now ready to continue their employment.

"And we are ready to continue investing heavily in the Internet. Apart from e-commerce, we also see the possibility of a micro market. It can help us communicate better with consumers and bring them closer to our brand."

Sassi said.

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Givenchy, Versace: hope for recovery in the East

Givenchy 2010 autumn winter advertising

Givenchy feels the revival of confidence among consumers and wholesale customers. The company plans to strengthen business in the East and the west at the same time, especially in the East.

Givenchy is planning to renovate stores in Hongkong and South Korea, and bring them the "black box" architectural concept, which was first announced in Paris's Rue Du Faubourg Saint-Honor flagship store.