Luxury Brands Are Facing Heavy Financial Pressure. What Course To Follow?

2015 for

It is a challenging year, but many financial reports show that many brands have made good progress.

For those big brands whose earnings are not so good, they have worse news.

Recently, it is reported that Louis Weedon (Louis Vuitton) will close the flagship store in Huaihai middle road in Shanghai by the end of this month. This is the first time that Louis Vuitton has been closed in the first tier cities in China.

It is worth mentioning that when we closed the three stores in Guangzhou, Harbin and Urumqi last year, Emmanuel Hemmerle, managing partner of Emmanuel Hemmerle, a consultancy in Shanghai, said that as far as he knew, by the middle of 2016, Louis Vuitton would close the 20% store in China: this ratio is equivalent to closing one company every month.

Then, there will be news about the shops. Insiders believe that the main reason for the closure is related to the current economic slowdown, the stock market turmoil, the crackdown on anti-corruption policies and the Chinese consumers' preference for overseas luxury purchases.

In addition, the Financial Times reported earlier that more and more consumers in the first tier cities no longer buy their products.

The survey also showed that only 18% of respondents from cities such as Beijing and Shanghai indicated that LV was the most luxurious brand they wanted.

A few days ago, Reuters reported that the world's second largest luxury group, the peak group, plans to cut 350 positions in Switzerland headquarters.

This is mainly related to the global economic weakness, especially the slowdown in China's economic growth and anti-corruption.

According to the third quarter earnings report of the peak group, the sales in Hong Kong and Macao continued to decline, and sales in the Asia Pacific region fell by 9% compared with the same period last year, which was reduced by Chinese tourists, and the sales growth rate in the Japanese market also slowed down.

According to the specific business, watch business sales fell 4%, jewelry business was also affected by the weak impact of Hong Kong and Macao accelerated decline, down 5%.

The challenges brought by Hong Kong and Macao brought the total sales volume of the group in the three quarter to 4% to 2 billion 930 million euros.

Not only worse than analysts' expectations, but also the group's first decline in sales during the holiday season since 2008.

For the layman group's layoffs, Yang Dayun, President of the excellent international fashion management group, said that in the absence of a clear new growth point, layoffs and internal adjustments are necessary measures to reduce expenditure. This round of layoffs is likely to trigger a chain reaction in the luxury industry.

Prada, a luxury group, has recently announced the resignation of its chief financial officer who has been in office for more than 10 years, after a large number of top executives have been running away. After the release of less than ideal earnings reports, Prada, a luxury group, has recently announced its resignation.

The group announced that Donatello Galli resigned as the chief financial officer and executive director of the group for personal reasons in pursuit of new career opportunities.

The replacement of the post is Alessandra Cozzani, the current executive director.

In 2000, Alessandra Cozzani joined Prada finance department, and served as chief financial officer and investor relations director, and was nominated as executive director in December 2013.

The group said that the new position of Alessandra Cozzani is a natural extension of its role and is conducive to the long-term growth of the group.

In addition, the group will recruit a new investor relations director.

Dunhill, the British luxury menswear brand, has announced that John Ray, the design director who has worked for three years, is about to leave. At present, the brand has yet to find a candidate to take over the John.

It is reported that the termination of cooperation is a joint decision made by both sides. The autumn series will be the last work of John Ray in Dunhill.

Dunhill's CEO Fabrizio Cardinali said, "thank John Ray for its dedication, support and excellent performance in developing the brand, and also stressed that the brand's business strategy will still focus on creating quality gentleman brand clothing."

A few days ago, L Brands announced that Sharen Jester Turney, the secret executive of the company's brand Vitoria, would resign from CEO.

Sharen Jester Turney joined the company for 16 years, and since its position as Victoria Turney, sales of Victoria have risen from 70% to $7 billion 700 million.

Now her departure has led to a 2.5% decline in L Brands's share price to 81.87 dollars.

It is reported that the reason for leaving is to return to the family, and the replacement of her 78 year old Leslie Wexner.