By Pawel Zawisza,
MBA in International Luxury Brand Management student 2013-2014, Poland
What a great way to start the MBA in International Luxury Brand Management at ESSEC, if not to visit the offices of one of the major players in the industry? On September 11, all of us were priviledged enough to visit the offices of Kering in Paris, where we got a sample of how the luxury goods business operates.
Kering, formerly
PPR, is one of the world's largest luxury goods holdings. It includes such
well-established brands as Gucci, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, as well as
lifestyle & sport brands like Puma. Over the course of the afternoon we
were able to interact with top managers in the company, and to learn more about
the challenges and opportunities when it comes to selling luxury products.
After the short
introduction, our first session was with the Head of Merchandising at
Balenciaga. We learned about each step in the process of how to design a
collection for the following year. Yes, the
preliminary planning for Fall 2013 started in the summer of 2012! We were told
about different steps involved in the planning process – deciding what the
collection will include, prototype evaluation, etc.
The second session
dealt with the emergence of digital trends in the luxury goods industry.
Nowadays more and more companies are noticing and utilizing the digital sphere,
including social media, to communicate faster and better with their customers.
At the same time it poses a challenge, as the fast-changing digital landscape can
make it difficult to properly convey the meaning of 'luxury'.
Our last session
for the day concerned the process of mergers and acquisitions in the luxury
goods industry, what factors go into putting a price tag on different
companies, how the M&A process is structured, etc. For obvious reasons I
cannot go into details, since everything was TOP SECRET :-)
Personally, I found
each and every session very interesting and, in some areas, illuminating. The
visit allowed me to understand the luxury industry much better, and I came out
from the meeting with much appreciation to all the people working hard at
Kering!
