Plan in place to “revitalise” Bottega Veneta
10/02/2017
On presenting the Kering results for 2016, group managing director, Jean-François Palus, talked at some length about a strategy of helping Bottega Veneta move back towards growth after 18 months of weaker results.
In 2016, Bottega Veneta brought in sales revenue of just under €1.2 billion, a year-on-year decline of 8.7%.
Between 2005 and 2015, Mr Palus explained, this “extraordinary maison” achieved average sales growth of 23% per year and went past the €1 billion mark in sales in 2013. He said that flatter results in the last year-and-a-half were down to a combination of issues, including a decline in tourism flows from China.
“As soon as we realised the momentum had turned, we began our analysis right away,” Mr Palus said. “Bottega Veneta is a highly exclusive brand and we are going to reiterate that. It provides products of absolute quality and without ostentation and this is in line with what luxury consumers are looking for. We are going to maintain its price position because the most exclusive Bottega Veneta items sell well.”
Steps Kering will take to revive Bottega Veneta will include strengthening links between the brand’s leathergoods offering and its footwear and ready-to-wear collections. The group has also said it will “reinvent” Bottega Veneta’s signature style of including woven strands of leather in many of its products, an element universally known by its Italian name, interecciato, by introducing new shapes and new designs.
“Bottega Veneta’s existing customer base is tremendously loyal,” Jean-François Palus said, “but its main challenge is to attract new customers. One of the ways in which we will do this is by revamping its brand communications, with a greater focus on digital communication, for example, finding new ways to tell the beautiful story of the maison.”
He concluded by saying that revitalising Bottega Veneta will be “an in-depth and long-term endeavour,” but he insisted Kering has all the tools it requires to carry out the task.
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