Leathergoods pricing under spotlight as Burberry CEO stamps authority
The new CEO of luxury brand Burberry has set out a plan to “reignite desire” and improve sales, with a focus on outerwear and scarves, “reconnecting the brand with its original purpose”.
Joshua Schulman, who took the role in July, said it had moved too far from its core, with "disappointing results".
He said: “Our brand expression was focused on being modern at the expense of celebrating our heritage. We introduced new brand codes and signifiers that were unfamiliar to our customers. Our product was weighted to seasonal fashion with a niche aesthetic obscuring our more timeless core collections.
“As we pursued brand elevation, our pricing, particularly in leathergoods, did not always align with our category authority. Consequently, Burberry's offer was skewed to a narrow base of luxury customers.”
The Burberry Forward plan aims to “lead with outerwear”, “rebalance offer with fewer, bigger investments” and “align pricing with category authority”.
He has hired new leaders across marketing, merchandising and planning, and the Americas; introduced new ways of working to achieve “creative and commercial alchemy”; and initiated a cost savings programme to realise annualised savings of $40 million.
Third-quarter revenues fell 22% to £1.1 billion.
