Fendi Chief Seeks Market Share Growth as Luxury Demand Stalls
(Bloomberg) — Fendi, the bagmaker owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, is well positioned to boost revenue in 2015 despite the difficulties facing the luxury-goods industry, according to Chief Executive Officer Pietro Beccari.
“Am I scared? No,” Beccari said this week after the Swiss franc’s appreciation against the euro added to challenges including a slowdown in China and a drop in Russian spending.
The Swiss National Bank’s surprise decision to remove the cap on the franc last week wiped billions off the value of companies including watchmaker Swatch Group AG and led men’s clothier Ermenegildo Zegna to tear up its budget for 2015.
“We are small enough to be able to steal market share from competitors if we do a good job, Beccari said Jan. 19 before Rome-based Fendi’s fall-winter menswear show in Milan. ‘‘That’s what we need to do.”
Fendi, designed by Karl Lagerfeld and Silvia Venturini Fendi, has annual sales of about $1 billion, according to Exane BNP Paribas. Owner LVMH, based in Paris, doesn’t publish figures for individual brands.
Known for fur, Fendi widened its customer base in 2014, Beccari said, declining to provide financial details. The label will build on that by adding e-commerce in March, starting in Europe, he said. As part of the service, which will be operated from within the company, shoppers can order online and collect goods in store, or vice-versa, the CEO said.
“Learning about the client and integrating the client experience is fundamental for us and for the future of the company,” Beccari said. “Fendi has good potential.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Roberts in Paris at aroberts36@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net Paul Jarvis, Thomas Mulier
