Tapestry’s CEO Touts Its ‘Consumer Engagement Platform’
When Tapestry revealed its deal to acquire Capri Holdings last August, creating a larger “house of brands,” it put at the disposal of Michael Kors, Versace and Jimmy Choo its “incredible consumer engagement platform.”
“We’re operating from a position of strength,” Tapestry Inc. chief executive officer Joanne Crevoiserat told the audience at the WWD Global Fashion & Beauty Summit in Chengdu, hosted in partnership with Chinese retailer SKP. “We see that putting them on our modern consumer engagement platform helps all of our brands to be more relevant to consumers, drives more connectivity with them and drives more innovation, which we think delivers luxury at its best.”
More from WWD
The executive described a combination of “magic and logic” in the way it puts a wealth of consumer data at the disposal of its creative and marketing teams.
“When it comes to the logic part of the equation and how we use data, it seems incredibly important for us to put that data in the hands of the people who are making the decisions,” she explained. “We’re putting it in the hands of our design talent so that they can understand what our consumer values and compare that with the creativity that they’re bringing to bring even more relevant and creative products to market.”
In addition, the data can help marketing teams “deliver improved returns on our marketing investments, to test them very quickly and read the results and scale them,” she added.
Crevoiserat said companies need to orient themselves around consumers, leverage technology and streamline organizations.
“In a world where the consumer continues to move quickly, what they value, how they shop and where they shop, what they expect from brands, you have to stay incredibly close to consumers,” she stressed during a conversation with James Fallon, editorial director of Fairchild Fashion Media.
What’s more, “because the world is moving so fast, we have to empower our teams and change the way we work so that we can be agile and move as fast as the consumer,” she added.
For example, marketing teams have been supplied frameworks, and if their initiatives meet certain financial hurdles, they’re empowered to make decisions and scale campaigns without relying on headquarters.
“Over the last four years, we’ve more than doubled our investments,” Crevoiserat said. “We’ve really changed the focus of our P&L to invest in brand building.”
Given that most of its brands operate on a worldwide scale, Crevoiserat stressed the need to “start with a very clear understanding of our global brand positioning. Each of our brands are incredibly distinctive in their markets.
“But then in terms of how they show up regionally, we spend a lot of time listening to our customers to make sure that we understand what they value, and what place our brands have in their lives.”
For example, Tapestry extols an “expressive luxury” positioning for its Coach brand, knowing its consumers use Coach fashions and accessories to express their personality.
But while consumers in North America value color as a route to self-expression, South Koreans prefer to express their confidence and personality without vivid shades.
“And so as we tailor our assortments for each region,” she said. “We can provide products that meet their needs for self expression in a more regionally relevant way.”
The executive admitted some missteps with Kate Spade, which Tapestry added to its portfolio in 2017 alongside Stuart Weitzman and Coach.
“We walked away from what was authentically true about that brand — color, joy and femininity in people’s lives,” she said. “It does require continuous focus and making sure that the entire organization understands the core purpose and the core positioning of each brand.”
Believing that “you learn a lot when you talk to consumers,” Coach recently polled a cross-section of Gen Z, who talked about researching products online, but making a beeline for stores in order to see them IRL and “feel the quality.”
“They want to engage with brands whose values reflect their own,” Crevoiserat said.
To wit: Coach is planning to launch Coachtopia in China soon, a fully circular subbrand with sustainability and co-creation embedded in its DNA.
Turning to the store experience, Crevoiserat stressed the critical role of its retail staff.
“Our store associates are our best brand ambassadors: They care deeply, they understand the purpose and values of the brand. And they can help the customer with styling tips, gifting tips.”
Attracting and retaining sales associates has been a challenge across the industry. Crevoiserat said corporate culture is key.
“I am always inspired when I come into the market, and I interact with our associates because they are so important and critical to our business,” said the CEO, who was in Chengdu both for the summit and as part of a multicity tour of China visiting staff. “It starts there: Understanding how important they are to the engine of our business and creating not only the right training for them and giving them the right support, but also development opportunities.”
Tapestry dubs its next phase of growth “future speed,” one key element of which is driving global growth, particularly in China.
“We have strong teams on the ground that help us understand how we deliver our brands in a relevant way to consumers, and move the distinctive consumers in this country. It’s incredible how fast the consumer moves, and being here alone makes us better as brands and as a company,” she said.
Best of WWD
Solve the daily Crossword
