Ferragamo Holds Investor Day Conference In Italy

According to the world clothing shoes and hats net, Italy Luxury goods Group Salvatore Ferragamo (hereinafter referred to as Ferragamo) held an investor day conference at the headquarters of Palazzo Spini Feroni in Italy last Friday. The group's CEO Eraldo Poletto, a member of the Ferragamo family and chairman of Ferruccio Ferragamo, has explicitly denied rumors that the group is seeking sale.

"We haven't even considered selling." Ferruccio Ferragamo said he once again emphasized his confidence in introducing the external management strategy: "we should have done so in 2006. Having a manager who is independent of the family is a very healthy model. " At present, there are a large number of Ferragamo families, including 23 grandchildren and 40 great grandchildren.

Other members of the company who attended this investor day conference also included the chairman's three brothers and sisters: Leonardo Ferragamo, Fulvia Ferragamo and GiovannaFerragamo; their mother Wanda Ferragamo, and the third generation members of the third family members participating in the company management, James Ferragamo, Angelica Ferragamo and Ferragamo.

"We are in a very stable position." Ferruccio Ferragamo said: "we have a good organizational structure and adequate market share, but we are not satisfied, there are many potential opportunities to explore, we can improve the performance of stores."

Target rapid growth

In the past few years, the Ferragamo group has been very cautious in expanding the global market, so the new CEO Poletto brand Likened to a sleeping beauty. He said that the medium term goals for the next three to four years will be to increase sales, improve product mix, raise gross margin and EBITDA (profit before interest tax depreciation and amortization), and achieve rapid growth. The expected growth rate will be two times the overall growth rate of the market.

Poletto also attaches great importance to the group's total of 4000 employees in 65 countries. He said: "we must motivate our employees to truly play the role of brand. We did not do well in this respect in the past.

In addition, as part of its marketing strategy, Ferragamo group will unveiled a new official website construction plan in the middle of 2017. Last December, Ferragamo just opened a new online store in China and plans to implement multi-channel strategy worldwide this year. Poletto said, brand needs: "more streamlined, but more powerful to convey information to consumers, to maintain the essence of the brand."

Ferragamo group is now planning to slow down the opening of its stores. It is estimated that the number of new stores will be around 15 to 20 a year. Poletto said this is to put more resources into the renovation of existing "sales strong" stores. Ernesto Greco, the chief financial officer of the group, said that since IPO, the company has invested more than 140 million euros in shop renovation. In the next three to four years, the estimated capital expenditure will be 85 million euros.

Optimize commodity mix

In addition, in March of this year, Massimiliano Giornetti, the creative director of the group, announced its departure. Its 2017 autumn series, which was shown on fashion week in Milan in February, has also become a curtain call for Ferragamo.

In October of this year, CEO decided to divide the creative department into three categories: Men's wear, women's wear and accessories. Paul Andrew, who has won the "SWAROVSKI fund's most potential accessories designer" award, is currently in charge of the Ferragamo women's shoes series. It is the first woman shoe designer in the history of the brand, Fulvio Rigoni has been the creative director of women's wear, while the creative director of men's wear has been held by Guillaume Meilland.

Regarding this decision, Poletto said: "the brand itself points out the direction of creativity, and we rely on every designer's professional ability in their respective fields to carry out the design work. Footwear is the most potential commodity in leather products. Andrew's performance in this area is excellent. In keeping with the consistent style of the brand, he added modern elements.

"I hope we can improve our product mix and distribution process from a commercial perspective." Poletto said: "we do not want to be restricted by seasons, but constantly create surprises in stores and simplify our products." He mentioned that he hoped that the company could reduce the inventory unit (SKU) of 36% of spring products and reduce 30% in the next season. "We should create demand instead of following the trend of the market," he said.

Poletto said that the company has no plans to raise prices. He stressed: "price is very important to consumers' experience. Sometimes the price of luxury brands will be wrong. We must establish a pricing strategy scientifically." He said: "Ferragamo is very good at the entry price and can perform better in the pricing of high-end products."

Ferragamo group released its financial data for the fourth quarter last week. At the investor day conference, they did not disclose more relevant data. In the 2016 fiscal year, the total sales volume of Ferragamo group was 1 billion 440 million euros, an increase of 1% over the same period last year.

However, Poletto referred to some sales channels and the proportion of commodity types to total sales. The specific figures are as follows:

Sales of women's goods account for more than 60% of total sales.

Footwear sales accounted for 42%, the highest for all goods, followed by leather products (37%).

Retail sales accounted for 65% of total sales.

The Asia Pacific region is the largest market, accounting for 36% of sales, while the United States ranks second, accounting for 24%.

Poletto said that the Ferragamo group must be "very flexible", constantly evolving and constantly adjusting its strategy: "now is a brand new era, and only those companies that emphasize the quality of goods can stand out. "He emphasized that the strategy of commodity type and combination will be the focus of the group's future development.

Ernesto Greco also pointed out that Patent Box Box, a tax reduction plan for patent holders targeting Italy, will play a significant role in promoting the company's profitability. It is estimated that the additional profit of 100 million euros will be brought to the company from 2015 to 2020. In 2016, the tax rate was 31%, and from 2018, it will be reduced to 24%. In addition, the group has invested a new distribution centre in Osmannoro near Florence, which is expected to be put into operation in August 2018.

More interesting reports, please pay attention to the world clothing shoes and hats net.