Bailey opened a café in Burberry's shop to make shopping easy
Global personality reporter Yu Chijiang
London's early autumn mornings are mild and humid, the shopping resort of Regent Street is bustling with people, and the noise is drowned out by the drizzle. Christopher Bailey sat at an elegant black-and-white square table, flipping through documents while waiting for the waiter to bring him a cup of espresso. The 44-year-old fashion mogul took the coffee and said "thank you" with a little shyness – a completely British look.
Looking at the numbers on the file, Bailey's look was not relaxed. This year marks his second year as burberry's CEO and the most dire year for the luxury industry – the company's second-quarter 2015 financial statements show that Burberry's store sales grew by just 6 percent in the quarter, down from 12 percent last year, as a result of slowing chinese market demand.
This was the case, and Bailey once again set his sights on London's most important shopping district, Regent Street. In June, he opened a café at 121 Street, the gift area on the first floor of Burberry's global flagship store, leading Burberry into the food and beverage industry. He understands that in order to retain the customer's heart, he must first retain the customer's stomach.
CCO in danger
Bailey is the third person in the history of fashion to be both a CEO and a CCO (Chief Creative Officer), followed by Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani, the "titans" of the fashion industry.
Bailey was born in 1971 to an ordinary family in Yorkshire, the old city of north-east England, to a carpenter father and a department store displayer to a mother. He has loved upside-down design and tailoring since he was a child, but he has little opportunity to touch luxury goods, and his first time buying luxury goods is to go to London to buy a watch for his mother as a birthday present. However, that experience was not good. "The salesman was very arrogant and looked down on my dress and accent, and I thought, is it necessary to refuse people thousands of miles away?" Bailey recalled. Since then, he has thought that if he opens a store in the future, he will make customers comfortable, and it is best to let them drink coffee while buying things.
At the age of 18, Bailey, who was still studying at the Royal College of Art, was photographed by the famous designer Donna Karan, who came to visit the school at the time, and went to New York to develop. In the following 12 years, he worked as a designer for big brands such as dkny and Gucci. In 2001, Bailey joined Burberry as Design Director. "Burberry's reputation was bad at the time, the misuse of classic checks made it called 'clothes worn by the elderly', and the licensing global sales strategy was also very problematic." In 2002, Bailey hid checks in his designs, using modern materials and colors to improve Burberry's performance by 30%.
Bailey wasn't content with the design business, he was more ambitious in brand marketing and retail planning. In 2006, Bailey took back the sales rights of Burberry from small stores and began designing his own storefront. He boldly used personality supermodels such as Kate Moss to set off a wave of youthfulness. In 2009, Burberry became a big brand on a par with Prada and Chanel, and Bailey was promoted to CCO.
Bailey then reformed even more drastically, becoming the first designer in the fashion industry to launch digital marketing. In 2011, he launched the "Retail Theater" project, where guests from 25 flagship stores around the world can watch the show simultaneously through the iPad display and order runway costumes directly. Burberry's flagship store was gradually occupied by the iPad, and the endless digital marketing was a great success. In 2013, the company's annual revenue increased to £1.99 billion from £742 million seven years ago.
In 2014, the Burberry CEO jumped to Apple, and Bailey was appointed to take over the company's CEO.
Launch of Experiential Marketing
Bailey, who took over the scepter, was not easy, and his first task was to renovate the global flagship store on Regent Street. Bailey, thinking of the unpleasant shopping experience of the past, decided to open a café where he could taste authentic English afternoon tea, creating a leisurely and comfortable shopping environment for customers. Bailey explains: "In my plan, the London flagship store is a pioneer in reform, and we want to include more experiential marketing in our strategy. ”
The so-called experiential marketing is to stand in the perspective of consumers' senses and emotions to stimulate consumers' perceptual consumption. Bailey has captured this essence in the expansion of its flagship store. "Opening a café in a flagship store creates a more relaxed and enjoyable social environment to continue the Burberry experience for customers," he says. ”
This idea of "not doing business" was strongly opposed by the board of directors. Earlier this year, Burberry's board rejected Bailey's £8.1 million annual salary, while the former CEO's annual salary was twice that figure. Bailey did not back down, although the board of directors passed the budget is limited, he still created a "tall" café: in the overall design, Bailey continued the previous low-key, the interior decoration is mainly black and white, basically can not see the Burberry logo; the food and ingredients provided by the restaurant are the most seasonal and high-quality in the UK, thus strengthening Burberry's "British label" and consolidating the brand's regional recognition; the café's home, travel and other products, customers can buy them after eating. Bailey has also added a bespoke printing service, which only needs to be booked 1 hour in advance to enjoy services such as name stamping on the product, and customers can drink a cup of espresso during the waiting time for only 4 pounds... Most importantly, Bailey abandoned the simple, crude name of "Burberry Cafe" and instead named it after Burberry founder Thomas Burberry, "Thomas Cafe", which is quite inherited.
Bailey's experiential marketing quickly reverberated, with the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal building momentum before the café opened, and the enthusiasm for discussions on Facebook and Twitter was also very high. In June this year, the café officially opened, attracting a large number of fans. Bailey said: "The café not only increases the length of stay of customers, but also optimizes their shopping experience, greatly promoting consumption. ”
Leading the fashion industry in dining
Perhaps inspired by Bailey, LVMH President Bernard Arnault also began to enter the restaurant industry with ambitions. In June, lvmh announced the closure of its French high-end department store Frank et Fils, replaced by its food store Le Bon Marche.
In just one year, fashion brands such as Prada, Gucci and Chanel have also acquired restaurants and cafes, and vigorously built their own catering kingdom. For example, Prada bought a century-old dessert shop in Milan that sells cakes and cutlery with the Prada logo; Chanel opened her own Western restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo, becoming a pilgrimage place for Japanese youth; Hermès owns a café in Myeongdong, Seoul, South Korea, with its iconic orange visual elements, h-shaped chocolates on ice cream, and a cappuccino for 12,100 won (about 65.79 yuan).
Why are luxury brands increasingly keen to open restaurants? In addition to bailey's experiential marketing, there is also a purpose to cultivate young consumer groups. Compared with clothing and leather bags, the consumer prices of restaurants are relatively approachable, within the spending power of young people. Gucci CEO Mark Beazari sees these young people as big customers of the future: "Building good interactions with them in advance helps to increase their brand awareness." ”
In the face of the scuffle of luxury giants in the restaurant industry, Pele is very calm. He carefully planned his café and was involved in every design detail. These strategies retain not only customers, but also the board of directors. Not long ago, Burberry's board of directors passed Bailey's salary demand with a high vote of 92.3%, and the "rookie" CEO, who had been in office for more than a year, finally received an annual salary contract of 7.9 million pounds. It seems that Bailey, who has just passed the age of confusion, will surpass his predecessors Ralph Lauren and George Armani.
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