Burberry on why it was ‘confusing’ its customers
Burberry has admitted that the move to align its three brands – Prorsum, London and Brit – under one single label comes as its consumers were confused by varying price points and positioning.
The luxury brand made the announcement earlier this month and today CEO and chief creative officer Christopher Bailey told investors the motivation behind the decision.
“Our move to one label will make the Burberry shopping experience more intuitive for the customer in all channels while retaining the breadth and diversity of our existing collections as well as our price points,” he said.
“We will continue to have high fashion, casual and workwear but they will all sit together…we were confusing the customer.”
Burberry has been testing the concept over the past six months in around 5 per cent of its stores worldwide and said the results so far have been “positive”, with a low double digit up lift in sales compared to the controlled group. “The move to one group will drive efficiency from design to sourcing to stores and is an important step in our ongoing drive to focus and rationalise our assortments,” added Bailey.
The luxury brand is also banking on the key Christmas period to help draw it out of a lacklustre first half which was impinged on by difficult trading conditions in China. However Burberry said sales of its core trench coat and cashmere scarf products performed well in the six months to 30 September and are expected to continue on the same trajectory over the festive period.
The fashion house reported flat sales of £1.104bn up from £1.1bn during the period, while pre-tax profits rose from £152.2m to £152.9.
Since the launch of Burberry’s Billy Elliot-themed Christmas ad last week Bailey said it has already generated a four-fold increase in coverage reach and as many impressions (11m) in social media in two days as across the entire eight-week campaign last year.
Burberry also talked up its digital prowess and revealed that 45 per cent of traffic now comes via mobile and that 27 per cent of digital sales are made via instore iPads carried by shop assistants. It has also reached the 38 million follower mark across its various social channels, which is 30 per cent higher than the same period last year.