LVMH creates fragrance structure for four of its brands
LVMH Fragrance Brands will comprise the France-based company’s Givenchy, Kenzo, Pucci and Fendi lines.
President of the new grouping Alain Lorenzo told CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com that the process involves leveraging the existing sales structures of the company’s established fragrance houses; Parfums Givenchy and Kenzo Parfums.
“We are turning the current sales forces of Kenzo and Givenchy (a mix of local market sales forces and export and travel retail representatives) into a combined sales force, creating a multibrand sales structure which is then in the position to launch Fendi and widen the presence of Pucci,” he explained.
Fendi launched planned for September
According to Lorenzo, a Fendi fragrance was launched a couple of years ago, but this was met with limited success which resulted in it being pulled from store shelves. At the time of the launch, Fendi did not have its own dedicated sales force; rather the company launched it through the sales forces of its other brand’s, in particular Dior, he said.
“One of the things we learnt from this was that we were missing a properly structured multibrand sales force for this ambitious launch, instead of relying on the sales structure of an existing House” he stated, adding that a totally new Fendi fragrance is planned for September.
Lorenzo underlined the fact that although sales forces will be combined, the fragrance houses will remain separate, with each maintaining its individual creative, marketing and communications activities.
Fragrance market dipped in 2009
Promoting fragrance brands and leveraging sales in this market category is particularly important given the mixed performance of the global fragrance market in 2009.
According to Euromonitor International, poor global sales growth in mature markets such as Western Europe (0 per cent) and North America (-5 per cent) was due to cost-conscious consumers viewing fragrance as a discretionary product.
However, the market researcher highlighted that a rise in disposable incomes in Latin America, a region less affected by the economic crisis, helped to offset this, with overall global growth in the fragrance market coming in at 4 per cent.
