Hermes opens a new store in India
, ET Bureau|
Updated: Oct 05, 2017, 11.03 AM IST
Florian Craen, executive vice president, sales and distribution, Hermes, in an interview to ET’s Anumeha Chaturvedi, said that the company is planning to go digital in every market including India at some point.
Edited Excerpts:
How do you view your operations in India?
India has had our attention for many years. Before our operations, we had extensive collaborations with Indian craftsmen many years ago. Our commercial operations started ten years ago. Our commitment was strong and we launched our flagship store in Mumbai. We wanted our store to be a place where we could hold cultural events and have the opportunity to share more. Our new store in Delhi will be in an elegant high-end destination and it is a new district for shopping.
How has Hermes performed in India compared to the other Asian markets?
We have a relatively small business in India and we are growing step by step. It is one of the smaller businesses for us. Japan, China and Korea are some of the bigger markets for us in Asia. China is a more recent addition. India is not at that level but we hope India will reach there some day. The society structure and customer expectations are very different in these markets compared to India. We see a lot of change in India and we hope to see strong development here in future. The environment will hopefully change for the better here with time.
Would you consider an online presence in India, in addition to the retail stores, given challenges such as infrastructure?
Yes, we could look at a digital strategy for India. It is not happening now but we may look at it in future. We need to go through the complexity of operations and we have gone digital in other markets like the US and Japan. We have been one of the first luxury brands to do so. We will go digital in every country around the world. I cannot say when we will go digital here but we will.
How have global uncertainties impacted your operations?
We have to deal with uncertainties every month because of the diversity of our activities. We are growing in every continent and working on fostering spending. We have a strong global customer base because of the diversity of our categories. We diversified and worked on the leather goods category, particularly in 2015. In the first half of 2017, we have seen strong figures in leather goods and fashion. Women’s wear and perfumes are categories that have also done well. We will continue to evolve as craftsmen.
Edited Excerpts:
How do you view your operations in India?
India has had our attention for many years. Before our operations, we had extensive collaborations with Indian craftsmen many years ago. Our commercial operations started ten years ago. Our commitment was strong and we launched our flagship store in Mumbai. We wanted our store to be a place where we could hold cultural events and have the opportunity to share more. Our new store in Delhi will be in an elegant high-end destination and it is a new district for shopping.
How has Hermes performed in India compared to the other Asian markets?
We have a relatively small business in India and we are growing step by step. It is one of the smaller businesses for us. Japan, China and Korea are some of the bigger markets for us in Asia. China is a more recent addition. India is not at that level but we hope India will reach there some day. The society structure and customer expectations are very different in these markets compared to India. We see a lot of change in India and we hope to see strong development here in future. The environment will hopefully change for the better here with time.
Would you consider an online presence in India, in addition to the retail stores, given challenges such as infrastructure?
Yes, we could look at a digital strategy for India. It is not happening now but we may look at it in future. We need to go through the complexity of operations and we have gone digital in other markets like the US and Japan. We have been one of the first luxury brands to do so. We will go digital in every country around the world. I cannot say when we will go digital here but we will.
How have global uncertainties impacted your operations?
We have to deal with uncertainties every month because of the diversity of our activities. We are growing in every continent and working on fostering spending. We have a strong global customer base because of the diversity of our categories. We diversified and worked on the leather goods category, particularly in 2015. In the first half of 2017, we have seen strong figures in leather goods and fashion. Women’s wear and perfumes are categories that have also done well. We will continue to evolve as craftsmen.
