CORPORATE COURSE ON LUXURY INDUSTRY 2019

2019.4-5 Shanghai

From April to May 2019, Fudan University and LUISS University organized an interesting course which the main topic was the luxury industry. The COURSE ON LUXURY INDUSTRY consisted in 4 enthusiastic and stimulating meetings with 4 of the most remarkable and innovative Italian companies, leaders in the Luxury industry. Students, from DDIM Program, Undergraduate and MBA programs of Fudan University had the opportunity to assist and actively participate to the discussions hold by 4 influent expert and proficient managers. Along its duration, the course was led by the fascinating brands’ histories and by the multifaceted characteristics of each luxury industry, from the sales and retailer in the sun glasses industry to the customer orientation approaches and brand values in the luxury apparel industry.

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▲Mr. Ernesto Miraglia

The first guest speaker, Ernesto Miraglia, is current Director of Asia Pacific at Damiani Group. At the very beginning, he went through the concept of value of the luxury brand and he stressed that the value is the outcome of cultural fitting strategy and singularity in the intangible element of a company.It was unavoidable talking and describing some of the most important brands and Italian companies operating in the luxury industry, such as Damiani, Burberry and Dolce&Gabbana.

Immediately after, the concept leading the discussion was the brand ‘made in Italy’, which was inquired by unstoppable questions from the students and by interesting images and videos about the history of the brands. Important takeaways from Mr. Miraglia’s speech concern the brand as promoter of emotions and dreams, and the role of luxury in the mid of customers: Luxury is superlative, not comparative. It must create an identity. 

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▲Mr. Giacomo Carminati

Second impressive contribution was from Giacomo Carminati, CFO of Gucci China. He opened the discussion with this title: the Gucci Tribe: Building a brand community. The lecture was therefore mainly focused on the capabilities of the Italian company to attract the millennials customers in the Chinese market and to exploit the appropriate tools of communication and marketing. Gucci’s strategy in China is definitively customer driven and Giacomo Carminati conveyed appropriately the messages of the Italian Maison: Differentiated and authentic creativity powered by innovative digital marketing and a consumer-centric approach. Moreover, another important focus was on the innovative side of the digitalization strategy of Gucci in China, based on Miniprogram on WeChat and marketing advertisements on several websites. Students were especially active and interested in topic concerning the opportunity of Gucci to ride the wave of selling products on Alibaba and other giants. This topic guided the discussion toward a compelling issue about the counterfeiting goods and luxury fake products in the Chinese market. 

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▲Mr. Carl James

Third lecture was hold by the General Manager Retail Greater China of Luxottica, Mr. Carl James. He dealt with the competitive advantages and the retail strategies of Luxottica in mainland China. Mr. James was definitively really practical and pragmatic in the approach he used, he let the students understand perfectly the decision-making process and the trade-off choices to make behind the opening of stores of the business and various brands of Luxottica group. Since the sunglasses industry operates in a really fast market, location, product assortment and brand events need to be detailed and sophisticated but at the same time, beyond question flexible to changes and customers, such as Luxottica’s stores are. 

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▲Mr. Ellis Chiu

Lastly, Mr. Ellis Chiu, Marketing Director of Ferragamo presented a really unconventional but animated and feverish at the same time. The lecture was interactive, and the students could express opinions and share personal stories regarding fashion luxury. The lesson with Mr. Chiu was a conversation based on a voyage that every human being needs to do eventually in life. It starts from meeting the love when you are walking in the street, until find a common interest on and build relationships. This is the metaphor of the journey of one shopper, and this is the ‘loving’ and emotional strategy adopted by Ferragamo. ‘Customers interaction is love’.

In conclusion, the course fitted and overcame the expectations of the entire bunch of students. Many of them were Chinese and many other were Italian, it was a perfect match to understand how these well-known Italian brands operate in the Chinese market, what the challenges and the resources they need to tackle and become leader overcoming geographical and cultural distances.

The insights from expert and influent people in the world of business fashion luxury proved to be inspirational and constructive for lots of the participants.

Written by

GIORGIA MASCIOLI from DDIM 2018