The Missing "Handbag" Originator

In this highly homogenized era, whether or not the industry has "explosions" becomes a key element for a brand to stand out.

The definition of "exploding money" refers to the sale of goods in high demand. Usually, we sell a lot of products with high popularity, such as the "Dionysus bag" launched by Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele, Fendi's "Peekaboo" and Dior's saddle bag. However, the earliest luxury handbag brand Lancel, known as the "explosion" handbag, is now fading away from consumers.

Lancel's "bucket bag" has been regarded as the first phenomenal handbag in the industry, that is, the so-called "explosive money" handbag. The sales volume of the handbag is up to one million level, so long as the grade consumers will have one. Benefiting from this, Lancel's performance at that time rapidly matched Louis Vuitton and Chanel.

But Lancel, which has been red for a whole century, has fallen to the bottom in recent decades. In June last year, Lancel was suddenly sold to the Italy light luxury leather goods group Piquadro, which was sold by the group of 360 million of the price of the peak price of the group in 1997. What is even more surprising is that the transaction does not involve cash disbursements. The cost is that the Lancel can earn some profits in the next 10 years. The total analysis is expected to reach about 35 million euros, less than Lancel's one year sales, which will have little impact on the annual revenue of nearly 11 billion of the group.

Piquadro group was founded in 1987 by Marco Palmieri, headquartered in Bologna, Italy, mainly engaged in the production and sales of light luxury commercial leather goods and accessories. It has 99 Piquadro brand boutiques in more than 50 countries and listed on the Milan stock exchange in 2007. In addition to the Piquadro brand, the group also purchased 3 million 170 thousand stake in Italy's accessories brand The Bridge 80% in November 2016.

At that time, insiders pointed out that it would take 6 to 8 years to completely reverse the loss situation of Lancel, while the private equity fund's investment period was generally 3 to 5 years. This transaction could mean a great risk to Piquadro group.

From the original "bucket bag" swept the world, to Louis Vuitton, and once to be known as the peak group as a sharp weapon LVMH, the 143 year history of Lancel was eventually Piquadro not a cash income bag, the reason can not help but cause the industry to ponder.

In fact, Lancel, founded by accessories designer Ang Le Lancel and her husband Alphonse Lancel, did not start with handbags at all. Instead, it was the main accessory of cigarette and cigarette related accessories. Because of its novel design and excellent workmanship, the brand gradually established an elegant image, giving itself a certain aristocratic tone.

In 1900, Lancel came to the most important turning point in history. Ang Le Lancel was a typical representative of a strong woman at that time. She often wore men's clothing and cigarette holder to attend various meetings. Her capable image led to many women's imitation at that time. Inspired by this, Ang Le Lancel decided to shift the focus of brand development to leather goods such as wallets and handbags, and formally enter the female luxury market.

In 1901, when the second generation of Lancel Albert Lancel took office, it accelerated the layout of the brand in the female luxury market, and focused the advertising scene on high-end venues such as casino, racecourse, hotels and restaurants. The Hollywood stars with smiling hands and Lancel handbags became the new image of Lancel. In 1927, Lancel launched the earliest version of the classic "bucket bag".

In 1950, Lancel adjusted the development strategy again according to the prevailing retail wind direction, launched a series of more casual soft leather bags, and for the first time combined leather and nylon fabrics, and designed a more practical and practical travel bag. Thanks to innovative design, exquisite craftsmanship and quality materials, Lancel handbags are rapidly gaining the attention of high-end consumers, becoming one of the benchmarks for high-end handbags.

In 1976, Lancel, which has been established for 1 centuries, was sold to Zorbibe brothers. It was first taken over by outsiders and began to hire young designers constantly to inject new vitality into the brand. But despite the change of surnames, Lancel still maintains the unique and innovative advantages of traditional family businesses.

Unfortunately, for a long time, Lancel has not received enough attention after being bought by Cartire, Vacheron Constantin and other famous brands of luxury jewellery and watch brands. Due to lack of management and investment, Lancel product image is aging rapidly, and over 10 CEOs have been replaced in the past 21 years, which has led to a poor performance.

According to the fashion business express data, Lancel has continuously recorded losses since 2000. Its development in recent decades has been slow. The sales volume of its departments has almost no growth in 2010. The fashion business at that time was mainly driven by Net-a-Porter, an e-commerce platform. When Louis Vuitton and Chanel business scale continued to accelerate expansion, Lancel still had 80% of its performance from the French local market.

In 2013, Lancel was sold for the first time by the group. The Bloomberg News Agency quoted insider sources as saying that the group hired Japanese investment bank Nomura holdings to help find the right buyers. The estimated value of Lancel is about 200 million to 500 million euros. Johann Rupert, CEO of the group, said frankly that it hoped to get rid of bad investment projects as soon as possible.

On the decline of Lancel, Mansur Gavriel, founded by the two young female designers of Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavriel in 2012, successfully created a new "bucket bag". The price of the minimalist design and the close to the people made the brand immediately red. In 2014, the brand new handbag sold 95% of its stock within 1 hours after the cloth was released.

In the absence of social media or underdevelopment, the popularity of the cycle is longer, the use of exquisite production technology and the continuous interpretation of the classics, Lancel and other luxury brands in a long period of time can be equated with the status of the status, this product to achieve the ultimate idea also attracts the royal family celebrities brought about by the direct advertising effect. But when the main consumer begins to shift to a larger number of young middle class, freshness is becoming a key factor in attracting interest.

However, unlike other private equity funds that focus on earnings, the Piquadro group, which also started in handbags, valued Lancel's brand value. Although the overall size of the Piquadro group is equivalent to or even smaller than that of Lancel, Marco Palmieri, the CEO of the group, is very firm in its decision to buy Lancel. It describes Lancel as the most stylish luxury brand in the past 150 years, and is optimistic about the future development potential of the brand.

After the completion of the takeover, Piquadro group's strategy is to reposition Lancel instead of completely overthrowing it with the aim of impressing and attracting younger consumers with more fashionable avant-garde designs. Marco Palmieri emphasizes that Lancel has its own unique appeal. Many of the current "exploding" handbags can find similar shadows in the archives of Lancel for nearly 150 years. The challenge of the brand lies in how to attract young people's attention with more fashionable designs.

For this reason, Lancel specially appointed Barbara Fusillo, who worked in Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs, as creative director last year. Barbara Fusillo, 35, is good at combining contrasting contrasting elements. In her first interview after taking office, she said that in the future, more bold innovative designs will be made under the premise of respecting Lancel DNA.

In addition, Piquadro group also plans to use its abundant supply chain resources and experience in handbag products to empower Lancel, combine French style with high-end Italy technology, and better communicate with millennial consumers through social media. According to the fashion business express, Lancel's official account accounts for only 60 thousand of micro-blog's total number of fans and 100 thousand of micro-blog's fans, much less than that of other luxury brands. In March 25th of this year, Lancel announced that Chinese 90 actress Lin Yun was the brand ambassador.

In October last year, the first official series of Barbara Fusillo was officially released. In the continuation of the "bucket bag" and other classic styles, the designer also introduced the tidal current elements such as capital letters Logo and metal chains, which were more colorful and hopping. Ninon and Charlie series of handbags were regarded as potential stocks by Piquadro group.

Obviously, Piquadro group is trying to find new memory for Lancel. However, the Lancel after the change is not as new as expected in the industry. After all, in today's Luxury Retailing industry, besides the head luxury brand, Lancel still needs to face the emerging brands that mushroomed, and its single product matrix, which is still dominated by handbags, is no longer able to meet the diversified needs of consumers.

According to Piquadro group's latest earnings report, in the fiscal year ended March 31st, Lancel dragged down the profit growth of the group. The profit before group interest tax depreciation and amortization dropped to 830 thousand euros compared with the 10 million 780 thousand in the previous fiscal year, excluding Lancel's profit before interest tax depreciation and amortization increased by 11.4% to 12 million euros.

During the reporting period, the sales volume of Lancel has been 45 million 200 thousand euros since its acquisition in June last year, and has shrunk to less than 50 million euros, far less than the 130 million to 150 million euro Luca Solca, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas in Paris.

At the same time, Louis Vuitton last year sales have entered 10 billion euros club, Chanel's income is also up to 9 billion 800 million euros, is 200 times the scale of Lancel income. At present, Lancel has 82.8% of its revenue from the retail network including e-commerce. The brand has 58 stores in France, 2 in Italy, 1 in Spain, Russia and China, and has entered the Jingdong and WeChat Mini program this year to open a new official flagship store.

Besides Lancel, Burberry, Mulberry and luxury brands such as Lanvin, which were purchased by Fuxing international last year, have begun to pick up the strategy of "exploding money", hoping to regain the attention of young consumers.

Due to the lack of core handbag products, the performance of British luxury brand Burberry continued to decline after twenty-first Century, and sales in the 12 months ended March 30th were almost unchanged, with a record price of 2 billion 720 million. To reverse the situation as soon as possible, the brand invited Givenchy creative director Riccardo Tisci to design the team last year and launched a new Thomas Burberry Monogram.

In June of this year, Burberry released a series of new stamps as the theme, and made two buses full of Thomas Burberry Monogram running through the streets of Shanghai. Many Burberry flagship stores, including the flagship store of Shanghai Jingan District Kerry Center and the flagship store of Seoul, South Korea, also experienced a "makeover" and changed into TB printing indoor decoration, aiming at strengthening consumers' memory of new printing.

Riccardo Tisci said that although people would think of classic Burberry when they mention Burberry, the latter has too many traditional images to satisfy the aspirations of young consumers. Burberry needs to create a brand new symbol.

Also known as Lanvin, which has never been able to get out of the commercial dilemma, has been changed. Compared with the large cocktail dress in the era of Alber Elbaz, the new creative director Bruno Sialelli has strengthened the proportion of new garments in the new series, and has promoted the commercialization of the brand through large bags of soft bags, printed leather handbags and other attractive handbags.

Lanvin CEO Jean-Philippe Hecquet said that youth is a necessity of fashion industry. "Understanding fashion is one thing, but understanding fashion and keeping pace with the times is another matter." Although the risk of choosing young designers is that they may not be able to immediately lead the brand onto the right track, their plasticity and resilience may be stronger.

Mulberry has launched several series of packages such as Keeley, Millie and Seaton this year, and has hosted the theme of "My Mulberry Local", which has attracted the attention of young consumers. In the fiscal year ending March, Mulberry international sales increased 7% to 48 million 100 thousand pounds over the same period last year. In the 11 weeks ended June 15th, total retail sales increased by 13%, while the international market recorded a strong 31% growth.

Some analysts point out that, whether Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel or Gucci, these outstanding luxury brands are no longer just grasping the products themselves, but by developing the brand into the consumer's "exploding money" to achieve sustainable development.

The female editor in chief of Anna Wintour, the editor in chief of the US VOGUE editor, dismissages the assistant's remarks, and the assistant editor of the fashion editor disagrees with her modeling. The editor in chief told her, "you feel this is none of your business. You chose this blue baggy sweater from the wardrobe to try to tell others that you are too busy to care about your clothes, but you need to know that the dress is not only blue, but because the sky blue military jacket designed by Yves Saint Laurent has become the favorite of designers after that, and later the imitation of the mid-range brand just let you get this dress from their discounted goods." in the classic film "the devil wears Prada," in the fashion industry.

This film enables consumers to understand the fashion trend communication chain, from luxury brands to mid-range brands to the general public. However, the fashion industry has also undergone tremendous changes under the impact of the Internet, big data and social media.

In today's fashion consumer market, even with luxury brands with hundreds of people, many have long been unable to create a "burst" handbag that impresses consumers. Some designer brand handbags attract more people because of their distinctive brand attitude and high cost performance. The most popular American designer brand Telfar now sells its toddic handbag with its logo relief logo from 100 thousand to 1 million 600 thousand dollars in two years.

French designer brand Jacquemus founder and designer Simon Porte Jacquemus also revealed recently that since its publication in the spring of 2018 "La Bomba" series, its personal brand business has grown rapidly, and the revenue of its series products has almost doubled. According to his estimate, Jacquemus sales in 2019 will reach 23 million euros to 25 million euros, up from 11 million 500 thousand euros last year and 7 million 500 thousand euros in 2017, of which 30% to 40% come from the selling of handbags such as Chiquito.

You know, the fundamental attraction of fashion is to provide freshness. In an interview with the first financial weekly, the executive director of Accenture strategy Greater China said, "for a moderately developed luxury brand, it must change its own life at the right time, and exploding money is the most important way to rebuild itself."

To be sure, explosive money is still the best choice for luxury brands to enhance their influence, but what is worrying is that it may be more and more unrelated to the classic two characters.