New Kering CEO charts turnaround plan with customer focus and faster timelines

The new chief executive officer (CEO) of luxury group Kering, Luca de Meo, is set to speak with the group's key managers. This group comprises several hundred executives. They will meet after reviewing a memo outlining several workstreams to revive the group, AFP learned on Wednesday, confirming a report from La Lettre.

The meeting will take the form of a video conference, a source close to the matter told AFP.

In the memo, written this summer by Luca de Meo before he even took up his post on September 15, the Italian executive lays out his diagnosis for Kering. Kering is the owner of brands such as Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga. He proposes “more than a dozen workstreams” to turn around the struggling group, according to La Lettre.

Among these initiatives, de Meo is considering “putting the customer back at the centre to no longer depend solely on the artistic director's vision”.

According to La Lettre, he believes that the artistic directors' vision is “perfect for the 20 percent of the most creative and iconic products in a collection”. However, “for the remaining 80 percent of small leather goods, shoes and wearable ready-to-wear, it will be necessary to instil the common sense that prevails in the consumer goods industries, namely, a precise understanding of consumer expectations.”

According to the specialist publication, de Meo wants above all to “gain speed”. He reportedly intends to reduce the average time it takes for a luxury product to go from initial sketch to retail shelf from one year to six months.

“The current situation (...) reinforces our determination to act without delay,” de Meo stated on the day of his appointment, September 9. “This will require clear and strong choices,” he warned. “We will have to continue to reduce our debt and, where necessary, streamline, reorganise and reposition some of our brands.”

Less than a week later, on September 15, the very day he took office, the new CEO gathered some 250 of the group's managers. This included the artistic directors, to launch his mandate. The source close to the matter told AFP, confirming this information from La Lettre.

A very short video was also broadcast that day on the internal network for all employees, according to the same source.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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