LVMH Maisons reopen after several week hiatus
LVMH
·
© Louis Vuitton
The Covid-19 pandemic obliged the majority of LVMH Maisons to suspend their activities. As the health situation improves in countries around the world, The Group’s brands are gradually restarting production and reopening stores with firm emphasis on ensuring the safety of employees and customers.
The Covid-19 pandemic impacted a multitude of countries and forced over half the world’s population to stay at home. To prevent the spread of the virus and keep their employees safe, LVMH Maisons had to temporarily suspend most of their activities in their host countries, in particular production activities at their workshops. Confirming the slowdown in the spread of the virus, governments in several countries have recently relaxed quarantine measures, enabling LVMH Maisons to progressively restart their activities.
With the exception of food businesses such as La Grande Epicerie de Paris stores, which remained open during the lockdown, the stores of LVMH Maisons are gradually reopening their doors. Stores in China have already been open for several weeks, while those in Europe, including France and Italy, recently welcomed their first customers.
Louis Vuitton has reopened its stores in several countries with a special installation: display windows at selected stores are featuring a rainbow, a strong symbol of hope. Louis Vuitton is delighted to express this uplifting spirit after several challenging weeks, underlining a desire to look to the future with optimism. The Maison has also set up a special appointment service for its French stores. To ensure a serene and positive experience, customers can make an appointment online with sales advisors for a personalized welcome and assistance in the store of their choice.
Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche is also taking special care of both customers and staff under these exceptional circumstances. A functional team, the Team Angels, is on hand to support sales staff in the department store and help direct customers or provide masks and hand sanitizer. This internal reinforcement system has previously been used for events such as the holiday shopping season or sales, and ensures fluid shopper flow throughout the newly reorganized Bon Marché.
Other LVMH Maisons are gradually reopening their stores as well, including Fendi, Christian Dior Couture, Parfums Christian Dior, Guerlain and Bvlgari. Special priority is being placed on the safety of both employees and customers at all points of sale, with limits on the number of persons in a given space and availability of hand sanitizer, among other measures.
In a symbol of positive momentum, the famous Acqua Di Parma boutique on the Piazza di Spagna in Rome reopened its doors on May 21 after several months of renovation. Decked out in the Maison’s signature yellow, the store exudes a scintillating and ebullient air.
Hublot marked the celebration of its 40th anniversary with the reopening of its largest flagship on prestigious Chuo-dori Street in Tokyo’s Ginza district. With its ultra-modern architecture, the store welcomes visitors on three floors, an emblem of the Swiss watchmaker’s drive to move forward.
Production has also been launched again at many workshops, underscoring LVMH’s commitment to a resilient rebound after weeks of inactivity. Louis Vuitton, Baby Dior in Redon, Brittany, Guerlain, Parfums Givenchy and Parfums Christian Dior workshops in France, and Bvlgari Parfums workshops in Italy all remained open during the lockdown to make masks and hospital scrubs at Louis Vuitton and Baby Dior, and hydroalcoholic gel at the Perfumes & Cosmetics Maisons. Even as these activities to help in the fight against the new coronavirus continue, the Maisons have rebooted their regular production operations – leather goods for Louis Vuitton and Perfumes & Cosmetics for Parfums Christian Dior, Bvlgari Parfums, Guerlain and Parfums Givenchy.
Bvlgari also began production again on May 18 at its Valenza, Italy atelier, as did Maniffatura Thélios in Longarone, in Northern Italy. The Thélios workshop was one of the first to restart in the country and has ramped up to its pre-lockdown cadence. Both facilities, like all LVMH Group sites, apply rigorous safety measures to protect employees and suppliers. As at other Maisons, production facilities of Wines & Spirits houses reopened with social distancing and barrier gestures. Masks and hand sanitizer gel are systematically distributed at all workplaces throughout LVMH.
To ensure optimal application of new workplace measures, employees have received special training at several Maisons, including Moët & Chandon, Ruinart and Hennessy. Hennessy was one of the first LVMH Maisons to reopen its production sites on April 14 with strict application of safety measures, including onsite health and safety facilitators, personal protection kits and information provided via an array of channels (animated illustrations, screens, tutorials, videos, etc.). Thanks to the motivation and agility of its teams, business is now virtually at full strength at all sites, strengthening Hennessy’s determination to move forward.
LVMH and its Maisons also made extensive use of their omnichannel presence, actively communicating on social networks and energizing the experience on e-commerce sites. Sephora did an especially remarkable job engaging with customers in a socially-distanced world. In China, the prestige beauty retailer hosted Virtual Sephora Day, a 100% digital showcase of 2020 beauty trends. The event proved a huge success among Chinese consumers as over a million people followed on WeChat, JD.com, Tmall and the Sephora website. This performance augurs well for a wave of optimism as luxury reinvents itself to emerge from a period of uncertainty.
Building on their already robust presence and dynamic performance in the e-commerce space, many LVMH Maisons stepped up in these special circumstances to further strengthen their positions while bricks and mortar stores remained closed.
The LVMH Group once again sincerely thanks all its employees for their work and engagement since the onset of the Covid-19 crisis.