Luxury Retailing Management defines all the tools that are necessary to manage stores, from the analysis of location and the design concept, to the selection, training and motivation of the luxury store staff. The luxury business is quite apart from the normal mass market business. Many books exist on Mass retailing, bur not on Luxury retailing and the concepts, the procedures and the techniques are quite different. This book conveys all the necessary information that is specific about luxury in that form. This book, whose authors have both a professional and an academic profile, is structured so as to offer the answers and suggest solutions to retail professionals. This book starts by examining what are the different systems of luxury distribution: how the different business models of luxury are impacted by the distribution strategy the brand chooses. Once DOS are considered as strategic, three critical questions arise:1. Where to locate these stores? Trade area analysis, choosing the store format, knowledge of the leasing systems and primary Profit s Artistic Director will develop the global concept as well as the visual merchandising, consistent with the brand image and style.3. What pricing strategy? All top executives are concerned (Marketing, Sales, Finance) in developing the appropriate international pricing strategy and the subsequent bargain sales 5 major questions have to be addressed. This book analyzes all of them:1. What are the Luxury Store Economics? Retail scorecards, conversion rates, inventory knowledge of all these are necessary for managing stores.2. What is to be sold in the store? Budgeting, purchasing, merchandising assortment, inventory control are on the agenda.3. How do you staff a store? Store management, recruiting the appropriate sales assistants, developing compensation systems, motivating the staff and training them are critical issues we examine.4. How is customer relationship to be managed? Sales assistants and store managers have a unique responsibility: develop the unique relationship between a customer and a luxury brand. Personal selling, service, customer experience, clienteling are essential aspects here.5. How are luxury brands promoted at the store level? Store managers are ambassadors of the brand and as such complement the global communication strategy at the local level.
