Why Luxury Brands Will Keep Their Pandemic Playbooks
From e-commerce expansion to a focus on neighborhood stores, the ways these companies evolved to cope with Covid look increasingly permanent.
When the chief executive officer of Swiss luxury brand Bally looked at online revenue during the depths of the pandemic, he noticed something curious. Internet sales were robust in U.S. cities that hadn’t been on his radar. “These are cities that naturally a European brand will not think of first,” Nicolas Girotto says. “You will think about New York, Los Angeles, Miami. But there are big opportunities in Austin and Houston.”
Bally, known for its hand-crafted leather shoes, is looking at opening stores soon in Houston and Charlotte. The expansion is part of Girotto’s two-year plan to increase the number of stores Bally has in the U.S. to as many as 25, from 15, while also investing in its online platform.