Pietro Beccari, CEO and chairman of Louis Vuitton, and CEO of LVMH Fashion Group, spoke at the latest edition of RCS Academy convention. He has been with the group for twenty years, and although he prefers actions to words, he agreed to step on stage for the interview.
Beccari explained that one of the biggest challenges for the luxury market is to avoid boring the consumer—that is, to make them desire something. “The world is changing, and we hear a lot about customers who are throwing themselves into experiences—travel, museums—while moving away from the world of classic luxury. Recently, we’ve thrown ourselves into retail tech, which is this blend of museum culture, culinary culture, and musical experiences. These are experiences you can’t find in other stores, and they require significant investment capacity but also a high tolerance for risk,” he explains, citing the example of a massive store they opened last year in Seoul—which isn’t a store but an experience—and a gigantic boat they launched in Shanghai that has become a staple of the city.
“It’s a sort of transatlantic liner where people from 96 different nationalities made shopping, and for China, it’s also a source of pride in attracting customers. This ability to entertain customers, to get them to come, to have them stay with you for a day, to be able to tell them about the brand’s history, and to explain why one Vuitton product is more expensive than another. Our exhibits, which showcase artisans crafting bags and trunks right in front of our visitors, attract more than 20,000 people per week—and more than 4,000 people per day.”
The sale of items like these isn’t literally necessary for people to live, explains the manager. In reality—they hope—they serve to put people in a good mood and evoke emotions. “When people ask me what luxury is, I think luxury is the emotion we’re able to convey through a product we don’t need but want at all costs.”
Although for many today luxury is also driven by data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence, at LVMH it’s rare for major decisions to be made solely because they’ve been meticulously calculated.
“Everyone thinks Bernard Arnault is a mathematician, a number-cruncher, and a ruthless financier. He probably is all of those things, but I also see Erasmus of Rotterdam in him. We rarely rely solely on calculations. Profitability is certainly calculated, but then we follow our intuition and dive right in. You have to know how to surprise people and be where no one expects you to be. It also takes the ability to reinvent brands, because otherwise they’ll just keep doing what they’ve always done. Instead, you have to know how to take risks—they have to take risks and act on instinct.”
Even the decision to hire Pharrell Williams is part of this approach. “It was a somewhat irrational decision, but it’s working even though he’d never designed major collections before.”
“We do amazing work, and we have fun doing it. If you don’t take risks, the work we do doesn’t make much sense. I’d collaborated with Pharrell back in 2007. In 2004, he’d designed a pair of sunglasses that are still part of the current collection today, as well as a jewelry line at the time. Karl Lagerfeld always spoke very highly of him when he was with him at Fendi. He’s always had a distinctive style, always uses a unique aesthetic, and has a knack for interpreting the times and setting trends. So there was a risk, but I don’t think it was as big as some people think.”
Vuitton has also entered the world of sports through Formula 1, soccer—by sponsoring Real Madrid—and the America’s Cup, among other initiatives. This stems from his unfulfilled dream of becoming a soccer player. “I was a great soccer player, but then I made do and went on to do other things. Today, sports are part of children’s education, and I believe they’re essential for both physical and mental development.
So engaging with sports, engaging with these personalities who also serve as positive role models—embodying a positive youth culture—helps them become what he calls a “cultural” brand, and that’s the spirit in which they approached it. “I also believe that sports have shaped my approach to being a manager—who I am, how I operate, and how I want the company to grow, as well as human resources—everything behind my work philosophy stems from that,” he explained.
Beccari enjoys working by building and coaching a team. “I think that as a general manager, as the head of a company, I have a major responsibility, which is to create an environment and an atmosphere. Everyone says that strategies are important, but I’ve always placed more emphasis on people than on strategies; I’ve always said that and always put it into practice. I hope to always have people around me who come to work loving what they do.
I’d like them to say, ‘I love going to work and I love doing this,’ because those are the people who give you the most. They give you the ability to grow, develop, and drive growth. And if you have a lot of people like that, you have a team of little alchemists, not slaves to the system. A little alchemist is someone who holds a position in a company that may not be very high up, but who knows they can make a difference every day by moving just a few centimeters—steps that, when added to those of others, become kilometers.”
He started out in Basilica Goiano, a small town near Parma, and today he drives a luxury flagship group in Paris. He wanted to be a soccer player, and then he started working as a sales clerk at a clothing store in downtown Parma.
“I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do in life, and I don’t think any of the young people listening to us need to worry about that, because basically doors open up and you move from station to station. It’s not like you can see which station the train will stop at—it’ll just be the next one. I think you have to know how to seize opportunities, but among the qualities one must have, the first is fierce determination—an ability to make sacrifices beyond the norm. I’ve never seen anyone succeed in life without being obsessed with their work and pushing beyond their limits to do what needs to be done,” he says.
“The second characteristic is having a divine capacity for dissatisfaction—that is, the ability to set aside what you’ve accomplished—after celebrating it for maybe five minutes—then forget about it and think about what you can do better and what you can do next.”
The third characteristic is what a U2 song says: “The more you see, the less you know.” The more you see, the more you realize how much you don’t know. “We know a lot of things, but we also know that we don’t know. I urge everyone to be curious, to go see what’s behind that wall, behind that door. Then, once you’ve seen what’s on the other side, you also have to have the courage to go there. It takes courage, but even if you’re afraid, you take the plunge anyway. So, guys, I urge you: study, but keep in mind that studies are only relatively important. Cultivate your skills, and if you have those skills, train yourself to seize the opportunities that come your way—but you can’t plan for them. It’s better to keep raising the bar—from station to station, from door to door,” he concluded.