Luxury Retail Management

Meng ZHANG

B00470981

2014.Mar.

Brand DNA

Gastronomy

Edible luxury

Sensation

Pleasure

Aesthetic and artistic

Revolutionary and Innovative

Pierre Hermé (Picasso of pastries)

Brand Codes

Macarons

Rose and raspberry

Yellow PH label

Nut-brown counters

Color bar

Foliage pattern bag

Brand OMNI retail channel

Brick & Mortar

- Pâtisserie

- Macarons & Chocolats.

Online Boutique

Mobile Apps

Social Media

Offline Retail Location

Eleven Sales outlets in Paris. 2 Pâtisserie and 9 Macarons & Chocolats.

(including 3 Sales points inside Galeries Lafayette and two sales outlets

accept pre-order pastries by telephone )

Offline Retail Saint Germain des Prés

The first Pierre Hermé pastry shop.

Opened in 2001 at Paris 6e Arr. (Saint

Germain des Prés)

Offline Retail

Unique outside windows changing due to the latest collection theme.

Providing pastries and cakes

Sufficient sales associates. (about 8 person serving in store)

Saint Germain des Prés

Fetish Infiniment Citron

Fetish Ispahan

Offline Retail Vaugirard

Opened in 2004 at Paris 15e Arr. Near to M4 line, Pasteur station.

Vibrant warm colors of inside decoration different with the net-brown color of other sales outlets.

Offline Retail Champs-Elysées

High traffic location (classic tourist site)

Macarons and chocolate are provided, but no pastries and cakes is served.

Offline Retail Store Decoration

Nut-brown acts as main color,

covering all the counters, shelves and

ceil. (except the pastry shop at Paris

15e Arr. which has bright light color

style and a ceiling with PH logo)

Colorful ribbon-look light box builds

a tasty and pleasant shopping

atmosphere.

Offline Retail Products and Packaging

For pastry store

- Behind the counter, there is another

counter specially for packaging

pastries. Each pastry will have an

according size container.

- All the purchased goods will be put

into the classic foliage-pattern bag

(except pastry shop in Vaugirard that I

visited, they are using the transparent

plastic bags) with napkins and high

quality plastic utensils in it.

Offline Retail Products and Packaging

For Macarons & Chocolats

- Customers can choose the package for

macarons and chocolates. There are gift

boxes of different sizes and designs for

those who buy macarons as gift for others.

- Also, there also little plastic bags for

customers without special request to

package.

- The design of boxes changed frequently,

sometimes Pierre Hermé will cooperate

with designers.

Offline Retail Visual Merchandising

After entering the pastry shop, customers are presented firstly with the

latest collection, then with classic pastry and macarons in glass counters.

Chocolates and other merchandises are displayed on the nut-brown color

shelves.

All the pastries are almost have the

same appearance concerning to the

size, decoration and aesthetic

feelings.

A round yellow label with PH logo

will be inserted in each pastry.

Offline Retail Staff Dressing Code

For Pastry stores:

- Black shirt with different colors

aprons.(yellow, lavender)

- Name tag on the left side

For Macarons & Chocolats

- Black shirts with name tag on the left side

All the female staff have to comb their

long-hair up

Having gloves on when picking products

for customers

Offline Retail Service Uniqueness

One-to-one service in pastry shop

-When entering the store, there will be one sales person helping

you during the entire purchasing process. (including english

service if request)

-The sales persons are equipped

with full knowledge of their

products (even with the allergic

ingredients.)

- Sales person even remind you

the best way to taste the pastries.

Offline Retail Service Uniqueness

Ritual of farewell in pastry shop

After packaging all the products

that customer purchased, staff will

walk out of the counter, and then,

hand the shopping bag to the

customer with one left-hand

carrying the handle and another

hand holding the bottom of the

bag, which is a very sincere way of

farewell.

Offline Retail Consistency of Brand DNA and Codes

The service is consistent with brand DNA and codes very well.

Customer can have a true premium experience during the entire

purchasing process

Customers can always get surprising sensation due to the frequent innovation of products. Moreover, you can truly feel the pleasure from your tongue by tasting the high quality products as well.

The decoration is with the sense of

design and consistency. (except the

pastry shop in Vaugirard )

Online Retail

http://www.pierreherme.com

Content - Merchandise categories

- Global boutique guiding

- Corporate sale

- Online ordering guide

- Delivery items

- Newsletter Subscription

- Partner links

- Recruiting information

- Terms and Conditions

Online Boutique

Online Retail

Background color is light-grey which is clean and relaxing.

Top left corner is the logo, the email subscription is below the logo.

Categories links (including shop online, boutiques, corporate sales and search engine) are displayed in top right corner under the person account information

All the promotion links in the home page are presented in artistic pictures

English and French version.

Online Boutique-Homepage

Online Retail

Searching for informations:

- Information of offline stores (including

location, opening time, contact, photos

and a brief introduction for each store. )

- The latest collection and promotion

activities.

- Newsletter subscription

- Product categories with detailed

description and tasty pictures.

Online Boutique-Main functions

Online Retail

Shopping online. After creating an

account customer can do:

- Proceed through checkout faster when

making a purchase. View past orders

- Check the status of orders

- Get recommendation of complimentary

products

- Store alternative addresses (for shipping to

multiple family members and friends.)

- Choose pick-up at store or delivery to

home.

Online Boutique-Main functions

Online Retail

The merchandises in online boutique are

consisted with macarons, chocolates,

pastries, viennoiseries, cakes, jams, cookies,

confectionary, ice cream, coffee and teas.

You can purchase candles and books from

Pierre Hermé as well. (Books ordered for

home delivery are signed by Pierre Hermé.)

Online Boutique-Merchandising

Online Retail Online Boutique-Services

The same-day delivery fee is expensive.

This service is available 7/7 (except the

days on which boutiques are closed).

Cutomers may select a delivery date

and hour on any day.

Online Retail Online Boutique-Services

For Corsica, Monaco, and other countries in

Europe, delivery times vary between 48 and

72 hours.

Delivery is free of charge for orders to

Metropolitan France and Monaco over 100€.

Online Retail Online Boutique-Services

The pick-up service (only in pastry shop

in Vaugirard ) is more convenience for

customers, avoiding waiting in line and

making sure the availability of the order.

But not all the products are fitted to this

pick-up services.

Online Retail Online Boutique

The online boutique is consistent with Brand codes, well designed and decorating with full of artistic pictures.

It gives customers an access to get to know the products in an easier and direct way.

But the delivery fee is quite expensive for most of the customers. However, the pick-up service is more practical for customers.

The books for sale satisfy the fantacy of gastronomy lovers as they can get signature from their idol, which strengthen the brand image.

Online Retail

Pierre Hermé has 2 mobile apps, one for

macarons and one for chocolates.

Users can do shopping, look for location

and opening time of brick & mortars and

get access to official website (online store)

by using apps

Users can use the same account created on

online store to log in.

Mobile Apps

Online Retail

The Macarons App

Mobile Apps

Online Retail

The Chocolates App

Mobile Apps

Online Retail

The apps keep the consistency of the

brand codes of aesthetic feeling and

premium style.

The offline-store locator function is user-

friendly for customers searching the

nearest store around them.

The choice of the merchandise for

purchasing is too limited.

No app for pastries, cakes and other

products

Single language version (French)

Mobile Apps

Online Retail

The account of Pierre Hermé Paris was created in April 2010, now has 107,347 likes, 5,972 talking about this , 11,787 were here.

Pierre Hermé Paris - London is another offical account in Facebook, founded in June 2011.

Facebook

Online Retail

Online Retail

The content in Facebook include the promotion new collection and seasonal products (link to online store) , activities information and press releases and videos about the brand.

Each post will be attached with a selective picture and inviting words.

But some of the links enclosed cannot work.

Facebook

Online Retail

Pierre Hermé Paris © London，Pierre Hermé Paris © Hong Kong and

Pierre Hermé Paris © Japan have

official twitter account, but Pierre

Hermé Paris © don’t have a twitter

page.

Twitter

Assessment of OMNI channel

The mobile apps are close connected to the

online store in online sales, also act as a

locator for off-line shops

Social Media interact with customers, lead

them to search more information on official

website and maintain the aesthetic image of

the brand.

Online store is providing convenience for

customers with pick-up and delivery service.

Meanwhile the detailed introduction of

products give customer a better knowledge of

the products.

Assessment of OMNI channel

While the delivery fee and delivery time are limited, customers are intent to choose brick & mortar to purchase.

The different channels have connections between them, all the channel seems to encourage customers to visit offline store and experience the luxury of Pierre Hermé .But the connection still need to strengthen. For example, in social media field, Pierre Hermé only lay some importance in Facebook while in other social media are under-developed; and the lack of interaction with customers influence the engagement of customers.

Recommendations

Improving existing online store

- The design of the official website should

be improved every now and then. For example,

the font is too small to read and some links are misplaced

- The official website should provide the links to all the official social

network pages.

- Adding more contents about the brand foundation and stories of Pierre

Hermé.

- Using video to present products.

- Providing QR code for downloading the mobile apps. (Since most of

customers might not know the existence of mobile apps)

Recommendations

Extent online channels in social media

- Since Pierre Hermé put a lot importance into

the aesthetic aspect of the brand, it would be better to

create an account in image-sharing website (Pinterest or Instagram).

- Make good use of video-sharing website (YouTube) by making high-

quality video to introduce products in a much vivid way. More

importantly, Pierre Hermé can take advantage of the video sharing

platform to create a virus marketing campaign to improve brand

recognition and intensify brand image.

Recommendations

Providing dine-in services - Pierre Hermé could open few coffee or tea

houses where pastries and macarons can be served

with drinks. Also, Pierre Hermé can serve brunch or

afternoon-tea menu to customers, create a lifestyle to customers, then strengthen the engagement between Pierre Hermé and its customers.

- Strengthen the luxury image by providing premium in-house experience. (influence customer through decoration, facilities and staff.)

- Contribute to brand extension.

- Avoid damages to the appearance of pastries caused by shaking on the road, since macarons and cakes are fragile and easy to be damaged.