Pauline Brown, Chairman, LVMH North America

A Beauty Pioneer

After Wharton, Pauline spent the early part of her career at Estee Lauder, where she quickly climbed the corporate ladder, and Bain and Carlyle. When Pauline joined LVMH in the US, the other brand heads were located in France, Italy, and Switzerland—not in the largest market. At LVMH, she wore various hats, including being the eyes and ears for the U.S. markets. She later authored a book called, Aesthetic Intelligence, I call it the other AI, on aesthetics in business from her experience in the beauty industry and teaching at Harvard Business School. It is a great read that provides business people with tips and tricks to build lasting businesses.  I was recently on her very real SiriusXM Tastemakers Show talking about rebooting your brand, career, and life, you can check it out here: https://www.revieve.com/press/tastemakers-on-siriusxm-stars-rebooting

Has Retail Lost its Touch?

It’s no surprise that the coronavirus has impacted the personal luxury goods sectors. In fact, personal luxury revenue is expected to fall 60%, a stark contrast from pre-COVID when growth targets were predicted to be over $1.5 trillion over the next five years. Like all brands, LVMH must rethink their market position and changing consumer behaviors to maintain their loyal customer following and cultivate the next-gen. This means pivoting more significantly to beauty e-commerce platforms and partnering with companies outside of the industry to embed and promote the brand. At the end of the day, retailers that do something different from the rest will stand out. We dug into if and why LVMH should buy Tiffany too!