The new incumbent of the Zenith hotseat, CEO Mr. Julien Tornare, says he has no plans to build a global network of brand owned boutiques.
Tornare, recently appointed by LVMH Head of Watchmaking Jean-Claude Biver, believes that opening boutiques is full of risk, and that working more effectively with retail partners is the better route to take.
“I think it’s illusory to consider building huge shopping temples for the brand and opening boutiques for our image. We have to respect the retailers, because they are the ones who have built up the industry over the past 20 years,” Mr. Tornare said in an interview with World Tempus.
Julien Tornare spent 17 years with Vacheron Constantin, most recently heading the Asia-Pacific region where he managed 13 boutiques for the Richemont brand.
That experience, particularly in recent years as Asian markets have slowed, appears to have influenced his thinking for Zenith.
“A lot of brands have neglected the retailers and I think they will start coming back to them. Own-brand stores are great when they work, but when business takes a turn for the worse then they start to cost a lot of money. In any case, Zenith simply doesn’t have the financial resources to open 20 stores around the world,” Julien Tornare, CEO Zenith.
Tornare will be the driving force behind Jean-Claude Biver’s vision to re-engineer the brand to bring all its tradition and history to become relevant to the future.
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