Many argue that, in the wake of COVID, the odds are now in favor of the biggest luxury groups and that independent players are doomed. LVMH’s gobbling up of yet two more brands this summer, Off-White and Etro, seems to prove the point.
But for the independent cohort, the future can still be bright and the upturn in 1:1 Breitling replica watches’ fortunes proves this point just as well.
In 2017, when CVC Capital, a private equity firm, bought AAA Breitling fake watches, the Swiss watchmaker founded in 1884 was underperforming. A new management team, led by CEO Georges Kern, reversed the situation by defining clear priorities for increasing the desirability of the brand and by applying key business agility principles. What we can see, five years into this unfolding story, is how both textbook basics and an original vision, have come together to capture opportunities presented by external trends and to future-proof the brand.
You can’t have enough desirability
Conventional strategy textbooks tell us that brands cannot create desirability without seeming unique to targeted customers. A smart and clear strategy is therefore essential. For future-proofing, these books also tell us that management must decide what to keep from the original business and what to transform. Handling this paradox is crucial; here is how Swiss replica Breitling watches approached it.
Back in 2017, UK Breitling copy watches’ management felt that the brand ought to capitalize on its enduring and global brand awareness and stay true to the highly sporty and technical heritage of the brand, especially amongst aviation fans. That said, it had to reach out to many more customer groups, including young people.
The product was key. With its 600 product lines, Breitling replica watches for sale was far too confusing for consumers. It trimmed them down to 150 references and got rid of what Kern calls “visual pollution”. Breitling put down three anchors, or collections: air, with its Navitimer theme; sea with its SuperOcean theme; and land with the Chronomat theme and elegant Swiss made super clone Breitling watches. Each collection offers 15 to 20 models. It was an overall simplification of the product offering, which helped the brand leap forward.
Stylistically, the collections shifted to “modern retro.” For instance, Breitling updated its famous Chronomat B01 but kept its distinctive rouleaux stainless steel bracelet (tube-like and linked) as well as its integrated onion crown. It resurrected and modernized the cheap replica Breitling Top Time watches, in collaboration with Deus Ex Machina, the Australian motorbike company. (Breitling is the official timekeeper of the latter’s vintage motorcycle championships around the world.)
The idea luxury should be about rarity is also a textbook one. Thus, best Breitling fake watches cut down the number of retailers to favor those who would invest more in the brand. The company also expanded its own retail network, which today accounts for 30% of revenues (vs 15% five years ago), to foster more direct relationships with consumers.
Just be cool: a 3-pronged approach
This is where the real art of the strategist comes in, as many executives can see external trends, but few are using them to create a game-changing strategic narrative. Top replica Breitling watches’ management has been exploiting mega trends to build three original strategic priorities, with the overall aim turning Breitling into a cool luxury watch brand. They are:
#1. Inclusivity. Before COVID, there was already growing concern in society about rising social inequalities. As such, luxury may well be seen as the epitome of inequality. Perfect fake Breitling watches’ response to this worrying trend has been extensive.
First, it has eschewed the elitist sports that many luxury brands sponsor, instead focusing on more inclusive ones such as surfing, triathlon and cycling. In the case of the latter. it has partnered with the sports app Strava. Best quality Breitling replica watches is reaching out to a completely new public, too, by when sponsoring the Drone Champions League.
Second, inclusivity has meant reaching out to Asian consumers, tapping into a region where Breitling was not present enough.
The brand has also decided to open up to women. For Tim Sayler, Chief Marketing Officer, “this started first with featuring women consistently as equals in the new #SquadOnAMission campaign; it continued with the introduction of specific women’s collections and a dedicated female Spotlight Squad, featuring Charlize Theron, Misty Copeland and Yao Chen.”
Last but not least, although wholesale fake Breitling offers $30,000 watches, it has strived to remain accessible by keeping its $6,000 average price, even for Swiss-made ones.
#2. Sustainable growth. A 2020 Deloitte study shows that consumers would choose 2022 replica Breitling watches that is ethical or sustainable over any other watch. While millennials want to continue consuming luxury, how the brand measures up in terms of ESG criteria matters to them.
According to Kern, “We have an internal program of carbon footprint reduction. We are shifting to sourcing sustainable materials and want to be an industry pioneer for recycled and recyclable packaging. We already use packaging recycled from PET and straps from recycled fishnets. We also bet on artificially-grown diamonds.”
Breitling fake watches paypal, like many luxury brands, wants more recycled and sustainable packaging Breitling.
At times using social levers for environmental protection and CO2 reduction targets, Breitling has partnered with the NGO Ocean Conservancy. The two firms have co-branded China replica Breitling SuperOcean Heritage Chronograph 44 limited edition watches, with part of the proceeds going directly to the NGO. It also now offers a funky range of Econyl straps, all made from recycled nylon produced by Aquafil and available at affordable prices.
Sustainability also means more transparency towards consumers, which is a governance choice. In March 2020, Breitling rolled out an NFT passport for each watch, secured on the Arianee blockchain protocol (a French startup). Arianee’s solution blends the phygital and the digital and consumers will be able to get a digital twin alongside their Breitling fake watches for men and women.
For Antonio Carriero, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, “blockchain is way to connect with any Breitling owner, with a compelling ecosystem, eventually also giving customers the instant value of their watch”. Here the vision is to reduce information asymmetry by empowering owners. The bet on blockchain, ultimately, to enable Breitling replica watches store to manage its own pre-owned business, and to help consumers to trade up and to bypass pre-owned platforms.
For Kern, the tracking solution on the blockchain “is also a way to have traceable sourcing and be more authentic… We are already working to get our suppliers into the blockchain because 10 years from now, it will be the standard way of doing business.”
#3. Casualization. In fashion, there is no better example of this trend than the massive adoption of sneakers in everyday life. For fake Breitling watches shop site, one way to respond to a more casual society is to replace the traditional watch store format with loft-style stores. “This means that customers feel instantly welcome, at ease and literally at home when entering a Breitling store”, says Nasr Benaissa, Chief Sales Director.
Another way is to create fun and games. For instance, Breitling has partnered with Drest, an immersive fashion and styling gaming app popular with the GenZ. When the SuperOcean 57 Heritage collection for women appeared on the scene in July 2021, a challenge was launched on Drest where users could pair the Swiss movements Breitling replica watches with clothes and accessories from over 200 brands. Winners could go home with one of the watches.
There will always be a bright future for smart strategists, big or small in size, and Breitling is showing just how.
Digital and accessible, all in the name of agility
For future-proofing, a brand needs to establish its direction. This lends focus and stability to all employees and stakeholders. However, being adaptive and flexible enough to deal with the surrounding turbulence is also crucial. And this is where business agility comes in.
Best quality Breitling fake watches is applying four of the key principles of business agility featured in my new book Resetting Management. They are:
1. Playing across time horizons
Business agility requires an intensification of innovation in the core business to respond to increasing competitive pressures. Thus, while AAA quality replica Breitling watches continues to believe in physical commerce as consumers’ preferred manner of purchasing, the brand has shifted 70% of its communication to digital and is actively building e-commerce capabilities to create a 360-degree relationship with consumers. It expects that online buying will reach 20% due to COVID; much higher than anticipated for hard luxury.
The brand has also introduced financing solutions with Affirm, a new partner, in order to be more accessible and inclusive. It will have to ensure, however, that it does not dilute its appeal.
There is no agility if a brand does not build a portfolio of future-looking businesses. Breitling’s next bet in this vein is a subscription model called #BreitlingSelect, launched in the U.S. last March and operating online only. Consumers pay a one-off fee of $450 and then $129 monthly. They can enjoy three online fake Breitling watches per year and accumulate points with which they can buy a watch from the subscription pool. If consumers do not have enough points, they can add cash. Breitling offers guarantees of authenticity and the refurbishing between users. In the 360-degree consumer relationship model, consumers enjoy bespoke offerings and pricing.
What’s less known is that Breitling used an agile approach to go from pilot bet to larger-scale investment. And it formed yet another partnership to do so — with Crown & Caliber. Before its American big bet, top Breitling replica watches first tested a program online in which consumers could trade-in their old watches from Breitling or any other brand – for a voucher towards a new Breitling purchase.
This subscription model aims to catapult the brand into the circular and sharing economy, in line with its sustainable strategy. Breitling hopes 60% of subscribers will become buyers. And here is where tough-to-resolve contradictions come in for luxury brands: on the one hand, the brand makes a positive contribution by growing in the pre-owned segment. But on the other, the goal is still to introduce more brand-new best fake Breitling watches wholesale into the program. The question remains: what is therefore the net environmental impact? Like most luxury brands, Breitling will have to address the tension between circularity and selling more.
2. Breitling’s marketing squads
Whilst most brands go for individual ambassadors, Breitling prefers teams of three; its “marketing squads.” The squads are aligned with 1:1 quality Breitling replica watches’ new collection segments: air (the aviation pioneer squad), sea (the surfing squad) and land (the cinema, triathlon and exploration squads). Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron and Adam Driver compose the cinema squad.
Although the “squads” concept has its origins in the brand’s aviation background, it happens to also facilitate the more modern concept of agility. For Breitling, having three different world-recognized masters in their profession in each squad, provides more flexibility, different angles and the required diversity to make the brand “cool.” They make storytelling more relevant and richer; the very spirit of agility is to capitalize on diversity for greater customer centricity.
3. Fine-grained customer segmentation
The creation of personalized relationships and the ability to identify customer micro-segments gives a brand much more flexibility thanks to more informed decision-making. It’s a condition of agility.
Breitling fake watches with Swiss movements is making great strides in this direction. In fact, it’s an industry leader. Using machine-learning algorithms, the brand combines and crunches the data it collects online with the data from its CRM. The brand now has such a fine-grained view of consumers online and offline that it can determine if it should write to customers during weekdays, Saturdays, Sundays or evenings. It can also determine who prefers visuals and who favors content, adapting accordingly.
This capability enables the brand to convert more of the 4-out-of-5 customers who do not buy when they push open a store door than any other brand (in fact, most brands still focus on converting one person in the store and forget about her afterwards if she does not buy).
With this capability, luxury AAA fake Breitling watches has been able to grow the conversion of non-buyer, from 20 to 60% in about 100 days. During the pandemic, the brand proved able to stay much more locally relevant than many of its competitors.
4. Manufacturing flexibility
A key principle of agility is to be consumer centric, and to adapt as consumers change. As such, UK cheap Breitling replica watches has reversed its manufacturing priorities: rather than manufacturing what production wants, the company has made its production tool more flexible to adapt the production to what the market wants. Not only does it cut down on unsold stock, which damage prices through grey markets and improve margins, but it also helps with sustainability since waste is reduced. ‘Running a demand driven manufacture plant, totally changed the way we engage with our suppliers, shortening development and production cycles’. says Daniel Braillard, Chief Operations Officer.
By redefining a differentiating direction, using business agility principles and multiplying partnerships, Breitling’s new top management has been able to modernize and future-proof the brand. Independent brands can do marvels with top talent. The unanswered question for fake Breitling watches store online is: with a private equity owner, how long can it stay independent?