Jerome Favier: The Rediscovery of the Reason Why
Center on the end customer, focus on the brand’s story and work on the identity of the founding father. For Jerome Favier, Ceo of Damiani Group, this is the key to re-starting
What are Damiani Group’s postlockdown priorities and, in general, what should the jewelry world be leveraging on to face the coming season? This phase should be seen as a stimulating moment to go forward. We need to look more and more at brands and companies that have a real story, savoir faire, icons and a strong family behind them. We have to regain possession of the “made in” concept that is Italy’s true power, a strength that differentiates us from the rest of the world. Those who aim at generalization will find it more difficult to recover because the end customer will increasingly become the real director. Pre-Covid reference points are disappearing, the world is on its knees and people need to find new certainties, which, in our world, are brands. In this respect, Damiani, having a solid family behind it for three generations, as well as a factory and numerous iconic collections, Belle Epoque, Margherita, D.Side, has the strength to enact a strategy aimed entirely on authenticity and uniqueness. Our challenge is to continue to offer the end customer this truth which also helps with our partners. Every customer now has a maturity that cannot be underestimated. We are real luxury by nature, not by strategy.
So, the end customer should be at the center of new business logics... Definitely. The customer is the starting point. We now need to restore the founding father’s reason why and aim at the values of luxury’s origin. In this respect, Damiani is a one-of-a-kind company which, despite the family dimension, is consolidating its presence on the international market – it now has 60 boutiques worldwide – thanks to a partnership agreement with Yuyuan inc., controlled by the Chinese group Fosun and owner of the historical jewelry brand, Lao Miao (founded in 1902, with a turnover of about 3 billion dollars and over 2000 sales point, ed.). A first-rate joint venture that will lead to taking Made in Italy all over the Chinese territory, not only through Damiani jewelry but, for the first time, also with Salvini lines.
Made in Italy and territoriality... Italianness is well-recognized in Italy because the country is an important hospitality point, but I think that potential for development is still greater than awareness. As for the value of manufacturing districts, there are two considerations to make. On the production side, a district is fundamental in terms of the know-how that is handed down from father to son. From a sourcing and production viewpoint then, the Valenza district is essential for its high concentration of unique savoir faire. On the customer side, however, the concept of made in Italy is more important than the territorial aspect because the value of manufacturing districts is still not wellpromoted.
What is Damiani’s relationship with online? Digitization is a Grand Prix. We have to admit that we are all behind and definitely have to improve considerably. We are already working with online but, this year, seeing the extraordinary results and a greater turnover from e-commerce than last year, we have decided to invest even more. I like to imagine working in an omni-channel system where retail must not be afraid of digitization. Usually, those who buy on the website have already been to a store and vice versa. We need to work with a view to an evolved system where assistance for partners goes hand in hand with sales. We, for example, create websites for our partners thus becoming providers of services all the way to the end customer.
So, the end customer should be at the center of new business logics... Definitely. The customer is the starting point. We now need to restore the founding father’s reason why and aim at the values of luxury’s origin. In this respect, Damiani is a one-of-a-kind company which, despite the family dimension, is consolidating its presence on the international market – it now has 60 boutiques worldwide – thanks to a partnership agreement with Yuyuan inc., controlled by the Chinese group Fosun and owner of the historical jewelry brand, Lao Miao (founded in 1902, with a turnover of about 3 billion dollars and over 2000 sales point, ed.). A first-rate joint venture that will lead to taking Made in Italy all over the Chinese territory, not only through Damiani jewelry but, for the first time, also with Salvini lines.
Made in Italy and territoriality... Italianness is well-recognized in Italy because the country is an important hospitality point, but I think that potential for development is still greater than awareness. As for the value of manufacturing districts, there are two considerations to make. On the production side, a district is fundamental in terms of the know-how that is handed down from father to son. From a sourcing and production viewpoint then, the Valenza district is essential for its high concentration of unique savoir faire. On the customer side, however, the concept of made in Italy is more important than the territorial aspect because the value of manufacturing districts is still not wellpromoted.
What is Damiani’s relationship with online? Digitization is a Grand Prix. We have to admit that we are all behind and definitely have to improve considerably. We are already working with online but, this year, seeing the extraordinary results and a greater turnover from e-commerce than last year, we have decided to invest even more. I like to imagine working in an omni-channel system where retail must not be afraid of digitization. Usually, those who buy on the website have already been to a store and vice versa. We need to work with a view to an evolved system where assistance for partners goes hand in hand with sales. We, for example, create websites for our partners thus becoming providers of services all the way to the end customer.
