a winning culture and winning ethos across the brand,” said Mark Erceg, CFO. Tiffany and Company is still a work in progress, but its leadership is confident it has a strategic plan in place that will lead it to prosper over the long term.
This article is more than 2 years old. a winning culture and winning ethos across the brand,” said Mark Erceg, CFO. Tiffany and Company is still a work in progress, but its leadership is confident it has a strategic plan in place that will lead it to prosper over the long term.
This team is on fire to make their dreams for the Tiffany brand real. Citing the negative effects on first-quarter performance to the strong dollar, reduced tourist traffic and the impact of higher tariffs for Chinese imports, Bogliolo is determined to lead the company forward based upon the strategic plan put into place in the middle of 2018.
But in the most recent quarter, a 4% increase in fashionable Jewelry Collection sales on a constant-exchange rate basis (e.g. Paper Flowers and Love Bugs) were offset by a 2% drop in Engagement and 11% in Designer Jewelry. Tiffany’s omnichannel strategies were a major focus on the discussion.
First, Kowalski noted, is Tiffany’s mission, which is “to bring beauty into the lives of our customers [by] creating beautiful objects.”. The company’s clients “acquire those objects to celebrate all of life’s milestones – whether engagement, graduation, birth, promotion or wedding anniversary ….
In the case study presented to the marketing classes, Kowalski laid out Tiffany’s advocacy strategy over the past nine years, including its attempts to reduce the risk of environmental hazards (such as the cyanide contamination and acid drainage associated with gold mining), to source gold and silver from more responsible mining operations, and to create a “chain of custody” for its gold and silver (a process that allows products to be traced directly to a commodity’s source). In the late 1990s, the issue of conflict diamonds was raised. Tiffany was a member of the World Diamond Council, which pledged to eliminate the trade of diamonds in underdeveloped countries where it contributes to conflict and exploitation and create a “chain of custody” for diamonds.
Michael J. Kowalski, chairman and CEO of Tiffany & Co., the world-famous luxury jeweler and specialty retailer, wasted no time correcting what he called a “misperception” about his company’s products.
In fiscal 2020, Cowen is projecting sales to reach $4.7 billion, 3.3% over projected $4.5 billion in 2019. Here are the six strategic priorities described by CFO Erceg and investor relations vice president Aaron in their conversation with Cowen’s Chen.
Tiffany enjoys prestige as a luxury brand, but it has recently lost some of its luster. Interbrand valued the Tiffany & Co. brand at $5.6 billion in 2018, but it declined from its peak of $6.3 billion in 2015.
At the same time, he has given permission for staff to take risks and fail if they must. “He is forward-thinking, contemplative with a positive attitude for strategic risk taking.
And Tiffany trails Cartier in the Kadence International survey among nearly 6,000 consumers in 13 markets as well, where Cartier tops the list of the world’s most luxurious brands. Tiffany comes in sixth. In the pantheon of global luxury brands Tiffany doesn’t shine as bright as it once did.
Erceg gives much credit to CEO Bogliolo for reigniting passion throughout the organization for the brand and the company. “Since we had been underperforming for five-six years, everyone was walking around a little timid with their heads down,” Erceg described.
For too long Tiffany has languished in new products with a distinctive edge. Erceg describes its past new product introductions as “derivatives of similar things” in the product line, which tended to “cannibalize” sales, rather than add incremental sales. He points to the new Paper Flowers and Love Bugs collections as being meaningfully different from other product lines in the range.
a winning culture and winning ethos across the brand,” said Mark Erceg, CFO. Tiffany and Company is still a work in progress, but its leadership is confident it has a strategic plan in place that will lead it to prosper over the long term. Tiffany’s 2019 Q1 results disappointed, with worldwide sales declining 3% to $1 billion ...
The second brilliant marketing move by Tiffany was their willingness to embrace their own unique marketing methodologies. The company recognized from the start that they would have to stand out in order to dominate the jewelry market, noted Agrawal. In a time when bargaining for prices was the norm, Tiffany stood by fixed rates. The business asserted the value of the products at hand by simply refusing to take less than stated. In a time when credit payments were largely accepted, Tiffany demanded cash. This again made a statement regarding the quality of Tiffany’s jewelry, and the combination these two moves quickly made Tiffany a sought out jewelry store by the wealthiest of clientele.
Obviously Tiffany & Co. is a huge brand with a considerable global reach. But that does not mean the advice is moot. There is so much to be learned when it comes to marketing as a small business and looking at success stories like Tiffany can help showcase the possibilities.
For starters, Tiffany is a master at leveraging its brand, explained Agrawal. Originally, the jewelry powerhouse was named ‘Tiffany Young and Ellis’ and branded itself as a ‘stationery and fancy goods emporium. However, after realizing that jewelry was their niche, it quickly flipped the switch and re-branded the company to ‘Tiffany & Company.’