LVMH looks to innovation to boost struggling Asia travel retail

In its annual report, the luxury giant has said that it came up against a combination of unfavorable political and economic factors in the region, though it enjoyed a boost from Chinese tourist spending in Japan.

“DFS continues to experience an uncertain environment in Asia as a result of currency and geopolitical changes,” the company stated, noting that its sales growth in the face of this has been due to innovation within its retail spaces.

“DFS drew on its unique expertise and its enormous capacity for innovation to develop its offering.”

LVMH called out key examples from within its portfolio as evidence of this innovation, including its T Beauty concept: a standalone luxury beauty store which focuses on offering an interactive retail experience, and was launched last year in both Singapore and Hong Kong.

Interactive luxury

Through its T Beauty retail concept, the brand says it can offer consumers the “innovative, personalised approach to the beauty shopping experience” which is increasingly demanded by beauty consumers.

Euromonitor International, a market research firm, recently suggested this demand is being especially fuelled by younger consumer groups, as millennials in particular seek out “a curated but interactive sales environment, whether retail or online.”

“Personalisation and interactivity is important in beauty care for millennials,” Euromonitor asserted, and LVMH’s T Beauty concept meets these consumer demands via two key services: the store’s Beauty Station, and its Beauty Concierge.

Beauty Station allows customers to sample, mix and match products across a wide range of brands, and its Beauty Concierge service offers a complimentary, personalised retail experience that focuses on an individual customer’s specific preferences.

DFS’s determination to continue innovating in the retail space will serve it well as it reportedly looks to begin expanding across Europe in the coming months, where retail interactivity is also highly sought-after in the consumer experience.