The LVMH group’s duty-free retailer has recalled Ed Brennan, who has managed the company twice before. He will replace Benjamin Vuchot, who left for other horizons, at the beginning of November. Is this confirmation of the return to favor of seniors in the management of fashion and luxury groups?
We take the same people, but we don’t necessarily start from scratch…
DFS, the LVMH group’s duty-free retailer, has just announced the departure of its CEO Benjamin Vuchot, who has held the post since January 2021, and his replacement, on an interim basis, from November 1 by Ed Brennan. Ed Brennan is an expert on the brand, havingworked there himself and managed it for many years.
“Ed Brennan is the ideal leader to take charge of the ongoing reinvention of DFS. He has more than 25 years’ experience at DFS, and has already held the position of Chairman and CEO twice, with an outstanding track record,” emphasized Toni Belloni, President of LVMH Italy, in charge of strategic missions for Bernard Arnault, in an internal press release released by the Moodie Davitt Report media, specialists in tourism and travel shopping.
Already 25 years with DFS
In more detail, Ed Brennan has already devoted over 25 years of his career to DFS. In particular, he has twice held the position of CEO, from 1999 to 2012, then for an already interim period of three years, from 2018 to 2020, just before the arrival of Benjamin Vuchot.
Ed Brennan had then “overseen major transformations of the company, includinginternational expansion and diversification of the offering of DFS, jointly owned by LVMH and Robert Miller” explains Meet and Match media.
Since 2020, Ed Brennan has continued to have more than a watchful eye on DFS, always involving himself in its strategy.” For the past four years, Ed has been a non-executive director of DFS and has participated fully in the company’s strategic developments,” emphasized Toni Belloni.
Comeback welcomed by DFS co-founder
For his part, DFS co-founder Robert Miller, still a 39% shareholder, welcomed Ed Brennan’s comeback, describing him as “astrategic thinker who also likes to get into the details of each company”.
“Ed and his talented teams have led DFS through some of the most challenging and successful periods in our history by reinventing our business model, diversifying our offering and expanding our footprint,” Robert Miller noted, expecting to benefit “greatly from Ed’s leadership in the period ahead.”
For his part, Benjamin Vuchot, who headed the entity from DFS, has stepped down “to pursue other professional challenges ”.
Benjamin Vuchot had taken the reins of the Duty Free chain after presiding over the North Asia region at DFS from 2011 to 2017 and then Sephora Asia from 2017 to 2020.
Also according to Moodie Davitt Report, Toni Belloni thanked him “for masterfully leading DFS through the very difficult period of the COVID pandemic, to make it a leaner, more efficient and focused organization.”
Hainan Yalong Bay, a major pillar of future growth
He also oversaw the development of the DFS Circle loyalty platform and innovative retail and entertainment projects.
Finally, he “led the development of the Hainan Yalong Bay project, which will become a major pillar of DFS’s future growth”, emphasized Toni Belloni.
Located in the south of China’s Hainan Island, a tropical and seaside paradise, Yalong Bay in Sanya will be home to more than a thousand luxury brands over an area of 128,000 m². Opening is scheduled for 2026.
In this way, DFS is reaching out to Chinese tourists, major consumers of duty-free goods, who are increasingly choosing local destinations over other Asian destinations such as Macau and Hong Kong.
As the travel retail sector continues to adapt to new post-pandemic realities, Brennan’s return as interim CEO is seen as a strategic decision to stabilize and consolidate DFS’s position in the international market,” analyses Meet and Match. Under Brennan’s leadership, the focus will be on optimizing operations while exploiting new market trends, with particular attention to expansion in Asia.”
Founded in Hong Kong in 1960, the DFS Group now has 400 duty-free travel retail stores in 15 airports and 18 T Gallerias. With 9,000 employees, it boasts 200 million annual visitors to its network.
The pandemic had put its business, which depends on international travel, on hold. In releasing its results for the first half of 2024, LVMH admitted that DFS was “still recording sales below its 2019 standards, even though the recovery in international travel is being felt.”
Experienced captains
In these turbulent times, calling in an experienced captain, even for a short time, is sometimes a must in luxury and fashion.
Certainly, LVMH has just announced the “departures” of two pillars of the group: last April, Toni Belloni, the group’s former number two and CEO of the distribution division (but who, as we have seen, is playing the long game with other missions) and that, at the end of October, of Chris de Lapuente, the director of the group’s selective distribution division.
And the investigative media Glitz reckons that “other figures in the group are also likely to step down in the coming months, as the influence of Bernard Arnault’s children on management becomes increasingly apparent.”
But that’s not stopping LVMH from asking an established figure to take over the reins of one of its subsidiaries, in this case DFS.
For his part, François-Henri Pinault asked his right-hand man and long-time collaborator Jean-François Palus in July 2023 to take over the interim management of Gucci to “lay the foundations” for a new chapter and “recruit key talent, including his successor”. This was recently achieved with the appointment of Stefano Cantino, already deputy director of the Florentine House since last May.
Finally, Nike recently recalled 60-year-old Elliott Hill to its ranks, entrusting him with the position of CEO. He joined the sports equipment manufacturer in 1988 as a sales trainee, and didn’t leave the brand until 2020, having held some twenty positions over three decades.
At a time when the climate is turning sour, a small dose of senior management could enable the brand to return to its fundamentals and DNA, and reassure shareholders…
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Read also > LVMH: DFS unveils plans for seven-star super mall in Hainan
Featured Photo: © LVMH
