‘TREPONOMICS
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TAKING CHARGE OF THE FUTURE Nicolas Houzé, the fifth-generation family member leading Parisian department store Galeries Lafayette, and his partners in the UAE and Lebanon, ADMIC’s Michel and Pascal Abchee, on what lies ahead after the retailer’s tenth anniversary in Dubai b y TA M A R A P U P I C
“
I
see myself as a connection between the fourth and the sixth generation, making sure to leave the company to the next generation in a better shape than [it was] when I took over,” says the 44-year-old Nicolas Houzé, CEO of the famous Parisian department store Galeries Lafayette, which has been under his family’s helm since 1893. In early February, Houzé was in Dubai, alongside his father Philippe, Executive Chairman, Galeries Lafayette Group, and the Abchee family, the Galeries Lafayette franchise partners for the UAE and Lebanon, to celebrate the store’s 10th anniversary and the opening of its revamped boutiques in the Dubai Mall. When taking over the business a few years ago, INSEAD-educated Houzé was reportedly tasked with the group’s digital transformation, which he still describes as his biggest challenge, yet adds, “But we are on the
right path, even though it’s difficult, capital-intensive, and takes time.” The group’s other two strategic goals at the moment are international expansion and modernization of its store network. The 126-year-old Galeries Lafay-
ette currently has 55 stores across France, of which it directly operates 28, while the remaining 27, all located in small and medium-sized French cities, were turned into franchises last year in a bid to cut costs. Roughly A behind the scenes shot with Aly Mazhar
64 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / March 2019
60% of the retailer’s Francebound business comes from international customers, and the rest are local, and of that the group’s flagship store on Boulevard Hausmann brings “almost half of the business that we are doing in France,” Houzé says, adding, “Last year was quite a challenging year, because of the political situation in France, but overall, we achieved almost the same figures that we had in 2017. There are big cities, like Bordo, Nice, Lion, where it is okay, but the rest of France is quite challenging.” While Houzé acknowledges that the group’s expansion opportunities within the country have been limited –it already occupies some of the best retail locations in the country– he has high hopes for its new shop on the Champs-Élysées, which opened on March 28. Dubbed “the department store of the 21st century,” the new store is the largest on the famous Parisian avenue (spanning 6,500 square meters), but much smaller than other Galeries Lafayette stores. “It is a department store, because it is Galeries Lafayette, but it will be significantly different from what we are used to,” Houzé says. “For example, in our store on Boulevard Hausmann, we have a lot of what we call ‘free wall boutiques,’ which are managed by the brands themselves. That won’t be the case anymore on the Champs-Élysées. >>>
IMAGES COURTESY GALERIES LAFAYETTE
"THE REAL ASSET OF E-COMMERCE IS THE TECHNOLOGY THAT YOU UTILIZE FOR YOUR SERVICES AND THE OVERALL CUSTOMER JOURNEY. SO, IT’S A TECHNOLOGICAL BUSINESS, AND NOT A BUYING AND SELLING BUSINESS.”
