• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, September 4, 2024

With sales still crashing, Burberry’s new chief executive isn’t wasting time shaking up the executive suite. The company has named Jonathan Kiman, Gucci’s chief marketing officer, as its new CMO. And Laura Dubin-Wander, whose resume includes roles at Coach, Givenchy and Christian Dior, has been named president, Americas.

The moves come just weeks after Joshua Schulman was appointed as chief executive officer, replacing Jonathan Akeroyd in a shakeup felt throughout the luxury industry. While many luxury brands have seen sales soften and decline, Burberry’s performance has approached disaster level: In the most recent quarter, comparable revenue plunged 21%, and in the Americas, 23%.

Schulman, an American who has worked at Michael Kors, Coach, Neiman Marcus, Jimmy Choo and Gucci, is charged with fixing Burberry’s problems.

But it won’t be easy. Critics say the company’s decision to climb the price ladder has seriously wounded the brand. Although the company is now promising to rebalance its offers to appeal to the core customers turned off by recent positioning, coaxing people back to the brand at such a challenging time for luxury will be daunting.

The abrupt pivot to higher-end luxury, particularly in leather goods, baffled shoppers who loved Burberry for its trademark trenches and scarves even aspirational shoppers could afford.

“This is a brand aiming for the pulling power of Prada or Miu Miu and reaching above Michael Kors or Ralph Lauren – without the attendant design cachet,” writes Sarah Butler in the Guardian. “The move has proved ill-timed, as the cost-of-living crisis hits aspirational luxury customers around the world alongside an economic slowdown in China and the Brexit-linked end to tax breaks for tourists in the U.K.”

And shares in Burberry have declined so much that it is likely to fall out of the FTSE, the U.K.’s primary stock index.

Kiman, who will be based in London, hadn’t been having such an easy time at Gucci, which recently posted a sales decline of 20% for the first half of the year. Overall revenue declines at parent Kering were less severe, at 11%.

And while all luxury brands are struggling to adapt to new economic realities, especially in China, some brands have performed far better than Burberry or Gucci.

Giant LVMH notched a 2% gain in the first half despite those challenges, for example. Hermès posted a 15% gain. And Chanel most recently recorded a 16% jump in sales for 2023.