Louis Vuitton chairman to meet with heads of S.Korean department stores

The chairman and chief executive of French luxury label Louis Vuitton is scheduled to visit South Korea next week and meet with the heads of three main department store chains.

Michael Burke, a member of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), will meet with his counterparts at Lotte Department Store, Shinsegae, and Hyundai Department Store.

Until three years ago, LVMH chairman Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault was the one making the visit to South Korea. The co-founder of the world’s largest luxury goods company Arnault is 73 years old this year. 

LVMH has approximately 60 subsidiaries and 75 brands under the LVMH umbrella including Christian Dior, Fendi, and Sephora. 

In particular, Burke will check up on the activities at Seoul’s Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co. stores; and get up to speed on the luxury shopping trend in Asia. 

Louis Vuitton is focusing on rapid expansion in the Northeast Asia market. Louis Vuitton Korea’s revenue jumped 40.2% year-on-year to 1.47 trillion won ($1.1 billion). 

Burke joined Groupe Arnault with responsibility for real estate investments in the United States before becoming CEO of Christian Dior USA from 1986 to 1992. He later became the CEO of Louis Vuitton North America from 1992 to 1997.

In 1997, the dual French-US citizen became Worldwide Managing Director of Christian Dior Couture, and then Chairman and CEO of Fendi in 2003.

In 2012 he was appointed CEO of Bulgari and then Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton. Since January 2021, he is also serving as Chairman of Tiffany's Board of Directors.

Louis Vuitton accounts for more than 20% of the total revenue for LVMH.

In the past few years, South Korean department stores were eager to house LVMH brands to increase revenue and attract customers. 

Louis Vuitton, in particular, is considered one of the three major luxury brands along with Hermes and Chanel. 

SKIPPING DUTY-FREE

Burke will skip a visit to the duty-free shops, unlike his predecessor. 

Louis Vuitton is closing shops at all downtown duty-free stores in South Korea by March 2023.

As part of the plan, the company already stopped running its store at Lotte Duty Free Jeju last December.

The decision came after Chinese sellers began buying luxury goods in bulk at South Korean duty-free shops and re-selling them in China. Luxury brands fear such resale practice would negatively affect their brand value. 

Write to Jeong-Cheol Bae at bjc@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.