Thursday, November 14, 2024

Burberry turns to ‘spirit of Britain’ in revival push

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It follows years of stalled attempts by Burberry’s previous chief Daniel Akeroyd to improve sales. Mr Akeroyd, a British luxury veteran, had also pledged to refocus the company on its “Britishness” when he took over in 2022.

However, Mr Akeroyd also sought to add more cutting-edge fashions to the Burberry range to try attract new customers. Chairman Gerry Murphy later admitted that the company had gone “too far too fast”.

Mr Schulman, who joined Burberry from US company Coach, said the brand would instead focus back on its core customers.

Under the new turnaround plans, Burberry plans to cut £40m worth of costs out of the business. Around £25m will be stripped out during its current financial year. Mr Schulman wouldn’t be drawn on whether that would involve job cuts.

Burberry has faced criticism that prices rose too high under previous management. Mr Schulman’s background running an affordable luxury brand in Coach had led to speculation that he may seek to take Burberry more downmarket.

However, he said on Thursday that he was not seeking to cut prices and had “no plans to turn Burberry into an accessible luxury brand”.

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