Page 4 - February 2021

who’s who in retail

MEETS

Marie

France Van

Damme

FOUNDER OF MaRiE FRaNcE VaN DaMME

Q. Given the current market conditions, have you had to alter A. Numbers don’t lie. However in my business, fashion is instinctive and
or re-evaluate your key objectives over the coming 12 months? you have to make moves and do things that sometimes are unrelated to
A. Similar to so many other businesses, ours too has changed completely. facts and numbers.
We have had to reinvent ourselves and will have to continue doing that
next year. We have ten stores around the world and in March this year Q. Can a leader remain transformational and authentic,
we opened a flagship store in Miami at Bal Harbour. Much to our surprise, and if so who would you say is your favourite example of
we had to close two weeks later because of Covid. In addition, we sell in such a leader?
over 100 retail locations including Harrods, Bergdorf Goodman, Le Bon A. I think you must be authentic to be transformational. You have to
Marche and Net a Porter to name a few. When Neiman Marcus filed for be very transparent. You have to also remember that in my case, we
bankruptcy, we like many others, lost everything we had worked for. We are working with many different people, with different personalities and
never anticipated any of this and we had no choice but to re-think our different working styles. We have a strong team of associates around
business going forward. the world from many different countries. All of these people have
very different ways of thinking, of doing things and at looking at life. It
Q. How would you say the Covid-19 outbreak has affected is important to be able to relate to them. I do not necessarily look to
your business in the last weeks and months, and will it affect any one particular leader in the industry, instead I am always looking to
your plans moving forward? improve my own leadership style as we progress and grow.
A. The foundation of our business is brick and mortar. Without our
retail stores around the world, I’m not sure we would have acquired the Q. What do you make of social media and its prominent rise
clientele we now have today. We lived through the protests in Hong Kong in importance over the last few years, and how important do
in 2019, then Covid in 2020, and just recently we are living through the you feel e-commerce and online activities will continue to be?
protests in Thailand, where we have four stores. As a result, we decided A. Although I would not consider myself to be an early adopter in the
to put all our energy into our digital platforms. In 2021, we will invest tech space, I have, throughout the years learned the importance of social
more time and effort into e-commerce and improving our digital strategy. media and how it can be yet another tool to connect with my customers
in real time.
Q. What key leadership skills do you feel are the most
important in the current retail climate? Q. What would you consider to be your career highlights?
A. In order to be a progressive leader in this industry, we have to boost A. The first one would be opening an office in New York City, back
the morale of everyone. This includes being closer with our employees, when I was in my early twenties. That was an extraordinary thing
letting them know we are here for the long run, giving them the tools to happen so early in my career. Another was when I opened my
they need to be able to perform and succeed. In our case we have our factory in Hong Kong. I was one of the first female foreigners to
headquarters in Hong Kong and stores across the world. In the past open a factory in China, back in the early 1990’s, which was very
we would travel and visit our stores two to four times a year, now we unconventional at the time. Another highlight would have to be when
have to communicate with our teams virtually. The same is happening I launched my brand in 2011. Although these are some of my past
between our sales associates and our customers. They have to reach achievements, I am very optimistic about the future and know that
out to each one personally by phone or email and reconnect with there is more to come.
them. That is when you realise that the one-on-one relationship is so
important. Our customer wants to have a personal connection with Q. How are you personally feeling about the 12 months ahead?
us and if they cannot visit us then we have to “visit them”. It’s a very A. I believe in 2021 we will advance the efforts we made in 2020 with
different experience, requiring a different set of skills than just waiting respect to e-commerce and our digital platforms. Although a vaccine
behind a counter for a customer to enter your store. is present in parts of the world, it is going to take months and months
before we go back to normal life whether we like it or not. As I’m
Q. As a leader, when you are making key strategic decisions, looking at my budget, it’s going to be a tough year. However, I’m working
what proportion of the decision do you feel is fact-based and to make sure we surpass our expectations. We know this is possible
what proportion is instinctual? and we just have to work differently.

04 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL FEBRUARY 2021