Report: LVMH to Launch E-Commerce Site for All Brands

Paris--It looks like luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is getting ready to jump back into the e-commerce game.

According to a report from the Financial Times, the luxury goods company plans to launch a website in May branded as Le Bon Marché, which is the department store that the company acquired in 1984.

The website will offer not only brands from LVMH’s own stable--the company owns Bulgari, TAG Heuer and Hublot, among others--but also non-LVMH brands, making it competition for other online luxury websites such as Net-a-Porter and Farfetch. It is unclear at this time if the site will operate on a wholesale or marketplace model with these other brands.

When asked about it by National Jeweler, an LVMH spokesperson declined to comment on the report.

The Financial Times story also noted that the move would be the first from the luxury goods company since it hired Ian Rogers from Apple as chief digital officer in 2015. While it could be considered something of a late start, it also indicates the company’s renewed focus on the digital space.

If and when the multi-brand site does launch, it won’t be LVMH’s first foray into online retailing.

In 2000, the company launched eLuxury.com, selling its own apparel, accessories and children’s collections, but shuttered the e-commerce part of the operation nine years later, when many of its brands began developing their own online presence (the 70 creative houses under its umbrella currently have the ability to create their own digital strategies.) LVMH relaunched eLuxury.com as a ditigal channel, Nowness.

In its most recently released financials, LVMH reported 5 percent year-over-year growth in its Watches & Jewelry division in 2016, with sales of its watch and jewelry brands totaling $3.72 billion last year, compared with $3.55 billion in 2015.

Overall, the company said revenue was up 5 percent to $39.83 billion, with profit increasing 6 percent.

While the company said the American market “remains on a good track,” chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault also warned of possible trouble ahead in the luxury sector, noting it is due for another downturn.