During the two months of containment due to the Covid-19 crisis, store openings were frozen in an unprecedented and rather brutal manner. How did the brands cope with this situation? Marie Le Roy, Marketing Director Europe for L’Occitane-en-Provence, spoke to Laurence Dorlhac. A valuable feedback, which could serve as an example if similar measures were to be adopted again.
Laurence Dorlhac: Today, we no longer present L’Occitane. A presence in 18 countries, more than 3000 points of sale in the world, a presence both in hard copy and on the Internet. And then the crisis arrived. And this is the moment when we ask ourselves questions, when we may also have to rethink distribution. How did you react at L’Occitane?
Marie Le Roy: To recontextualize, it’s true that we are multi-channel. Over the past few years, we’ve been digging a fairly serious furrow in the digital arena, since our goal is to reach 25% of our sales in e-commerce.
Our presence on the Internet was already significant. When Covid arrived, our teams were in place and we were quickly able to pass the second to compensate for the closure of the shops which took place in a sequenced manner throughout the world.
LD: Precisely, what is interesting with L’Occitane is that the Covid crisis did not only allow you to accelerate your presence on the Internet. There has been a real reflection. Anecdotally, and not the least, L’Occitane reacted immediately to provide the need for hydroalcoholic gel and hand creams. This notion of commitment comes in …
