De Beers LV Doing Better

After a difficult start a year ago, the De Beers / LVMH joint venture De Beers LV is finally seeing business picking up, says chief executive Alain Lorenzo.

In an interview with Business Report Lorenzo admits that March and April were “dreadful” because of the war in Iraq, but the last three months so a pick up in sales, calling them “extraordinary” and November sales tripled compared to the average sales in the first six months of the year.

What were De Beers’s sales goals for the store is not clear but they were probably not met and the three stores in Japan, opened this past September, are not attracting the crowds they hoped for.

Did they turn the corner? It’s too early to tell. The all important holiday sales are taking place now and high-end items often sell late, so only in mid January will the picture be clear.

If the stores won’t do well now, a rethinking of the whole approach - starting from store layout to the power of the De Beers name – will no doubt be called for.