Apple Hires Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts to Head Retail [VIDEO]
Oct 16, 2013 20:36
Apple has hired Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts. She will take on the role of Senior vice President of Retail and Online Stores. Her duties will include overseeing the "strategic direction, expansion and operation" of Apple retail and online stores.
The two companies have previously partnered, with Burberry using iPhone 5S devices to capture its Spring/Summer 2014 collection debut.
Ahrendts, 53, is arguably the most coveted CEO in fashion. In the seven years she's taken over as CEO in Burberry, revenue has grown to nearly $3.2 billion, up 250% from 2006. Burberry's stock has risen up 300% since her arrive to about $1,600 per share now.
She has aggressively expanded Burberry's retail footprint in the U.S., Europe and China. She also strategically closed many underperforming stores and oversaw the reinvention of Burberry's online flagship, using the website lss as a sales channel and more as a destination for brand-rich experiences like Art of the Trench, Burberry Bespoke and live, shoppable videos of its runway shows.
Ahrendts is also no stranger to pushing the envelope of innovation. From full length screen wraps to live streaming hubs and mirrors, she's also fitted RFID chips to certain clothes and accessories so that when customers approach one of the screens in a fitting room, specific content will begin playing.
In a 2010 WSJ. magazine profile, Ahrendts said that she didn't look to other luxury fashion houses for strategic inspiration.
"If I look to any company as a model, it's Apple," she said. "They're a brilliant design company working to create a lifestyle, and that's the way I see us."
The question here is, will Ahrendts be able to recreate that magic she did at Burberry with Apple?
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