The Richest Man In The World Sells Purses & What You Can Learn From Him.
The Undercover Billionaire- Bernard Arnault
Bernard Arnault the richest man in the world definitely has a special mindset to reclaim that title.
Today, we are covering the habits of this entrepreneur and how he views society and business as a whole.
The several manners and ways that he goes about creating burning desire in products that humans don’t even need but really want.
Who is Bernard Arnault the purse seller?
Bernard is the CEO of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton the worlds largest luxury good company.
I want to cover his brilliance in this article & capture traveling, innovation, repetition & how he uses this to gain an advantage.
Traveling To Gain Awareness.
He has mentioned that he has the designers underneath him travel to various places in the world that are leading in fashion.
He then encourages them not to copy and designs that they see but instead to be inspired.
He mentions that Japanese little girls are always five years ahead of the culture when it comes to fashion so that is an area he has his designers visit often.
How Can You Apply This?
Develop a Global Awareness of the industry that you are in.
If you want to start a hair salon business.
Even though you may just be competing with the one other hair salon across the street from you.
Gain a global understanding of the hair salon industry on a global scale.
This is how you develop longevity, because traveling is almost a sense of time travel. Different places of the world are in different phases and have access to different things.
Some countries are living in the future and five years ahead of other countries while some are living in the past and are living five years behind other countries.
Innovation vs Marketing.
Bernard has to be good at marketing to build a billion dollar empire.
Instead, I would say that he is more obsessed with innovation rather than marketing.
Marketing focuses on catering to what your consumers want, innovation caters towards creating what your consumers have never seen.
He states,
“You can’t charge a premium for giving people what they expect, and you won’t ever have break out products that way — the kinds of products that people line up around the block for. We have those, but only because we give our artists freedom.”
Bernard also does not believe in assigning advertising to a marketing team.
He would rather have the designer directly communicate to the consumer than have a middle man adjust the message to generate more sales.
He believes that keeping everything within makes everything more authentic.
How To Apply This?
He argues that market tests and focus groups that test your product can’t predict success.
“Take J’adore, the fragrance we released in 1999. Nothing in the tests suggested what would happen; the people in the focus groups said it was fine, just that. But look what happened — according to our estimates, it was among the top three best selling perfumes in the world last year.” — Bernard Arnault.
Instead he trusts his creative team and if they believe a product is good, he runs with that rather than being navigated by consumers reactions.
Have a great team and trust them.
If you are the creator, trust yourself and build the best possible product that YOU love.
Build a product that YOU love and that will carry the foundation for an audience that will love the same exact thing.
Repeating What Works & Limiting New Ideas
Bernard doesn’t like failure even though he takes the risk of producing products disregarding the market testing.
He takes the approach of simply seeing what is a success from their innovations and just repeating that.
Whenever there is a new product or creation, he limits the number of this product or creation because he doesn’t want to overproduce.
This is why there is always a waiting list for most of his products.
If you pay attention to real human motivations you will understand why a waiting list could increase demand.
People want what they can’t have, so having limited supply is a win-win situation for Bernard anyway.
How To Apply This?
Repeat what works & limit supply always.
“We will use the same approach with the new Dior handbag. It is very exciting, very expensive. You will see it in all the ads and want to buy it. I assure you we will be out of stock fast. But it is very expensive: $1,800. We will make only several thousand of them. The rest of the line will reflect some ideas of that new purse — the same shape — but will be less radical in terms of fabrics and design. We will make more of those and sell them for less. That way, we can have our creativity but also minimize risk.” -Bernard
Sell at a High Price
Price your items at a high price if they are high quality items.
Collaborate and work with only the best, this is where networking takes place.
Hire good workers and keep them for a very long time.
Treat your best workers with respect, treat your parter with respect and create a great business.
There is no secret as to why Bernard is successful and has accomplished building a billion dollar empire, something that very few people know how to do.
He has maintained the elegance of LVMH and introduced timelessness to fashion.
LVMH will be around for decades just like it has been & it will further increase the respect of others as it continues to age, and grow in revenue.
