Burberry CFO: Personalised marketing is behind sales bump

Speaking at Burberry’s six-month trading update, where the company reported £1.42bn in revenue for the six months to April 2015, Chief Financial Officer Carol Fairweather credited a nine per cent sales bump year-on-year at least in part to its personalised marketing efforts.

Fairweather told analysts that last September’s highly personalised ‘My Burberry’ perfume campaign had a “halo effect” on sales across the board. She also credited UK-made trenches and a line of monogrammed ponchos that obsessed the fashion world through the autumn of 2014 for the boost.

According to Fairweather Burberry’s embedded approach puts it head and shoulders above other luxury brands in digital, explaining that her company’s digital strategy extends beyond e-commerce to customer experience, marketing and runway shows.

Fairweather said: “Digital is embedded right through the organisation in everything we do. So yes, other people are beginning to invest in digital, but have they got the same advantage to the fact that it’s absolutely embedded in everything?”

She continued: “Every part of our organisation looks at everything through a digital lens. Other people may be investing, but we continue with our investment plans, too, and innovate while we go.”