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Global Luxury Management Students provide Top Ten Learning Points from NYC Study Tour

During Fall Break 2013, 46 students in the dual-degree Global Luxury Management (GLM) program traveled to New York City on a Global Luxury Management Study Tour.

The students are enrolled in a one-year dual degree graduate management program offered jointly by NC State’s Jenkins Graduate School and College of Textiles and SKEMA Business School’s Sophia Antipolis Campus in France.

The New York Study Tour is one of several experiences built into the curriculum to provide students an inside perspective on the global luxury market.

In New York, the students met with members of the luxury business community, including several members of the GLM Industry Advisory Board. The tour included visits to design studios, luxury brands’ showrooms, museums and luxury hotels.

What did the students learn?  Here are their top ten takeaways:

1.      Social Media and technology are important. Keeping up with innovation in marketing and production is essential. Julie Hardy, GLM student, said, “Social media is a very important platform for all of the companies we visited. I found that Ralph Lauren has 7,062,039 ‘likes’ on Facebook; they have the capability of reaching nearly seven million people at the click of a button.”

2.      Starting out at the bottom is normal. Not only is it normal to start at the bottom, but helpful, according to several of the students. Jordan Wall reported, “Do not expect a glamorous job right out of school. Most contacts had compelling stories about their journey to the top, and it started with a humble job.”

3.      Market to customers who are ready to buy. Many students came away from their experience with an understanding that marketing to consumers who currently can’t spend on luxury products is a waste of time. Matthew Hamler remarked on his conversation with Kerwin, publisher of Private Journeys. “This magazine,” Hamler said, “is only distributed on private jets that fly out of exclusive airports. This is done in order to focus on the true luxury customer and not water down the market exposure.” Exclusivity is essential.

4.      Passion is key. “Have passion,” said Jordan Wall. “I think this was mentioned by every person we heard speak in one way or another. If you do not care about what you are doing, it is impossible to do it well; it comes across in your performance, attitude, and eventually to the luxury consumer.”

5.      Don’t judge customers on appearance. Self-evident, yes, and extremely important. Luxury customers do not look a certain way. It’s important to treat everyone that enters your place of business as if they can purchase the items they are looking at.

6.      Global connections are important. "Globalization is key, although you must understand the specific market needs of each country in order to be successful," Taylor Haley reports.

7.      Sustainability. This is a key challenge faced by many luxury companies. Marjorie Boruel reports that companies must pay attention to the sustainability of their products, as well as how satisfied their customers are with the products and how they are produced. Being a “green” company is important.

8.      Effective communication. Effective communications, both among coworkers and between workers and customers, is an important skill. Being able to work as a team promotes quality ideas and creates a work environment conducive to success. Building a relationship with and understanding the customers will bring life-long consumers to your business.

9.      Skills are transferrable. Several students learned that while experience in the luxury business is extremely helpful, other skills are also valuable. Taylor Wood gained this insight during the Tiffany and Co. presentation. “I was really intrigued while listening to the backgrounds of the professionals. The marketing director had experience working with branding at non-luxury brands such as P&G. I thought it was really interesting that the skills she learned there could be applied to the luxury industry, and vice versa.”

10.    Dress appropriately and be punctual.  To succeed in luxury business, being reliable and professionally dressed is absolutely necessary. Aude Baylet-Diesel said, “Punctuality is a part of professionalism.” About attire: she noted how pleased their hosts were that the students were well dressed; it reflected well on the program.

The GLM students recently completed a similar Luxury Management Study Tour focused on the Carolinas that included experiences at companies Taylor Richard & Conger, Baker Futniture, Ralph Lauren, Peter Millar, VIETRI, The Umstead Hotel & Spa, Zaki Oriental Rugs and Ralph Lauren.

Read more about the Global Luxury Management Program.