ELIE SAAB – Case Study

Project By:-Sitanshu Bindra

Background

• Elie Saab born in 1964 began his sartorial career by cutting cloth and drawing sketches for his sisters at home in Beirut, Lebanon, sewing table cloths and curtains into new designs at the age of nine

• In 1982, when he was only eighteen years old, the largely self-trained designer opened his own fashion store in Beirut with an employee base of 10

• Soon his reputation rapidly transcended Beirut’s border’s, attracting women from high society who desired an elegant Elie Saab dress

• In the 1990’s he expanded his presence to Europe by opening up a store in Paris

Continued…

• In 1997 Saab was the first non-Italian designer to become a member of the Italian Camera Nazionale della Moda, and in 1997, showed his first collection outside Lebanon in Rome

• In 1998, he started ready-to-wear in Milan• He became an overnight success after he

became the first Lebanese designer to dress an Oscar winner, Halle Berry, in 2002

• In May 2003, the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture invited him to become a member, and he showed his first haute couture collection in Paris in July 2003

• Also expanded his presence in Dubai and London

Organizational Structure

The Group was organized around 2 main functions

Creative functionCreative function Business functionBusiness function

Total employee base of 150 as of 2012 in 3 different locationsTotal employee base of 150 as of 2012 in 3 different locations

130 were located in Beirut the headquarters

of Elie Saab

130 were located in Beirut the headquarters

of Elie Saab

15 were located in Paris handling the Sales, Communication and Public relation and administrative tasks

15 were located in Paris handling the Sales, Communication and Public relation and administrative tasks

5 were located in Harrods store, London handling

mostly the sales activities

5 were located in Harrods store, London handling

mostly the sales activities

Product Base

• Haute Couture– Elie Saab provided personalized service for the customers

buying these products– Customers consulted with him on color, designs, fit,

hairstyle and jewelry selection– Saab insisted on the finest details, including the finest

detailing, including hand-made beading and embroidery

• RTW(Ready to wear)– It included casual wears but also had semi formal gown

collection– Elie Saab outsourced the RTW line production to very

select manufacturers in Europe, mainly in Italy and France

Continued…

• Wedding dresses– The wedding dresses were classified as either the

Haute Couture or the RTW– The dresses were sold through the ES Couture salons

in Beirut and Paris– Elie Saab made the wedding gown for Countess

Stephanie of Lannoy, Luxemburg

• Accessories– The accessories line included shoes, handbags,

scarves, jewelery, belts, fragrance and cosmetics

Haute Couture Fashion Show

Saab and his team makes four major collections in an year, two for Haute Couture and two for RTW line

Major Competitors

Distribution Strategy

Marketing Strategy

They followed three different platforms for marketing their product•Through events, celebs and crowned heads

o Presence in the Academy awards, Grammy awards, and the British film festivalo This fetched them free media coverage across television, internet, and print

mediao In 2002 when Halle Berry wore the dress designed by Elie Saab, it fetched the

brand an estimated media coverage of $1 Billiono Saab had big celebrities like Jolie, Dianne Kruger, Penelope Cruz, and many

Blue blood’s such as Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan in his customer base

Dresses flaunted in Oscars

Continued…

• Communication and public relationo The primary communication objective was to build the image of the company,

which is built through wide media coverage and other communication toolso It has 3 external public relations offices in London, Los Angeles and New York,

as well as 2 in-house offices in Beirut and Pariso The break up of their expenditure on different promotional techniques

Continued…

• Fashion Showso Saab and his team developed four major collections, two for Haute Couture and

Two for the Ready to Wear lineo Retailers, along with the select customers members in the media, were invited

to attend the yearly fashion showso The dresses worn in the fashion show was not sold but were rather archived

• Pricingo The target consumers are those who are interested in high fashion and have the

ability to afford themo The price range of custom-made couture is $30,000-$1,000,000. The RTW line

begins at $1,200 and goes up to $21,000

Continued…

• The sales figures of 2008o The sales increased massively in the Middle East market and grew very slowly in

North America

Present scenario of haute couture

• The number of couture design houses declined from 106 in 1946 to 11 in 2010

• The taste and preferences of the new world billionaires from countries like Russia, China and The Middle East was less about wearing Authentic Western culture and exquisite handmade creations

• The clothing trend specially of the extremely wealthy class was shifting to a to a more casual style of clothing as now their were less dinner parties, and grand royal meals where women would wear the exclusive gowns

• And many Ready to Wear clothing line companies were increasing the quality and the price yet keeping the volumes thereby maintaining exclusivity and attracting more customers

Case Analysis

Place Product Price Promotion

• Presence in 32 countries

• Brand was also available in 45 multi-brand retailers and department stores across the world

• Having 3 external public relations offices in London, Los Angeles and New York

• Making their presence firm in the developing world

• Elie Saab has four primary product

‒ Haute Couture - Specifically for extremely wealthy/ elite class such as actors or royal’s

‒ Wedding Dresses – A very niche clothing sector

‒ RTW – Casual wear for rich class of the world

‒ Accessories

• The price range of custom-made couture is $30,000-$1,000,000

• The RTW line begins at $1,200 and goes up to $21,000

• Pricing was done keeping in mind the consumers who are interested in high fashion and have the ability to afford them

• The personal service, workmanship, unique designs, and exquisite materials used by Saab kept the ES collection on the forefront of the elite with stars and royalty alike

• The three techniques used for promotion were− Communication

and PR− Events and

celebs− Fashion shows

FOUR P’S OF MARKETINGFOUR P’S OF MARKETING

SWOT Analysis

Solution to the problem

• Organic and Inorganic expansion in different geographic areaso Plans to open up new flagship stores in Asia in Honk Kong, Beijing, and

Shanghaio Plans of tapping the Asian market where the billionaires are rising at the highest

rate in the world in spite of the bad economic condition in the worldo Increasing the number of multi brand shops globally

• Diversifying the product portfolioo Plans to enter the men's clothing, eyewear, lingerie, swimsuits and Home line

businesses

• Creating sub brands under the Elie Saab umbrellao This move could be taken to produce different brand of clothing line for the

affluent middle class which is a huge market as the upper middle class today is drastically moving towards buying luxury products

Continued…

• Starting with an online sales platformo This could lead to a jump in sales of the accessories sold by Elie Saab, As most of the

accessories don’t have any size or fitting foundation

• increasing the product range in the RTW line, since the Ready to Wear clothing line was selling more as compared to the Haute Couture line

• Diversifying into other businesseso Elie Saab has already tried to do this by forming alliances to explore the hospitality

industryo Elie Saab also planned to enter into the fragrances businesso It also partnered with a yacht manufacturing company called Weyves International Ltd.

and took the responsibility of designing yachts for that company

• Reducing the prices of their premium products. However, that can affect the brand image of Elie Saab