Stefan Larsson, CEO of Ralph Lauren Corp., assumed his current title six months ago after a highly successful run as Global President of Old Navy, a division of Gap Inc. Ralph Lauren has fallen on difficult times, but Larsson insists the company is set to turn things around through a return to its iconic style that will, ultimately, spark more brand loyalty.
During the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call on May 12, Larsson clarified his intent for the company to return to profitability.
“Iconic style made current has never been more relevant,” he said, according to Seeking Alpha. “While staying true to our DNA, we will also evolve our marketing and the shopping experience to better reflect the aspirational life and style people dream of today. We have many unique strengths to build on. These include our brand strength, being the original for aspirational authentic American and iconic style, a very strong share position, a talented team, and a solid infrastructure.”
In recent months, Larsson has worked closely with the company’s teams to complete a comprehensive review of the business and develop a strategic plan.
“Through that work, we have gained a very clear understanding of the underlying drivers of the current performance and we now have a detailed view of what’s driving the downward trend,” he explained. “In short, we have not focused enough on, nor evolved enough, the core of what made us great in product, marketing, and the shopping experience. In addition, our underlying business engines are not running at full speed. We also have an inefficient cost structure and an organization that’s not nimble enough in the marketplace. What made us great was a crystal-clear focus on owning classic iconic style and putting an effortless twist to it to make it current and desirable. We will become more true to our core-focused assortment on creating the best iconic style in the market and evolve the way we twist it so it becomes more desirable for today.”
For most of his 18-year career in this industry, Larsson has guided teams through the process of turning creative energy and talent into high-performance businesses.
“I know the value-driving components of the creative processes from my time with H&M and then in turning around Old Navy,” he explained. “I’m excited to see so much untapped potential at Ralph Lauren and we will leverage our brand vision into a much stronger consumer offering. This offering will be built by evolving our brand voice, our products, our marketing, and our shopping experience, in parallel with developing stronger underlying business engines, rightsizing our cost structure, and strengthening our leadership team. Getting these elements right will help us connect more with our existing consumers, expand our reach to new consumers, and return the business to strong growth over time.”