Etude de cas Ladurée

MENANT NOÉMIE – B3 INT INI                                        INTERNATIONAL SALES STRATEGY

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1. The story of the brand

1. Creation of the Ladurée brand

In 1862, Louis Ernest Ladurée had a little bakery in Paris, in the Madeleine district. The same year, Baron Haussman was offering a new face to Paris, building the Garnier-Opera, creating large boulevards and instituting some gardens, which transformed Paris in one of the most beautiful town of the world. This district became an important and elegant business district in Paris, which attracted the Parisian high society.

In 1871, the Ladurée bakery caught fire and it was the opportunity for him to transform its bakery into a pastry shop, like Paris. Louis Ernest Ladurée asked the painter Jules Cheret to decorate its pastry shop with inspirations of the Sistine Chapel and the Garnier-Opera. That is what he did adding gold and relief to the ceiling, and painting angels, including the “Pastry Angel” who will become the graphic identity of the Ladurée House.

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In that period, Paris woke up with luxurious cafes and restaurants which attracted the Parisian bourgeoisie. There were more entertainments and travels, and the women also wanted to meet new people, but the literary salons were overwhelmed. That is why Jeanne Souchard, Louis Ernest Ladurée’s wife, had the idea to create a tea room inside the pastry shop. That was the first Parisian tea room.

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In the XIXth century, a macaron was just a little dry biscuit. It is Louis Ernest Ladurée’s cousin who has the idea to gather two biscuits with ganache between, and it gave the actual Parisian macaron. In this time, there were just few flavors like chocolate, coffee and almond. It is in 1993, when the Holder family bought the Ladurée House, that the number of macaron flavor multiplied.

1. Expansion of the brand

In fact, the Holder Group; which is today the owner of several brands like the Paul bakeries, the Château Blanc bakeries, and so on; decided to enlarge the House opening a new one, with the same authenticity than the first, on the most beautiful avenue of the world which is the one of the Champs-Elysées.

Then, the Ladurée expansion continues. In 2002, a third House opened in the Bonaparte street, still being in Paris. In 2005, Ladurée House knew its first international expansion, in London. Then, Ladurée macarons were accessible in over one hundred sales points in about fifteen countries across the world. It is after this year that Ladurée has known a very big expansion and a diversification of the House.

In 2008, the first Ladurée store in Japan opened and the first Ladurée Bar in Paris too, with a new story. Then, there was an opening in the Versailles castle’s Royal Court, and in the New York’s Madison Avenue in 2011.

It is in 2012 that the brand diversification began. A cosmetics line which named “Les Merveilleuses de Ladurée” was launched in Japan, and in France then. A Ladurée manufacture opened in Switzerland. A chocolate line named “Marquis de Ladurée” was also launched in Paris.

Since this year, the pastry shop Ladurée opens again and again new shops all around the world : Hong Kong, Cannes, Bangkok, Dubaï, Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Singapore, Florence, Bucharest, Miami, and so on.

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        Les Merveilleuses de Ladurée                                           Marquis de Ladurée

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Ladurée Bar in Paris

1. Today

Today, the brand still being managed like a fashion House, with luxury. It is the leader of the market, selling more than 17 millions of macarons each year. It succeeds before its competitors Pierre Hermé, Dalloyau and Fauchon.

It has shops in the whole world but its parent company still locating in Paris.

We can notice than, today, the brand owns around 110 shops, in 26 countries, where about 1800 people are working to improve the macarons quality and sales. Their turnover was about 130 millions of euros in 2018, which represents a decrease of 10 millions from 2012.

1. The different strategies already set by Ladurée

To become the leader of the market, and still being it, Ladurée implements some strategies to keep their customers, to attract new ones, and to improve their number of sales.

First, they play with the authenticity of the XIXth century tea room. The gold decorations of the ceiling and the atmosphere attract the macarons and the old days lovers. This authenticity is the House soul and it takes part of the Ladurée history. Some of the customers go there only to see the architecture and decorations of the previous century, they go there to enjoy this wonderful place.

Then, the second strategy is focused on the luxurious aspect of the macarons. They are handled like a fashion collection in box which make them looking like a present. This is a marketing strategy which is focused on the appearance.

Ladurée collaborates with some fashion people, with perfumers and with producers, to obtain beautiful ideas of macarons box, and which one can they put in. Among them, we can raise Tim Burton, Barbie, Nina Ricci, Pharell Williams, Mickey, Christian Lacroix, Chantal Thomass, Lanvin, and so on.

They give a lot of importance to their box appearance. They even gave a name for each box : “Prestige”, “Cristal”, “Bonaparte”, “Cannage”, “Venus mon amour”, “”Napoléon” …

[pic 10][pic 11][pic 12][pic 13][pic 14][pic 15]Thirdly, the Ladurée team constantly innovates their macarons taste. This strategy is the diversification of the Ladurée macarons. In fact, twice a year, the House creates new desserts to do, helping by pastry chefs from the whole world. For example, in 2016, they created a macaron with matcha, which is a Japan green tea. They also offer mix like the caramel/banana macaron, the grapefruit/rose macaron, the almond/lucuma macaron, the matcha/moringa macaron, and so on.

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