Department store group Le Printemps appoints new president

By

Olivier Guyot

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Sep 2, 2020

French department store group Le Printemps has found a successor to Paolo de Cesare, who had left at the end of February. Le Printemps was founded in 1865 by Jules Jaluzot, and since 2013 the eponymous group has been owned by Luxembourg-based holding company Disa, which represents an investment fund backed by Qatari investors. The group has now announced the appointment of Jean-Marc Bellaiche as its new president. Bellaiche, since mid-2018 in charge of partnerships and strategy at French unicorn and digital experience specialist Contentsquare, will start in his new role on October 1.

Bellaiche, 50, has worked for 20 years with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). As a senior partner for the consultancy firm, he spearheaded its activities in the retail, fashion, luxury and beauty sectors. In 2014, he joined US jewellery giant Tiffany & Co. as vice-president in charge of Tiffany's business strategy and expansion outside the jewellery sector.

“Having acquired a wealth of expertise over the years, working with the Boston Consulting Group, Tiffany and Contentsquare, Jean-Marc is a high-calibre senior manager with a unique, multi-faceted experience, who will enable the Le Printemps group to boost its growth and accelerate its internationalisation and digitalisation,” said Le Printemps’s supervisory board in a press release.

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The group controls not just the 19 Le Printemps branches and the department store’s new website, but also 8 Citadium stores and the Place des Tendances and Made in Design websites, for a total of 3,000 employees, with an annual revenue €1.7 billion. The group is relying on the launch of the new Le Printemps website and on international expansion to be able to expand its business despite the economic crisis.

It remains to be seen in which direction Bellaiche will steer the group in order to consolidate its activities, in itself a sizeable challenge. There is in fact a big question mark over the group’s entire business model, given recent changes in consumption modes and the prolonged absence of foreign tourists from Paris, an absolute mainstay for the continued commercial success of the city’s department stores.