Dubai's luxury retailer Chalhoub Group restructures into four main divisions

Dubai: The luxury retailer, Chalhoub Group, has restructured itself around four key divisions, a move which will ease its shift to be a leading “hybrid” player.

The new organisation “will be simpler” with the four verticals titled ‘managed companies’, ‘JV and strategy’, ‘growth, innovation and investment, operations and enablers’, and ‘people and culture’. They will be reporting to Patrick Chalhoub, Group CEO.

“This structure will allow us to drive growth and sustainability, be innovative and creative, foster synergies, cooperation and drive efficiency, have more ownership and accountability for our initiatives,” said Chalhoub

The Group confirmed it will have a “dedicated focus” on Saudi Arabia, and plans to launch more brands and concepts.

Key appointments

As part of the process, there are also some changes in personnel. David Vercruysse will be re-joining the Group as the head of the managed companies division, where he will oversee the beauty and fashion distribution as well as its retail concepts such as Tanagra and Level Shoes.

In another appointment, Michael Chalhoub will oversee the joint venture businesses, and also take the lead on “strategy, growth, innovation and investment”. “There are great opportunities to be found in challenging times like the ones we are going through,” said Michael.

Accelerate change

The onset of the pandemic has accelerated some of the planned changes the Group had been working on. It is currently overseeing a 900-day digital transformation, with the stated aim of changing internal mindsets as well as be better prepared to take on the challenges and opportunities created by more shoppers heading online.