Category: Luxury accessories and small goods · Region: France · Engagement: Supplier access + distribution agreements
The starting point
An established French luxury retailer with a strong physical presence in Lyon wanted to expand online but was struggling to compete with the brand boutiques on assortment. Their online store had the same hundred SKUs everyone else had — they needed exclusivity to differentiate.
What we did
- Mapped the European distributor landscape across 12 luxury small-goods brands
- Identified four distributors with available territory rights for online retail in France
- Negotiated semi-exclusive arrangements on 23 SKUs (limited European online distribution)
- Built a proper editorial commerce experience around the exclusive lines
12-month results
- Online revenue: increased 3.4x
- Average order value: €420 (from €280)
- Repeat purchase rate at 6 months: 31% (from 12%)
- SEO performance: top-3 position for 18 high-intent brand+model queries
What made it work
Distributors will grant some level of exclusivity if you can demonstrate the operational capability to merchandise their products at the brand level. The retailer’s decade of physical retail credibility carried weight here — pure online operators rarely get the same conversations.