Coach Cuts Back Its Digital Presence

ECommerce is all the rage these days, but hurtling headlong into the dark of online retail isn’t for every brand. In fact, Coach thinks it can do better than most with an approach that doesn’t require companies to go from 0 to 60 in five seconds flat.

On its Q3 2016 earnings call, Coach announced the departure of several key executives behind its digital push. David Duplantis, president of global, digital and consumer experience, and president and COO Gebhard Rainer are both on the outs as their responsibilities will be handed on to two other executives in a bid to streamline its failing online sales. According to Internet Retailer, Coach’s digital sales slipped 60 percent in 2015 to just $200 million, compared to the $500 million they moved online in 2014.

“These actions will allow us to emerge as a brand-led company with fewer layers, larger spans of responsibility and a consistent global voice across merchandising and marketing,” Coach CEO Victor Luis said on the call.

Early indications are that the move may be the shakeup Coach needed. Crain’s reported that the brand’s shares were up 2 percent on the day of the announcement, which comes on top of a 23-percent gain annually as of April 25.

To replace the roles of the two executives on their way out, Coach is promoting Andre Cohen, president of North America, global market and consumer intelligence, and Todd Kahn, chief administrative offer, to new expanded roles. The consolidation is an ostensible effort to remove some of the fluff on the backend clogging Coach’s digital sales from humming along as they’ve shown they can in the past.