In this episode, Morgan Seghin, Facilities Manager for Swarovski, discusses managing facilities on an international scale, the attention to detail required of a luxury retailer, and how Swarovski is honoring their responsibility to the planet with sustainable practices.
Welcome to Elevating Brick and Mortar.
A podcast about how operations and facilities drive brand performance.
On today’s episode, we talk with Morgan Seghin, Facilities Manager for Swarovski. Swarovski creates beautiful crystal-based products of impeccable quality and craftsmanship that bring joy and celebrate individuality. Today this legacy is rooted in sustainability measures across the value chain, with an emphasis on circular innovation, championing diversity, inclusion and self-expression, and in the philanthropic work of the Swarovski Foundation, which supports charitable organizations bringing positive environmental and social impact.
In this episode, Morgan discusses managing facilities on an international scale, the attention to detail required of a luxury retailer, and how Swarovski is honoring their responsibility to the planet with sustainable practices.
Hailing from Belgium, Morgan Seghin has 15 years of experience working in retail, 10 of which are in facilities management. He has worked for international luxury retailers all over the world such as Prada and Christian Dior, where he pioneered and launched the facilities management program. He has since moved to Paris where he manages the facilities at Swarovski across Europe.
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Guest Quote
“Our CEO says the project is king, the client is queen, and always the store is the castle. So we treat it as a castle. You wouldn't go to Disneyland if you have a castle that's falling apart and not painted very well with the wrong lighting, slippery stairs, you would have a bad experience in Disneyland. So it's not just about having a beautiful store, it's also making sure that the client will walk in the store and stop at every single square inches of the store. Every single, square inches will offer you a new environment, something new to look at.” - Morgan Seghin
Time Stamps
**(01:58) - Morgan’s Journey
**(06:41) - Facilities in Swarovski
**(11:03) - Facilities within a luxury brand
**(18:03) - The evolution of retail
**(30:18) - How Swarovski prioritizes sustainability
**(34:15) - Sid’s final thoughts
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Links
Narrator: Welcome to Elevating Brick and Mortar, a podcast about how operations and facilities drive brand performance. On today's episode, we talk with Morgan Seghin, facilities manager for Swarovski. Swarovski creates beautiful crystal based products of impeccable quality and craftsmanship that bring joy and celebrate individuality.
Today, this legacy is rooted in sustainability measures across the value chain with an emphasis on circular innovation, championing diversity, inclusion and self-expression, and in the philanthropic work of the Swarovski Foundation, which supports charitable organizations bringing positive environmental and social impact.
Morgan has 15 years of experience working in retail, 10 of which are in facilities management. He has worked for international luxury retailers all over the world, such as Prada and Christian Dior, where he pioneered and launched the Facilities management Program. In this episode, Morgan discusses managing facilities on an international scale.
The attention to detail required of a luxury retailer and Swarovski is honoring their responsibility to the planet with sustainable practices. But first, a word from our sponsor. Want to rest easy knowing your brick and mortar locations are offering the best possible guest experience. Partner with Service Channel for peak facilities performance.
Check out service channel.com today to learn more. Now, here's your host, industry and FM technology thought leader and chief business development officer at Service Channel Sid Shetty, along with our guest Morgan Seghin.
Sid: Welcome to the show. Thank you for joining us. I am here today with Morgan Sagan, facilities manager at Swarovski Morgan, welcome. Thank you for being here. Thank
Morgan: you, Seth. Thank you very much, uh, for having me on your, on your show.
Sid: Absolutely. Thank you. So Morgan, tell me a bit about your journey into facilities management, specifically in the luxury retail
Morgan: sector.
Uh, let's start maybe 10 years ago. That's where I really, uh, stepped in facility management. It all happened organically, let's say I was, uh, working at London at the time for a brand, luxury brand that was investing a lot in, uh, in new stores and refurbishing their stores until, had a wake-up call, let's say.
And, uh, went to the general manager and uh, and I went open cards and I said, look, it's a bit of a shame. We're just investing so much. We're building new stores, and, uh, and there's no one really there to, to look after it. And, uh, can imagine 10 years ago, fast management was slightly different. Purely maintenance, you know, and that's, that's how I really started, uh, fast management, but straightforward, I, I noticed it was more about maintaining, uh, the stores.
You know, management is, is way, uh, wider than this. And slowly we build up a department and started to touch different, uh, different topics, right? Start taking on on, on more stores, more countries grow. And that's a bit of a my journey in a
Sid: nutshell. You've gone through and worked at some amazing brands through your journey.
How long have you been at
Morgan: Swarovski now? I joined Soki in 2019 when I moved from from London to Paris. So it's going to four years now. That's
Sid: amazing. Four amazing years. So Swarovski is an amazing brand. I mean, I personally grew up with Swarovski around me in some way or form. My family was and is a big fan, and Swarovski has come to my rescue many a time and it.
I was dating my now wife, so I have a personal attachment to the brand, so thank you. Tell me, what is the north star of the brand? Like when, what sentiment are you trying to invoke in your customers when they think about Swarovski? Well, first
Morgan: of all, thank you very much to, to being a loyal customer and, uh, I'm glad we saved your life.
I can't save my life times. I mean, this a famous saying from Daniel Sooki. Was the founder of the company and, and his vision was to, uh, offer Diamond to, uh, every woman. What, what, what I get from this is that we are a company who was very socially inclusive, means that we are touching everybody. We are not a company.
We selecting who we want to, uh, sell to or to, to communicate to, or to be close to. So I think this is something we want people to, to feel like if you work in Aros store, you will find yourself and what you need. Then, uh, we, over 125 years in business creating crystals, of course we have a heritage, a software fair.
We are bringing creativity and innovation in everything we do and win constant evolution around those re embedded pillars o of the company. Always trying also to keep up with the real world and being bold and, uh, and that into current situation, being part of the conversation really. And then we have also the, the, the lu suspect of our, our product.
So to feel proud, uh, wearing our juries and gaining confidence also because you are a person and then you just adding things to yourself, which are beautiful and that supposedly make you feel good. And, um, that's a little bit about the, the, the environment or the atmosphere, the mindset that we have. In Swarovski.
That's pretty amazing.
Sid: Founded in 1895 in Austria, you know? Exactly. That's, that's phenomenal. I wanna double click more about Swarovski and all the different things that as an organization you are doing, but tell me a bit about your responsibilities at Swarovski. You oversee UK, Ireland, Nordics, France, and Benelux.
That's a pretty wide area. Can you share what it means in terms of your scope of
Morgan: responsibility? I'm lucky and unlucky lucky in a way that I'm working on a geographical scope, which is quite similar. The way, uh, to access a remote location is not as complicated as other part of the world. Vendors tend to have some similarities, so I'm, I'm lucky in this sense.
We are global team and we cannot be expert in, uh, every single aspect in every single country. So we'll, uh, make sure we work with the right people and we basically, uh, expand then to other countries. The best practices or, or the best level of compliance, uh, is always better to have more than less. So we're trying to deal, uh, and to make the most of all these discrepancies between countries.
And I can say that some of my colleagues we are dealing with other regions are less lucky than me, but this is how we, uh, we deal with that.
Sid: Yeah. I wanna touch upon like how different it is to handle a global brand, especially based on your geographical spread. But before we do that, when you and your team look at the role that you play, In facilities at Swarovski, what is the kind of impact that you would like to have on the brand and how do you position yourselves within your organization?
Morgan: I mean, we are a team of experts. It's put that way. We're not people who are there to, uh, to do the work in the store. We are more a team of advisors, uh, whistleblowers, uh, sometime magicians, but really trying to have a, a, a qualitative and. Quantitative impact on the organization. Qualitative impact, for instance, would be, uh, using our expertise, knowledge, data to be able to, to feel up upward, uh, in the company and maybe starting to use certain assets, uh, over another because.
We think that, uh, maybe qualitatively we can gain, uh, having a better quality in our stores. We can have a, a longer asset cycle. Uh, we're also quantitative. Yeah, we can maybe put some pressure, uh, benefit from, uh, buying in bulk or this sort of thing. So that's the impact that we make, uh, in, in the company on a day-to-day basis.
But then we also make, uh, a difference to everybody's, uh, life, you know, uh, whether they are, they're client customers. Our staff and everybody is visiting our stores. Also, our vendors often think that they don't go to our stores, but they go, but they go by night. We don't see them, but we need to make sure that, I don't know, they have the right lighting to be able to, to do their work and not fall off.
Or they have the way to, uh, to access our stores with the right procedures and not just. Going one morning and having a, a door shut. So all the things we're trying to, uh, to work on and make everybody's, uh, life easier to do. The decor, uh, responsibilities.
Sid: This is a brand that's been around since 1895 and that's a long time.
And the kind of brand image that you have is what kind of gives you that longevity, right? It is something that has stood the tests of time and it's got a phenomenal. Positioning as a brand and clearly invokes a sentiment in the consumer. And part of that brand image is your locations, your stores, they're welcoming.
Even your logo is beautiful, like it's saying, walk into my location. When you look at what you have to do to preserve that physical space, how do you kind of. Position what facilities does, how do you ensure that you're tying what you do to preserving the brand versus fixing things
Morgan: faster? I mean, our CEO says, uh, project is king.
The client is queen, the store is the castle. Uh, so we treat it as a castle. Uh, you wouldn't go to Disneyland and then if you have a castle as whole falling apart and not. Painted very well with the wrong lighting, slippery stairs, right? You would've a bad experience in Disneyland and you don't want your kid to have a bad experience in Disneyland.
And it's, for me, it's a bit the same. Uh, we need to treat our stores the best we can. They must be, uh, risk free at all time, but they must also be, uh, practical and inviting. So not just about having a beauty or store. Is also making sure that the client will walk in the store and step it. Every single, uh, square inches of the store, every single square inches will offer you a new environment, something new to look at.
And when you need something, you'll have the best people to help you in the store and everything in their hands to, to support you, whether it's to have a seat, to have a mirror. To have, uh, uh, the product at hand to have a presentation tray all the way to when you do your, your purchase. You know, it's, it goes also in the, the closing ceremony when you have a nice little buy that is right in the right way and hand it to you by a, a very smiley and, uh, and social, uh, customer advisor.
We pay attention in every single details at 360 degrees, and we always put, uh, the customer at hardware for what we do. We've been doing this year, as you said, for over twenty, a hundred and twenty five years, although that we are not in retail since, uh, the, the, the creation of the company. But yes, we've been making Crystal and we have a very unique Safa that is a competitive advantage for, for the company for sure.
So
Sid: facilities management has a different flavor. Depending on the type of organization that you're a part of, what is it like to be responsible for facilities in a luxury brand? What's the expectation? I presume that all the way up to the sea level there is focus and attention to detail in terms of what the stores feel like, look like and how they're preserved.
Right.
Morgan: Well, I think the way you asked the question, uh, you, uh, I took the word of my mouth because I wanted to say, uh, the expectation are, uh, are very high and, and focus on, on quality, focus on details, and on speed as well. If you take an example, you work in a luxury store and you have half of your light bulbs are not working, and it's gonna be like this for a week.
That doesn't give a. A good, uh, good image, uh, as a brand, it means it's a brand that doesn't know how to react, that doesn't have the, the capacities and the structure to, to maintain the facilities. And who knows, maybe that's the same in the way they, they create the product. So from, from top to bottom, the, the, the expectation, uh, eyes for details, high expectation on, on, on quality and speed.
But then the, the store design as well is, is. Becoming more and more complex and and more difficult, uh, to react and, and deliver. Now we are going into a more complex store design, more customized, depending on the country, on different factors, and you need to be able to react to this and, and adapt.
Otherwise, as a luxury brand, you are so visible to the social media, for instance, and the risk to damage your brand image. I've never been, I've never been higher. Last thing I think is the tolerance from your stakeholders as well. Your client are expecting something, uh, from you as a brand, uh, because you have took the talk, but you need to walk the walk.
Lastly, if you allow me, people are making, customers are being more educated, not just on products Yeah. But also on facilities. You know, we have people, I'm just taking an example, uh, unfortunately in, in the uk someone with a. A nice window with no manifestation stickers. And, and the client, because the windows are so clean, thanks to FEI management, uh, it walked in the, the window and hurt his nose.
And, um, and the client was saying, well, you, you're not compliant here because you should have two stripes of the stickers and it should be a certain level. And we're like, Wow. Do you work for health and safety? Uh, sir or no? No. No. So just that people are being more educated from health and safety point of view, and also from a maintenance point of view.
Right. These sort of things are becoming more and more, uh, challenging, uh, to meet, uh, the expectation and, and to manage all the operation behind to, to reserve the incidents. Yeah, and I think when it comes
Sid: to luxury retail, It's even more challenging, right? Because you have to get the basics right, for sure.
But then you're gonna have to go above and beyond and create this, this perception of opulence and this perception of a welcoming environment where customers want to spend a few hundreds of dollars on luxury items. The physical space takes on a whole new kind of dimension in that contribution that it has to the experience of the
Morgan: customer, right?
Oh, absolutely. Uh, opulence. Yeah, people see opulence and, and educate it. I mean, you, you see all sort of things in our store. I remember building a flagship in London and then we, we brought in a 1 million pound art piece, and the operation to bring it into the store was just tremendous. But this is what you will find in luxury stores these days, you know?
When we talk about opulence, it's not just about having a bit of a, a god leaf on a on a door handle. Right now you have art pieces exposed in
Sid: stores. It's pretty amazing. Yes. Roski is doing some very interesting things as it pertains to its new store concepts too, and and very interesting design, like the one you just opened, I think a couple of years back in soho in New York.
Yes. That store looks. Pretty amazing and it's a very interesting
Morgan: concept. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I pass the message to our internal, uh, design team, but uh, it's true. We are, Soros started a transition a couple of years back, so being one of the, the first few store have been, uh, refitted, let's say.
As of today, we have, uh, I think 15 different flagship, uh, across the world. Wow. We are. Flagship would be, uh, uh, one of this, uh, wow factor store when you'll have. Any environment that Soros can, can offer from eyewear to crystal wear, uh, juries, watches, and so on, and they will, uh, expose all our cyber warfare and heritage that, that's, that's the purpose and the flagship.
But then with all the other stores as well. And, and somehow they need to follow the same, uh, they need to be consistent with, with your flagship and what we are trying to vae as a, as a brand image. So, We have started to, uh, to design new concepts. The time, uh, where, where people would go in the store and, and they wanted all, uh, white and sparkly.
Now, if you work in soho, uh, you'll see the store is completely, uh, green and pink, right, with a lot of octagonal boxes on the wall. And it gives you a, a sort of artistic environment. It's a bit wonderous. You just want to walk in and discover what's what it's all about. And every single box offers you a new pieces of jewelry.
The colors are very vibrant as well. Things, things are changing, changing in retail, and we, we must be part of the conversation. As I said, we, we, we must respond to that. We don't want to be an outsider and that's what we are doing at the moment. We have a very excited, exciting project to come as well. Uh, New York, 2024.
So keep an eye on this. I invite you as well to check some of the, the latest stores that we've built in, I build in Asia. They're absolutely, uh, uh,
Sid: marvelous. That sounds amazing. Yeah, I know for a fact that my wife will be more than happy to go check out the stores. Hey, I'm your host Sid Shetty, and I hope you're enjoying this conversation so far to make sure you're up to date and have access to all our episodes.
Make sure you're subscribed to the podcast also, if you have thoughts, comments, or questions. Be sure to follow Service Channel on LinkedIn so you can be part of our community of like-minded folks as well as have access to a lot of other great content. Feel free to also connect and follow me on LinkedIn.
I'm your host, Sid Shetty, and now back to the show.
When you walk into that store and you look at the images, I haven't been to the one in Soho yet. It's on my list, but it's an experience. The design, the store, the shelves are all part of this display of opulence, this display of creativity and kind of creating this convergence of design, art, and your product, which is pretty fantastic.
Morgan: You're absolutely right as I say this. For, for everybody. We are a company who are very inclusive. Uh, we are genderless. We support, uh, L G B Q communities and all that. So it, it's really an experience for everybody. We've thought about this and everything is made to, uh, offer you a, a journey and experience and, and, and find, find what, what you are looking for really.
Sid: That's right. What's driving this change? You know, with trying out new store concepts and making the store itself feel like a work of art?
Morgan: Why? It's an evolution, I guess. It's an evolution. If we look at the, the retail industry in general, not just luxury, look at High Street, how many stores are opening and closing within three or five years?
Why is because people, uh, are, are a distribution plan much more, uh, loose and flexible. As soon as you see something that is not working, you have the possibility it's easier than before to move out or, or refurbish or to change a location. And when you change of location, of course you change a little bit, your concept, and you redo your stores.
So the strategy is not to move, uh, from one location to another, but it's more about, uh, keeping our store up to date. You know, we have a team of professional working on things like this and, um, and we just adapt to the current world. It's a small world as well, right? Uh, I must admit. So it's, it's, it's really hard as well to, to become unique and, and, and come up with a new store design that no one has thought of before.
No one has. Done before. It's just about, uh, adding your magic touch and, and all the codes that can represent your brand. We have the octagonal shape now. You will see that everyone in all our store, so our display table, our door handles, our, uh, displays, anything. We have a octagonal shape. So there are few things that are staying embedded with the company and some of the things that must change, uh, obviously.
Sid: Yeah, and you know, organizations sometimes forget, like you, you design all these beautiful stores and they look pristine, but someone is responsible for making that store continue to feel and look pristine, right? That's the facilities team. You are the ones that are actually making sure that every day the brand and the store look like it did on day one.
How do you work with the different functions to ensure that you're part of the conversation? Always, because once you build it, And they move on. Mm-hmm. Facilities is the one that makes sure going forward, everything looks and feels up to brand standard. Mm-hmm.
Morgan: I mean, that's part of the, the, the, the lifecycle of a store.
You know, it's not like you said from the, the day he opens until the day he closes. And in Toski really, truly, We have a 360 degree vision, which is shared by all departments. So it's, it's easy to talk to each other using the same language and the same conversations. If we're talking about excellence in the store, we know what we're talking about.
If we're talking about selling, we know what we're talking about. Selling ceremony, that is something quite, uh, quite easy, uh, to educate people. Most of the thing are, are also benefit that we bringing, uh, to, to everybody's life. So that's when, when, when it comes to, to communication and, and vision, the way we work.
Uh, we also, uh, a company was really, uh, process orientated. So everything is is more like predefine. Everybody know where they stand, their role, uh, when it comes to, um, Coming with a new project from the real estate, we'll find the right location. Designers will put, uh, the best layout construction that will construct in, in the best way, using the best material, and then us come from the day of the opening and we need to keep on going.
We always say the store must always look like. It looked on
Sid: day one. Clearly it's working. I mean, your, your stores look, you know, amazing. And I think it makes total sense, right? Because in reality you're not just competing with the next brand out there. Like today, especially in a viral world like today where photographs go from one end of the world to the other.
When something doesn't look right or something goes viral because it looks beautiful and captures the attention of the consumer, you know, you're competing for mind space, you're competing for attention. And when someone's walking down the street somewhere on Fifth Avenue in New York and there's tons of brands, you're competing for them to say in that split second.
Oh yeah, I know what I wanna walk into this FKI store. I wanna walk into a particular brand that, that, that grabbed my attention. And that's what it comes down to, right? Like that, that, that split second. It doesn't matter how good your website is at that point, it doesn't matter, you know, how your ads might be in that moment.
It's the location facade that says you are welcome. Walk in
Morgan: you. You're totally right. You're totally, I mean, uh, it's very difficult to gain new clients. But in my opinion, it's even more difficult to keep your clients and you need to work very, very hard to keep and make sure when they pass your store, they'll work in your store, not in in somebody else.
And uh, and I think we discussed that one day, uh, many stores are doing that now, and, but they're using their old factory send to grab the clients. So you have, uh, perfume diffuser outside the store so that when you walk in in the street, you know that. Hundred uh meters, a hundred yards down the road, you're gonna find that brand because that smell is automatically connected to that brand then the art
Sid: of subliminal messaging, I guess.
Right?
Morgan: Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, uh, these are all the techniques that, that, uh, I think material are using to gain a competitive advantage to, uh, diversify to a singular from another brand, because you need to catch that mindset. Clients, they come and go. You know, this is retail today. It is very, very competitive.
It's hard to gain a client. It's hard to keep it, but, uh, you can always gain your client back. And, uh, we've seen also many, many brand who are pretending to be luxurious and they invest massively. And then, uh, within five years, they disappear. Uh, right. Name any brands, but, uh, I have some examples. Uh, we are still here today.
We are gonna be there tomorrow, so That's right. I'd say if a client wants to try elsewhere, well they can, but I, I know they will, they will come back, they will come back to Sooki and then they realize also, uh, what Sooki is, is about maybe, and enjoy it more. So it's not about, uh, getting a client and, and, and hold it, you know, but it's true that, uh, we make the difference on the long term.
You
Sid: wanna have a relationship with your customer and have that relationship a long one. I agree 100%. Let's pivot a little bit and just talk about the fact that you're a global brand, so clearly like it's across different geographies, across continents. How does that play into how you manage your facilities program?
Because there's gotta be a huge difference in how you manage your facilities in Europe, where there might be, you know, a lot of heritage buildings in older buildings. To how they, you know, the kind of locations you have in the US and I'm sure there's similar challenges in the APAC markets. Can you share some thoughts on that?
Morgan: Totally. Right. I mean, you know, it is all this first all globalization, globalization, globalization. Uh, I, I studied international business. When you, you study business, international level us have. Different, uh, uh, level, macro level, micro level. And I apply the same thing. My vision of fasti management, I think globalization is its limits.
If we want to compare things, we, they must be comparable. Uh, you look at the world and the, the, the huge differences in culture, uh, in the economy, uh, the localization, the weather, the local low, so, For me, there's no, uh, one formula that works globally. Uh, what we do, as I said before, we're trying to take the, the best practices and apply them, uh, per region or per area.
And I think a, a very thorough and and sustainable fast management program is pro. Program that goes deep into those different, uh, level of analysis. That's, uh, the, the challenge as, as a global brand for me, then I'm sure my colleagues work in marketing and, and visual merchandising must have also, uh, the, the same challenges how to adapt, uh, the right product in, you know, is the, the four Ps, the, the right products at the right place, the right price for the right person.
Right. That's, uh, that's, that's the challenge for me. Globalization is, is it, its limits and needs to be, uh, managed very wisely to make the most of it.
Sid: Now, Swarovski is more than just the consumer brand that we know and love. Right. There's more to the Swarovski group, right. Can you explain that? Well,
Morgan: first of all, Soki, uh, is, uh, making crystal that is turning into juries.
So we sell them in our stores, but then we also have different division. We have a soki optic, so it goes to eyewear, it will go, uh, to, uh, uh, equipment for, uh, hunters. We also develop some machinery. So we are using crystal to cut product like, like stones and, and this sort of thing. So we are teaching different, different industries beyond that.
I think Siroski, and this is a very, very important topic these days, is is company that we, that is responsible. We have a soki foundation, uh, as an example that was set up over 10 years ago. They have different objectives to make a difference in the world, uh, from a social environment, uh, perspective. So we have a authority water school for instance.
We go around the world, whether it's Asia South, uh, south America, Africa, and we, uh, we educate people. Uh, we go to school and we explain them what's water, what's the importance of water. We do actions where we will, uh, help local communities to, uh, to gather the water, Andy the water, and have access to clean water.
We will do actions to, uh, to clean oceans. And the reason why we are so close with water is because water is the main ingredient to, uh, to create crystals. This is something that is lasting for 127 years. When the company was funded, Daniel Swarski always had this consciousness about water. That's amazing.
Sid: I mean, I think. It's phenomenal to see what Swarovski is doing to give back, and I read somewhere that the part of the heritage of Swarovski is to have a responsible relationship with people and the planet. That's a pretty amazing way to explain your high level goals or your not star too, right.
Morgan: Absolutely. Further to this, um, we, we also applied that. I mean, it's a mindset that we all have in Soros because even in soro in facility management, we're always trying to, uh, think, okay, how can we make an impact? It's very hard. First thing is have international protocol as well, a program, and the construction team is.
Very involved with that. It's a bit like the, the lead certification. So now we also have some criteria where we measure ourself and at the end of a construction, we know at which level our store has been built in term of sustainability. Then what do we do? We close the store and what happens? So now we, facilit management have also been involved in that protocol where we are trying to, uh, identify what's happening.
After the lifecycle of an asset furniture, for instance, we are now trying to give them a second live. So we recondition them, we will, uh, make them brand new again to be reused in the new store. Or maybe we will, uh, help, uh, uh, partner another juror to make use of those, uh, those units. A lot of pressure as well on, on our vendors.
To be, uh, a bit greener in the type of material they use, whether it's, it's a glue, it's a cleaning product, it's a type of paint. Push them to go paperless so we can have an impact on sustainability at facility management level. And we will, I'm sure we will. First. Management is growing. It's changing, it's midterm of forcing, and I'm very, very happy to, to be part of it.
I love
Sid: that. I mean, I think customers expect their brands that they love, um, to stand for something, right? It's not enough to just have a great product and have it be on a shelf. You need to be responsible. You need to give back. You need to be sustainable. Use techniques that allow you to create your products in a sustainable way and also, Encourage the partners that you use, the providers and suppliers that you use to have the same kind of responsibilities.
So it's amazing to see that Swarovski is doing that because consumers today, they're not just looking for something that's bright and shiny. They want to go and stand behind brands that that stand for something bigger than just their product. So I think that's really important for all our customers and our brands and all the brands out there that are looking to gain market share to understand.
We ultimately have only one planet, and the more we can do to preserve it, the better the lives of the generations to come. Let's talk about really quick the future. What does the future of luxury retail look like in your mind? Do you see any interesting changes in consumer behavior or challenges that we need to keep in mind and get ahead of?
Morgan: Stores are having a much smaller life cycle. So you'll see a retail stores opening and closing, uh, increasing visibility. Oh, one day is there. Now is there, you know, I think that's part of strategy, in my opinion, a lot more of brands opening pop-up stores for a short period of time just to launch a new collection.
Interesting. Just to, uh, to make an impact on, uh, on, on a local, uh, event. And they will do a special collection to target a certain culture, a certain event, a certain time of the year. I'm just thinking about Mother's Day, uh, Olympics, Ramadan, uh, Chinese, new. All these things. I think we will see, uh, replicated it in in in retail.
I don't think that brick and mortar stores are, are over. I think we had Covid and, and there's a changes in mind where people would buy online, but from what I read and I gather, it looks like people are going back to the stores, which is very, very positive. I can see technology, uh, as well becoming a, a big part of our, of our stores, uh, or stores in general.
You know, internet of things, how things are connected one to another. Recently walked into a store and, uh, there was a screen and you can see what's the weather like, what's the level of, uh, uh, humidity in the stores. And then there was a hundred percent of, uh, of purity in the air. You know, so he's connecting EO assets to deliver that message.
Artificial intelligence as well. More think about facility management at the moment. Change of concept. You know, you need to create new manuals, so use of artificial intelligence to develop those manuals and maybe to help technician welcoming to a store for the first time. So a lot, a lot of, uh, things will, will be happening in retail.
It will be obvious to a client or customer, sometimes not, but that's, uh, that's promising for first management. Like at the end of the day, I agree
Sid: with you 100%. I think one thing we, we can all bet on is that things are changing and changing really fast, and I think the brands and the teams and the, and the programs that adapt to that change will be the ones that come out winning.
Let's end with one final fun question. Uh, Morgan, what is your guilty pleasure, luxury purchase? Is it May or my wife's either. Either. It has to be Swarovski, I guess, right?
Morgan: Well, it has to be Swarovski. Yes. I like, uh, bracelets. I do like bracelets. So on, on my bedroom door you have a soft, like closet with all the bracelets.
Oh, nice. Soft, like hanging. Yeah, I like watches too. That's about it. But I guess my wife is more taste than me when it comes to, uh, luxury
Sid: products. That's awesome. In, in my household. Just, you know, the favorites are earrings and necklace. Uh, I think Swarovski has some beautiful, uh, products that we have enjoyed over the years.
Well with that, Morgan, this wanna say a huge thank you to you for, for taking the time to chat with me today. Really appreciate it. Can you tell our audience where they can find you? Well, you can find
Morgan: me primarily in Paris. Uh, this is where, uh, I am based now. Uh, you can also maybe catch me in another part of the world, but mainly, mainly, uh, London and Amsterdam.
Find me on LinkedIn. Social medias. I'm not, uh, too, uh, too, uh, active. But please do reach out if you want to connect, ask any question, uh, me here anywhere. That sounds
Sid: great. Well, awesome. Thank you so much Morgan. Really appreciate it. I truly enjoyed our conversation. Thank you very much. And to all in our audience, thank you for joining and we'll see you next time on elevating Brick and Mortar.
That was Morgan Seghin from Swarovski. It was amazing to hear how Swarovski has stood the test of time and is adapting to stay ahead of the curve in the world of luxury retail. What is also amazing is to see their mission, to give back, be responsible, and contribute to the world that we live in. Consumers today expect that of the brands they love, and Swarovski understands that.
With that, I'm your host Sid Shetty, and I'll see you on the next episode of Elevating Brick and Mortar
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