Sup de Luxe Paris launches new courses to cater to booming luxury market

By 2025, the luxury management and marketing school Sup de Luxe in Paris will have 750 students, half of whom will be foreign students

Sup de Luxe, the first business school dedicated to the luxury industry in France, has unveiled an ambitious roadmap to prepare and train for the new challenges of the sector, with the target of increasing its student intake from 600 to 750 and to enhance the share of international students to 50 pc of the total, up from the current 33 pc.

At a press conference held in Paris recently, the plan for the next three years was shared by Thibaut de La Rivière, Director of Sup de Luxe, and Anne Flogny, Deputy Director in charge of Development, shared the new strategic plan of the institute with the goal of confirming its leadership position in luxury management and marketing education.

Saying that 2022 has been a year of paradoxes for the luxury industry, Thibaut de La Rivière added that the markets experienced a new positive momentum, initiated in part by a change in luxury clientele and their needs. The luxury market had a spectacular year in 2022, growing to a record high of Eur 312 billion, rising from Eur 288 billion in 2021 and almost 50 pc bigger than the Eur 220 billion that the industry clocked in the pandemic-stricken year 2020.

The sharp spike was largely based on a boom in the United States, which became the leading luxury customers, thus dethroning China. The growth in the US was due to an increase in the share of Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWI) consuming locally and even more importantly due to an increase in generations Y and Z that has expanded the historical portfolio of older consumers of the luxury industry.

According to a study by consultancy firm Bain & Company, the expenses of Generation Z and Generation Alpha will increase approximately three times faster than for other generations by 2030 and together they will constitute a third of the market.

Thibaut de La Rivière said that for the industry to continue on its high growth path, it is crucial to have well-trained and adequately qualified managers. “If luxury brands are doing so well, it is thanks to their managers who know how to question themselves and adapt. This transformation of customers is accompanied not only by changes in purchasing behaviour, but also by expectations vis-à-vis the values displayed and carried by luxury brands, which is excellence, emotion, experience, quality and ethics,’’ de La Rivière told the press.

He added that excellence, the flagship value of luxury, was always linked to exceptional quality service, whether face-to-face or online. ‘‘More than ever, brands must highlight their craftsmanship and the use of high quality materials. The purchase of a luxury product must also provide emotions, which go through an aesthetic adapted to the codes of the new generations. In their purchasing process, customers also want to have a unique, immersive and entertaining experience. Increasingly important, ethics has become essential. Luxury brands are required to display their commitment to diversity, inclusiveness and sustainability,’’ he told the media.

Keeping pace with the developments in the luxury goods market, Sup de Luxe says it has designed several programmes to train the managers of tomorrow and enable them to meet the challenges being faced by the companies. ‘‘In response to the expectations of luxury brands and Maisons, we have chosen to develop a new programme dedicated to CSR and sustainable development, integrated in a specialisation format into our Luxury Brand Marketing & International Management MBA, in order to expand and update this programme which has been our success for 33 years,’’ de La Rivière said.

Anne Flogny says that since 2022, the institute has been organising multiple round tables with experts, circular economy, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development to make all students more aware of these major themes. She added that with Eur 33 billion in sales in 2021, the second-hand market is growing four times faster than the new market. ‘‘Aware of this issue, Sup de Luxe is currently developing a book on the circular economy under the supervision of Stanislas de Quercize, which will be joined by experts in the matter, including alumni of the institute,’’ she said.

To strengthen international exchanges, Sup de Luxe offers a dual programme with La Sorbonne which introduces foreign students to the French language and culture, while raising their awareness of the luxury business. Far from stopping there, a partnership has also been signed with the fashion school Polimoda, located in Florence in Italy.

‘‘We want our MSc students to discover the creative professions and Italian know-how thanks to a seminar integrated into their training course. Our collaboration will soon expand with a co-developed programme, skilfully mixing French luxury and Italian creation,’’ she said.

‘‘For the next few years, the ambition of the institute is to remain ever closer to luxury players, to innovate and constantly adapt its programmes to train professionals in line with developments and challenges in the sector,’’ she added.