Kering appoints Grégory Boutté as Chief Client & Digital Officer

Kering, the French holding group has appointed Grégory Boutté as its new Chief Client and Digital Officer, with immediate effect (December 4).

The fashion company owns brands like Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Brioni, Gucci, Puma, Volcom, Saint Laurent Paris and other luxury, sport and lifestyle brands.

The appointment of Boutté has come as a counter move against LVMH which roped in Ian Rogers, former Apple Music Executive, to formulate digital media strategies last year.

In his new role, Boutté will be responsible for the development of e-commerce, CRM and data management at Kering. He will report to Jean-François Palus, Managing Director of Kering and will also be a member of the Group’s Executive Committee.

The 45-year-old Boutté started his career at Procter & Gamble in Paris. Later he served as the General Manager of eBay France, now a popular e-commerce platform in France.

Boutté is a graduate from ESCP Europe and has also been associated with ride-sharing platform Sidecar and Udemy, an online learning platform, previously.

Kering aims to strengthen its digital platform. Boutté’s addition to the company will play a key role.

Rivals like LVMH are already moving ahead in this direction as digital or e-commerce is driving the business forward for many of the fashion companies.

It remains to be seen what new strategies Boutté would devise to take Kering forward.