Managing Director & Senior Partner
Munich
Javier Seara joined Boston Consulting Group in 2004. He is a core member of the firm’s Consumer and Marketing, Sales & Pricing practices. In 2007, he supported the Washington office as a BCG Ambassador. He also leads BCG’s global work in fashion and luxury.
Javier’s client work at BCG covers all steps of the value chain in fashion and apparel retail. It includes brand identity and repositioning, shopping experience, product development, and sourcing. In his role as sector lead, Javier supports teams around the world on reorganization projects for fashion brands and on growth strategies for top multibrand-apparel retailers. He works extensively with private-equity companies on acquisitions, both sell and buy sides.
Before joining BCG, Javier pursued a scientific career. He worked at Technical University Munich as a research assistant in the department of robotics and at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics as a researcher in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak, the largest German fusion device.
Taking the right approach can complement the sales of new goods, reinforce a brand’s value, and provide critical access to future consumers.
Facing a disrupted consumer environment, F&L brands need to likewise disrupt their usual approach, by planning sales strategies more than a year in advance.
Our changing times and changing consumer attitudes are redefining “luxury,” pushing brands to rethink every aspect of their business.
Recovery from the COVID-19 crisis requires a radical business redesign. Brands must cut operating costs, boost e-commerce, and invest for the future.
The pandemic could lead to a drop in 2020 fashion and luxury sales of up to $600 billion—more than in the recession. The industry will recover, though different regions will bound back at different rates.
Companies need to act now to mitigate the damage to sales from the pandemic, including minimizing costs and shifting to e-commerce.
Brands and retailers have traditionally relied on rules of thumb for determining their sales programs, but today’s technology offers a better way.
The industry’s aggressive push toward sustainability creates a multibillion-dollar opportunity for investors.
How ready are retailers and fashion brands in Switzerland, Germany and Austria when it comes to advanced analytics and artificial intelligence? A joint BCG/Google-study shows that 74% of them have tests in place - but only 8% are ready to fully leverage it.
While many fashion brands talk the talk when it comes to digital marketing, few truly walk the walk. But companies have a lot to gain by taking digital capabilities from basic to state of the art, including an average 15% increase in revenues.