Leveraging technology to support our quest for excellence

Let me start by stating the obvious. 酩悦·轩尼诗-路易·威登集团 is not, nor does it want to be, a tech company. For us, technology and innovation are means to an end: supporting our businesses and helping them improve their performance.?

Our tech teams work hand-in hand with our businesses and Maisons, with a high degree of agility, to craft the solutions (products, platforms, apps…) that they need to enhance the luxury experience for their clients, sustain the desirability of their brands?for our clients, talents or partners?and?obviously?demonstrate exemplary leadership.?

Co-creation is essential. We rely on a vast and growing ecosystem of partners that includes both Tech Giants –?such as Salesforce,?Apple, Cegid, Google Cloud, Microsoft,?Tencent,?SAP, NvidiaOpenAI, Epic Games… – and?smart?innovative?startups to accelerate our process of technological innovation and take it to the next level.?

We are constantly strengthening our relationships with this?ecosystem?of tech players, finding more agile and impactful ways to collaborate, bolstering synergies, and forging new partnerships. Case in point: just yesterday, LVMH announced?the renewal of our?partnership with AlibabaGroup.com to further the Group’s business and tech presence in China thanks to Alibaba’s Cloud, Data, AI and GenAI solutions.?

And when it comes to sourcing innovative startups, the LVMH Innovation Award is a major asset. Over the years, we’ve identified through this contest many startups?with great value potential for our Maisons. Selecting these promising startups?is?only the first step: our goal, with each of them, is to build a long-lasting and fruitful relationship. We nurture them,?help?them?develop and grow. Today, alumni such as Bambuser , SimpliField Retail Tomorrow #SRT , Alcmeon and Booxi are all collaborating with 10+ LVMH Maisons with great success. ?

The 2024?LVMH Innovation Award received a record number of 1,545 applications from startups all-over the world in six key categories: Image & Media for Brand Desirability, Operations Excellence, Omnichannel & Retail, Immersive Digital Experience, Sustainability & Greentech, and Employee Experience, Diversity & Inclusion.?This year’s?Grand Winner, FancyTech , was revealed today at VivaTech. FancyTech’s?cutting-edge?GenAI solution?is able to turn?product?images into stunning video in no time,?making the process of creating product videos much simpler and faster.?It?is?already being used by several Maisons within the Group.?You can?see it in action?in LVMH’s?VivaTech?booth,?the Dream Garden. ?

GenAI itself has been the talk of the town since the end of 2022,?and it’s understandably one of the main themes of VivaTech 2024. When GenAI – which?is a subsection of AI – started making waves, LVMH had already spent three years building strong foundations in Data and?AI:?signing a partnership with Google Cloud in 2021, developing and implementing data platforms?within?our Maisons, setting up algorithms to support personalization, supply chain efficiency, sales?forecasting and much more. We had also been training?and developing talents to ensure they?acquired?the Data and AI literacy skills needed to thrive in this new tech environment.?

All this to say that when GenAI?came into?the spotlight?with OpenAI launch of ChatGPT, we were able to benefit from our work on Data and AI to quickly build up our expertise and move forward.?We?managed?for instance?to introduce MaIA, LVMH’s secure ChatGPT environment, as early as?2023.?

GenAI presents many opportunities for our businesses, from enhancing customer experience to hyper-personalized marketing content generation, from improving the efficiency and productivity of our legal and finance departments to supporting the vision of our creative teams, and beyond.That said, it bears repeating?that human creativity is and will remain the cornerstone of every LVMH product:?AI and?GenAI?are?complementary tools to fuel and inspire our creative directors,?designers?and visual merchandisers.?This why this year?LVMH asked its iconic Maison 迪奥 to come up with creative trophies exploiting the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence.?Many of our?Maisons?have already embraced these technologies with open arms, crafting innovative, high-impact solutions. ?Some of these can be seen and experienced during VivaTech, like the one from Christian Dior Couture, which shows how?the Maison?harnesses the power of Data, AI and GenAI to interact more effectively with customers, make better sales forecasts and inventory allocation, create stunning window displays…

Sephora?is also present with its SEPHORA Look Analysis, a GenAI powered skin analysis tool that takes into account the customer’s unique features to provide personalized makeup looks and product recommendations.?

Another particularly noteworthy example?shown at VivaTech?is?the one?of Loro Piana ,?with?two innovations?covering?the entire value chain. First, Loro Piana Silhouette, an interactive experience that leverages GenAI to create a digital representation of your body, asks you what look you’d like to achieve, and then suggests the Loro Piana garments best suited to you.?

Second, Loro Piana’s Digital Product Passport,?powered by the Aura Blockchain Consortium, which?authenticates?and traces?the most precious and finest materials used by the Maison, such as the Gift of Kings merino wool and the Master of Linen certified linen.?Loro Piana is also working closely with Save your wardrobe, last year’s LVMH Innovation Award winner, to enrich its After Care Services, thus enhancing the clients’ luxury experience and making its exceptional products?more sustainable.?

While we’re on the subject of sustainability, a word about Green Tech.?The Group IT hasembarked on an ambitious Green IT initiative. Back in December 2023 at the LIFE 360 summit, our Maisons have pledged to reduce their tech-related carbon footprint by 20% by the end of 2026.

As part of our commitment to exemplary leadership, we’ve?also?taken a proactive?approach?to advancing Women?in Tech. It’s?no secret that tech is still a male-dominated industry.?We’re working on closing the gender gap through initiatives such as LVMH Women in Tech,?which is?dedicated to providing more and better opportunities for women within and at the helm of our tech teams.?It’s?also?worth noting that among the 18 LVMH Innovation Award startup finalists, 44% were founded or co-founded by women. ??

Today, together with our ecosystem of startups and big tech players, we are more determined than ever to accelerate our tech transformation?to better serve?the performance of our businesses.?Enter the LVMH Dream Garden at VivaTech to witness how technology and innovation support our Maisons’ quest for excellence.?

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