Elie Saab is a Lebanese fashion designer who opened his first atelier in 1982 in Beirut. He focuses on haute couture but also expanded into ready-to-wear clothing. In the 1990s, he opened larger facilities in Beirut and Europe. By the 2000s, he had stores in Paris, London, Dubai, and elsewhere. While haute couture made up most sales initially, ready-to-wear became more popular over time. The company must address declining interest in haute couture and increasing competition in ready-to-wear through tactics like expanding product lines and markets, particularly in Asia, and promoting through celebrity endorsements and online sales.

1. ELLE SAAB
CASE STUDY

2. ABOUT SAAB
 Born in Beirut
 Developed an interest of dress making in early age
 At age nine, he made clothes of his sisters with the use of
curtains and table clothes
 Opened his first atelier in Beirut in 1982
 Began designing luxurious evening gowns and wedding
dresses

3. AS A DESIGNER
 Focused on Haute Couture
 In the 1990s, moved to a larger atelier in Beirut and organized
exclusive fashion shows in Europe
 Opened a salon and showroom in Paris in 2000 and a flagship
store in Paris opened in March 2007
 ES opened its first U.K. boutique at Harrods in July 2008
 In June 2010, he opened its first flagship store in Dubai’s
prestigious Dubai Mall

4. GOAL OF THE COMPANY
"Attract, select and maintain customers who place
significance on high-end, one-of-a-kind designs made
from the finest fabrics and materials”

5. EXHIBITS
 Exhibit 2 highlights the quantity of millionaires by country
 World’s high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) grew 17% to 10
million in 2009 despite a contraction in world gross domestic
product (GDP).
 The highest change is shown in Australia while other important
figure to be mentioned is 23.8% in United Kingdom
 Exhibit 3 shows the public relation and marketing expense as
percentage of sale of year 2008. The highest amount is 87.4% of
Fashion Shows, which means that highest number of
advertisement is done through fashion shows

6.  Exhibit 4 shows that in 2006 Haute Couture; the highly
personalized and customized product of the brand made the
major chunk of the sales revenue making 60 percent of the
sales as compared to 40 percent made by ready to wear (RTW)
and accessories.
 After 2006 there was a change in the break-up of the sales
revenue as RTW brought in higher sales as compared to Haute
Couture
 In 2007 RTW accounted for 54 percent of the total sales
whereas Haute Couture made 46 percent and the following
year that is 2008, RTW made 59 percent and Haute Couture 41
percent

7. Strengths
 Well established brand.
 Direct ownership of stores (except for Dubai)
 One of the few certified couture house
Weaknesses
 Weak presence in multi brand shops
 Specifically restricted to luxury clothing line
 Poor Current Ratio
 Still low sales in Asia and Russia

8. Opportunities
 Rise in high-net-worth-individuals (HNWI)
 Immense potential in Asia (Increasing number of millionaires)
 Online sale of RTW
Threats
 Decline in Haute Couture
 Tapping the affluent
middle class
 Changing clothing trends
 To mix luxury and affordability
 Casual dressing on the rise
 Upcoming competitors in RTW line

9. PROBLEMS
 Change in trends
 In US, ladies endorsed the brand by wearing couture day wear
to luncheons, parties and events while women in the Middle
east and Russia did not showcase these dresses thus defeating
the purpose of advertisement through word of mouth
 Change in preferences and trends which were changing from
class unique handmade clothing to clothing line which was
more casual
 Competitors were shifting into the ready to wear field and
giving tough time to the company

10. SOLUTIONS
 The industry is facing a downward trend and this is an external
factor to ES, thus combating this fall requires an extra effort.
 Opening a slightly less extravagant line, within the existing
haute couture line, can provide a cushion with the new line
 On the ready to wear part, the company can beat other new
competitors by increasing its volume as it is offering its ready
to wear line at selected places only

11.  There was an upsurge in HNWI from year 2008 to
2009, especially in China, where millionaires grew by 31%
from 2008 to 2009. Thus, China is a lucrative market for ES to
tap
 ES should also adopt an online business model for the RTW
line. Prospective customers should be able to buy select RTW
things online
 There is a shift in trend from luxury clothing to more casual
clothing where Customers nowadays are well informed and
seek value for money in every purchase; hence ES should seek
to expand his RTW line

12. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Since Elie Saab is planning for further expansion both globally
and their product portfolio they need to be extra cautious about it
because the brand name is at stake

Asian market serves as a potential interest but there are number of
other factors that have to be considered including the distribution
channel

As far as the product portfolio is concerned the management
should keep adding products but they need to keep Haute Couture
as their core product since the brand is known from this highly
customized premium offering

From an advertising perspective the company should make more
use of celebrity endorsements to further enhance its image as a
premium product

13. THANK YOU