DFS Group puts Catherine Newey in charge of Europe

A change at the top for DFS Europe. Catherine Newey, head of Parisian department store Le Bon Marché, has been named managing director of the European subsidiary of the DFS group, LVMH’s travel retail business. She succeeds Eléonore de Boysson, “who has decided, after twenty-five years with the LVMH group, to pursue other opportunities outside the group.” Elodie Abrial, currently in charge of women’s fashion at Le Bon Marché, is taking over from Newey, and has been promoted to the role of head of sales at the Parisian department store.
 

Newey will assume her new role on June 17, reporting to Benjamin Vuchot, CEO of the DFS Group. She will be tasked with “setting the strategic direction of the [DFS group’s] European business, and elevating the customer experience,” LVMH stated in an internal memo.
 
A marketing graduate from Paris Dauphine University and the ECSP-EAP business school, Newey has extensive experience in the luxury and retail sectors. She began her career in 1997 at cosmetics giant L’Oréal, as assistant product manager make-up and perfumes for the Lancôme brand. A year later, she joined the Printemps department store, then owned by PPR (which later became Kering), as product manager for the watches category. She climbed the department store’s hierarchy until she was promoted deputy head of purchasing in 2012.

In 2014, she joined LVMH, first as head of accessories purchasing at Louis Vuitton, then moving to Le Bon Marché in 2017. She was the department store’s head of sales before assuming overall control, tasked with boosting the brand’s market position.

“Catherine is the perfect profile to lead our European business and our shopping centres, La Samaritaine [in Paris] and Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice. I am convinced that her strong sense of leadership will enable DFS to achieve new milestones,” said Vuchot.

Newey’s appointment seems to have been dictated by the need to give new impetus to DFS Europe, and especially to its two prestigious shopping centres, neither of which has really taken off. The DFS group has been penalised by the Covid pandemic, which paralysed air travel and tourism.