“My first few months at Burberry have reaffirmed my belief that this is an extraordinary luxury brand—quintessentially British, equal parts heritage and innovation. Our original purpose, designing clothing to protect people from the weather, remains more relevant than ever. Our recent underperformance stemmed from several factors, including inconsistent brand execution and a lack of focus on our core outerwear category and key customer segments. Today, we are acting with urgency to course-correct, stabilize the business, and position Burberry for sustainable, profitable growth. We have a powerful brand with broad appeal, authority in the outerwear and scarf categories—both of which have remained resilient during this period—and a strong presence in all key luxury markets. We now have a clear framework to reignite brand desire, improve performance, and drive long-term value creation. With our strong foundations, I am confident that Burberry’s best days lie ahead.”
Joshua Schulman
Chief Executive Officer
Burberry Forward, the strategic plan designed to reignite brand desire, enhance performance, and drive long-term value creation.
In this next phase, the focus is on reconnecting the brand with its original purpose, leveraging the strengths with a disciplined approach, and offering a range of products that will appeal to a broad base of luxury customers.
STRATEGY UPDATE
Burberry announces Burberry Forward, a strategic plan designed to reignite brand desire, improve performance, and drive long-term value creation. In this next phase, our focus will be on reconnecting the brand with its original purpose and leveraging our strengths to attract a broad base of luxury customers through a disciplined and strategic approach.
Burberry is a highly differentiated luxury brand, with a unique heritage and authority in core categories like outerwear and scarves. Over the past several years, Burberry strayed too far from their core, leading to disappointing results. The brand expression prioritized modernity at the expense of celebrating their heritage. The brand introduced unfamiliar brand codes and signifiers, while their product offerings leaned too heavily on seasonal fashion trends with a niche aesthetic that overshadowed their timeless core collections. As the brand pursued brand elevation, particularly in leather goods, their pricing did not always align with the category authority. This misalignment led to a narrower focus on a limited customer base, weakening their appeal to a broader audience.
Despite this, Burberry has all the attributes to be a high-performing luxury brand. The brand have the opportunity to excel where their authenticity is strongest. From their inspirational founder, who created practical yet stylish solutions for his time, to a product category that still resonates today, they have the foundation for sustained success. The brand authority, iconic codes, and global awareness are unmatched in the industry, positioning them to reclaim market share and further solidify their competitive advantage.
Today’s luxury customer values authenticity more than ever, and as the only British luxury brand with such strong foundations, Burberry is uniquely positioned to leverage these assets and appeal to a wide range of luxury consumers.
BURBERRY FORWARD: BRAND’S FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE VALUE CREATION
Timeless British Luxury
- Juxtapose heritage and innovation across all customer touchpoints.
- Balance seasonal fashion campaigns with those celebrating brand’s outerwear authority.
- Capture British wit and style, blending recognisable London imagery with the British countryside.
- Lead with outerwear while expanding authority into other categories.
- Align pricing with category authority.
- Celebrate iconic brand codes and ensure recognisable brand signifiers.
- Rebalance the product offer by making fewer, but more substantial investments.
- Align distribution with their product and customer strategy.
Operational Efficiency and Performance
- Increase store productivity through the amplification of core categories.
- Optimise brand presence in wholesale and outlet channels.
- Improve e-commerce functionality and rebalance product assortment and styling.
- Foster a high-performance culture and enhance capabilities.
- Drive organisational clarity and rebuild executional discipline.
- Leverage data-driven decision-making alongside creativity and intuition.
The delivery of this plan will be facilitated by greater alignment between their commercial and creative teams, ensuring that the customer remains at the heart of everything they do. They are reviving a high-performance culture underpinned by a focus on productivity, simplification, and financial discipline.
While there is much to be done in the short term, they are acting with urgency. The brands is confident that it can reach the goal of generating £3 billion in annual revenue over time, while rebuilding margins and driving strong cash generation.
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS
Over the past 90 days, Burberry have implemented several immediate actions to reset the brand and enhance customer engagement:
- Launched the “It’s Always Burberry Weather” outerwear campaign and the “Wrapped in Burberry” festive campaign to reset the brand perception.
- Evolved in-store visual merchandising to highlight outerwear and scarves, including the global rollout of Scarf Bars at our flagship on 57th Street, New York.
- Updated online styling to appeal to a broader range of luxury customers and launched a Virtual Scarf Try-On feature.
- Appointed new leaders across Marketing, Product Merchandising and Planning, and the Americas, while introducing new working methodologies to create a blend of creative and commercial success.
- Initiated a cost-saving program expected to deliver annualised savings of approximately £40 million (£25 million to be realised in FY25).
- Accelerated efforts to address inventory overhang and restore product scarcity.
FY25 OUTLOOK
Brand is acting with urgency to stabilise the business and position Burberry for sustainable, profitable growth, supported by strong cash generation and a healthy balance sheet. While brand is confident that the strategic plan will improve the performance and drive long-term value creation, the immediate future remains uncertain due to macroeconomic challenges and the importance of the upcoming festive trading period. It is too early to determine whether the second-half results will fully offset the first-half adjusted operating loss.
