Samsonite Global CEO travels to 15 countries in a year; names Hong Kong and Singapore as favourite cities
Before being a CEO, Gendreau was the brand's Chief Financial Officer for about 17 years of his life which he deems as 'an active role' as he was traveling every single year, even coming out of the pandemic as soon as he could get on a plane.
Samsonite CEO Kyle Francis Gendreau was on the road for about 260 days out of the normal calendar days last year, he shared with me in a sit-down interview during a Destination Samsonite exhibition held at 72-13 Gallery. Before being a CEO, Gendreau was the brand's Chief Financial Officer for about 17 years of his life which he deems as 'an active role' as he was traveling every single year, even coming out of the pandemic as soon as he could get on a plane.
He attributes this lifestyle to personal communication: "We run this amazing company with a very small corporate centre, regionally empowered teams, and country-empowered teams. So in every country, we're operating with really amazing local leaders. And to run this business, you need to be around them. Yeah, we can do Team and Zoom calls but nothing replaces getting together with a team for a day, and having dinner or coffee in the morning," Gendreau shared.
With this amazing opportunity of being able to speak to the man himself face-to-face, I asked Gendreau about travel trends and the importance of Southeast Asian markets in terms of expansion for Samsonite.
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Yahoo Life Singapore: In what ways Samsonite is expanding in Asian territories?
Kyle Francis Gendreau: I would say across all of Asia, we still have tremendous growth opportunities. As we look at inertia growth - Asia, China, and India will still be huge pieces of our growth story. But as we get into Southeast Asia, markets like Indonesia and Malaysia are tremendous opportunities for us. But you know, we have three core brands - Samsonite, Tumi, American Tourister – and all of those brands are in different phases of growth and development.
Particularly in Asia, brick-and-mortar stores are important. But in shopping malls, corners or stores within department stores are very, very important opportunities for us, since we have a really meaningful expansion. And e-commerce is really, a game changer for lots of companies. We've been focused on that for quite a while. And you'll see tremendous growth in our digital story, both in sales and just messaging, especially marketing to our consumers. One of our real advantages is we have scale, and we can put some dollars behind telling our story for consumers in Singapore and everywhere around the world.
Younger consumers are traveling with more unstructured luxury, like the Eco Diver, which is a fully recycled backpack and duffel bag business with wheels and handles.Kyle Francis Gendreau
What are the trends that have evolved and impacted the brand and its products and design in the last decade?
Gendreau: Imagine lifestyle goods that you can bring to work that are also functional; that's one of our strengths as we're known for feature and function. We bring fashion and durability to everything we do. But imagine a fully featured bag for business, for both men and women, that incorporates the latest materials and technology. You can go to the office and you can go out after work and still be in an OK place. We're not quite handbags. If you must look stylish, you gotta look at all three brands.
What are some of the strategies the company is using to capture the younger audience?
Gendreau: Well, I'm like an older guy, so everybody's younger than me. And if you think about our brands, our real task is to continue to bring in consumers to our brands. In many ways, we have a tiered brand structure, so we can capture consumers that are just starting with maybe American Tourister, and progress in life to Samsonite, just for the price positioning. But across all the brands, luggage isn't what it used to be. It's much more colourful and fashionable now.
There's a palette that we're working on with our designers every year, and we look at what next year's trends are. When I started 17 years ago, this was a business that had black and blue luggage, and if we got really excited, we'd have a gold or red bag. Luggage was often very predictable. And over the last, I'd say 15 years, we've led the transformation, and we're the leader in many ways, ie. the types of materials you use and the colour palette. When you think about how people buy things today, they're more technically focused. When you buy a car today, the first thing people are looking at is, what's the technology.
Younger consumers are traveling with more unstructured luxury, like the Eco Diver, which is a fully recycled backpack and duffel bag business with wheels and handles. Definitely, in Asia and Europe, we're seeing this kind of transformation in our consumers. There's this post-pandemic hybrid world of working from home and there's a little bit more flexibility in the way people are working. And so in many ways, your office is moving around. We see a lot of consumers buying fitted and organised backpacks that you're bringing home and bringing it back to work and you're moving your office around with you.
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So what exactly is a day in the life of Kyle?
Gendreau: So the question is, what I love and I'm passionate about this company, but there's never one day that's the same. Here I am with you doing this interview and last week we were doing reviews with our Middle Eastern teams, meeting country teams and distributors. This is a job that brings something new, every day.
At a corporate level, you're managing that with investors, and what we're doing is to tell our story. So that's always new, changing, and moving. This is a wonderful job that has some foundation of wonderful teams. When the team and the company are so fun, it's quite easy to (manage) actually. There's something about our business that's tied to things that people enjoy doing. Even business travel is fun because it's around getting together at a conference or meeting people; and leisure travel, which there's this new appreciation for being associated with a business that's tied to things that are enjoyable in our lives.
More recently, for this responsible journey, from a sustainability and carbon footprint perspective, you should expect us to do that. We're the leader in the industry but that requires real work. And we're just getting going. We've been at it for a handful of years but if you read our Environmental, Social, and Corporate governance (ESG) report, watch what we're going to do to lower our carbon emissions and work with third-party suppliers across Asia and Europe, to help them adjust to this.
Are there plans installed to close the loop when it comes to recycling luggage?
Gendreau: We've started that in Asia – Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia – where people turn in their luggage and turn them into other things. We haven't fully closed the loop as we haven't made luggage out of luggage. The material is, you know, typically recycled polypropylene and we're turning them into coasters and planters. And I just heard, the material can be used for matting children's playground and you can kind of incorporate it back into that. But we're focused on the ability to repurpose and recycle into whatever it ends up with. So imagine designing bags that can be disassembled easily, because often in recycling, it requires some form of separation.
One of the most sustainable attributes of any product is its longevity. And we're clear that when you buy something from us and you think about Samsonite, I'm sure you'd think of durability, quality, and longevity. We have repair centres all over the globe and we will keep it going for you.
Yeah, I'd say give us five years, we're not so far away. Some of the hardside bags that we're selling today, largely incorporate recycled plastics. It will never get to 100 per cent because that's not the right answer in our collections, but a blended balance to get the kind of optimal mix of recycled content and recyclability. And I'd say this journey, we call it our responsible journey because none of these things happen overnight. Every year, you should see us make progress as we move towards our goals and targets.
Because you travel so much Kyle, what's the best destination you've been to?
Gendreau: I would say personally, I like to go to tropical destinations. I live in Boston and it has a wonderful summer, but it's very short. So I quite enjoy the Caribbean, Florida; we have a place in Florida and we try to get there in between my travel days. And so for me, I like anything that has palm trees. I tend to go through a lot of countries; I probably visit 15 countries in a year. I have favourites (pauses), I think for a long time, Hong Kong, and now that I'm spending more time in Singapore; I think they are two of the most amazing cities in the world.
I think my wife will tell you, Italy is our favourite place. I think everybody should experience countries like India, which is just tremendously growing culturally, so interesting and different than what you see in the US. And I find when I visit places I get a different cultural experience that's quite enjoyable. That is what travel is about. As people are becoming braver to travel further around the world, they're often pursuing cultural experience, foods, you know. To me, I get the benefit of traveling for a wonderful company and that's a company that's in 100 countries around the world.
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Shop these Samsonite luggage:
1. Samsonite Robez Spinner 68/25 Exp
Robez is equipped with all important features for family or casual travel, anti-theft security zipper, expander for all sizes, smooth double wheel, 3-layer trolley, both-side dividers with good lining quality applied, TSA recessed lock with USB port for cabin size. It offers matt and glossy colour options.
2. Samsonite Enwrap Spinner 55/20 Exp TSA
Inspired by a folding and wrapping concept, the Enwrap collection stands out on the carousel. Available in several modern colourways, each polycarbonate suitcase features textured detailing which prevents visible scratches. Other highlights include anti-theft zippers and TSA-approved locks.
3. Samsonite Litepoint Tablet Cross-Over 9.7"
Casual and functional, the Litepoint crossover bag is ideal for travellers who need to keep their hands free but their essentials close This meticulously crafted eco bag is lightweight with smart and functional features to store essential items for daily commute.
