– 11 –

the East Coast, California was affected

in turn. Fortunately, other markets have

held up well, such as South America and

Canada. The relaunch lasted three years!

I was able to resume my core mission,

but we started again differently and that

is the magic of the USA!

How has the crisis changed the situation?

Antoine Roset : The crisis has allowed

many industries, including ours, to

reinvent distribution through the

online sale of products. Gradually,

the situation stabilized and we found

investors and stores, which has allowed

us to modernize and computerize our

networks and processes.

Is it now possible to order Ligne Roset

products online?

Antoine Roset : This is currently the

case in the USA, Germany, England

and France. We have also put in place

solutions adapted to each country:

American customers are less sensitive

to the price, but they want the products

to be delivered tomorrow. So we

have created 4 QuickShip distribution

points in the United States, providing

immediate access to a stock of some

best sellers. Those can be delivered in

10-15 business days.

Is online marketing promising?

Antoine Roset : It is an efficient service

based on our network of points of sale.

When a customer orders online, they

are immediately put in contact with the

closest showroom, which will follow up on

their order. Even in online sales, we favor

human contact.

Wh ere are your stores located in the

United States?

Antoine Roset : We have two in

Manhattan and we have stores in Chicago,

Boston and Miami and on the West

Coast, in Los Angeles and San Francisco,

among other places. In all, we have about

thirty stores in the US and fifteen others,

including in Latin America and Canada.

What else have you developed across the

Atlantic?

Antoine Roset : In 2015, I launched the

Contract department in the USA. Major

hotel groups, mostly American, have

begun to invest in the renovation of their

establishments with interior designers

in search of quality manufacturers. Our

distributors brought us new markets. This is

how we developed Ligne Roset Contract

in the United States with Max Flageollet.

How did the market respond to that

department?

Antoine Roset : From the start, we took

on some great projects as part of the

design of the Exxon Mobile headquarters

in Calgary, Canada. We then expanded

our expertise by producing office

furniture for large firms and the facilities

of several restaurants, such as that of the

Saks Fifth Avenue department store.

American architects and developers

are very interested in the quality of

our products and the flexibility of our

digitized industrial tool. We invite them

regularly to visit us in Ain to discover

our factory, where the most advanced

technology meets the craft, which are

the spearheads of our creativity. We are

actually continuing in the twenty-first

century the industrial adventure started

two centuries ago by our ancestors.

9

R

E

P

O

R

T

A

G

E