– 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.
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