“Ferragamo’s digital-first pivot, direct-to-consumer growth lift Q3 amid global headwinds”

Luxury brand Ferragamo reported a 1.7% year-on-year increase in net sales (at constant exchange rates) for the third quarter of 2025, reaching about €221 million.
While modest, this was a meaningful improvement from the prior quarter’s double‐digit decline of around 11.8%.
On the downside, for the first nine months of the year the group’s revenue is still down (~4.5%) to €695 million.

Key drivers & strategic moves

• The strong region was North America, where sales rose 15.6%.
• In contrast, Asia–Pacific saw a decline of 10.5%, and Japan fell 5.4%.
• In Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) the growth was modest at 2.8%, and South & Central America grew 4.7%.
• A highlight: the direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel grew 4.4% in Q3, driven by gains in North America, Europe and Latin America. Meanwhile, the wholesale channel fell by 6.7%.
• The company has undertaken a strategic review (design, product, distribution alignment) and is refocusing on its core product categories (footwear & leather goods) and a “digital-first marketing approach”.

Strategic implications

1. Emphasis on DTC & digital marketing: The growth in DTC despite wholesale weakness suggests Ferragamo is shifting its revenue model away from traditional wholesale‐led channels and toward owning the retail/customer interface. This enables higher margin, better brand control, and more direct data on consumers.
2. Geographic flexibility: Success in North America indicates the brand’s ability to perform well in a mature luxury market amid global macro headwinds, while the weakness in Asia signals that exposure to regional dynamics (currency, demand softness, tourism flows) remains a risk.
3. Product and category focus: By honing in on footwear and leather goods (which may yield stronger growth/profitability) and aligning design/marketing/distribution, the brand is trying to simplify its value proposition and become more agile.
4. Marketing repositioning: A “digital-first” approach is explicitly mentioned — it likely means heavier investment in online channels, e-commerce, data analytics, and possibly fewer investments in slow‐moving offline channels.
5. Cautious optimism: While Q3 improvement is a positive signal, the full-year performance remains under pressure; the nine-month decline shows recovery is still incomplete.

What to watch

• Whether Ferragamo can sustain the DTC growth, and whether its wholesale channel can stabilize or evolve.
• Whether the Asia/Pacific weakness reverses as consumer/tourist flows recover — many luxury brands depend heavily on Asia.
• Whether increased digital marketing expenditure and DTC emphasis will translate to improved margins, not just top‐line growth.
• Competitive dynamics: how other luxury brands are pivoting (some may invest heavily in marketing, others may cut back), and whether Ferragamo’s repositioning gives it a distinctive edge.
• Macro‐economic and currency risks: global slowdown, inflation, weaker demand in key markets remain headwinds.

Why this matters beyond luxury fashion

This story reflects broader themes relevant to many businesses (B2B or B2C):

• Shifting from wholesale/indirect channels toward direct consumer relationships (DTC) to capture higher value and better data.
• The importance of modernising marketing (digital-first) in order to remain competitive in a changing environment.
• Geographic diversification: strong performance in one region may offset weakness in another, but exposure to under‐performing regions still matters.
• Strategic clarity: focusing on core categories/products often helps simplify operations and improve brand coherence.
• The lag between strategy execution and bottom-line performance: improving trends today may take more time to fully manifest in annual results.