Introduction
Two Iconic Brands. One Canadian Market. Built From Scratch.
Varo Global Home is a Vancouver luxury home and lifestyle business. When I joined as Sales and Business Development Director the company was moving into the luxury segment and needed the commercial infrastructure, the brand partnerships and the sales channels built from nothing.
Over eleven months I launched more than 130 SKUs across six luxury product lines into North America: liquor, luxury Italian lifestyle goods, coffee and hot chocolate, furniture, faucets and ceramics. Each line meant qualifying and managing a different Italian vendor inside the brand owner's guidelines. I also set up and managed the luxury retail store in downtown Vancouver that presented the full range in one place, and grew its visits by 80% in seven months with marketing I designed and measured myself.
How I Built It — Five Pillars of Luxury Brand Commercial Execution
Secured the Tonino Lamborghini partnership, then hit the volume target set by Formitalia, the Italian group that manufactures the furniture line. Because Formitalia also holds the Aston Martin furniture licence, they extended that exclusivity to Varo as well. The second partnership was not negotiated; it was granted on results.
Two international brand partnerships, one earned on performance
Expanded the portfolio in stages, liquor first, then coffee and hot chocolate, then lifestyle, then home materials, with a different Italian vendor qualified and managed at each stage. 130+ SKUs live in North America inside eleven months.
Six product lines, six vendors, one brand standard
Built 15+ trade and commercial accounts across three segments: liquor through BC Liquor Stores, with the listing won through a BCLDB tender; food and beverage through selected cafes and specialty retailers; and interior designers, developers and luxury home retailers for furniture, ceramics and faucets.
Three routes to market
Managed the downtown Vancouver retail location. A new luxury store carrying a name nobody in Vancouver associated with furniture or coffee had an awareness problem, not a conversion problem, so instead of buying local advertising I borrowed audiences that already existed: influencers matched segment by segment to the product lines, Vancouver Fashion Week, and luxury car events chosen for the Lamborghini name. Showroom visits rose 80% in seven months, measured from three tracked sources: names logged at the door, online bookings through a system I built, and phone bookings.
A store that people found
Implemented Square as the commerce and point-of-sale platform, built the ecommerce site, and built the online booking system that handled designer, developer and trade appointments. Led and coached a team of ten.
The commercial systems, built in-house
130+ SKUs across six luxury product lines launched into North America
01
Tonino Lamborghini and Aston Martin furniture partnerships, the second earned on performance against Formitalia's own target
02
Showroom visits +80% in seven months, measured from three tracked sources
03
15+ trade and commercial accounts across three segments, including a BC Liquor Stores listing won through a BCLDB tender
04
Square, ecommerce site and booking system built and implemented in-house