Social matters
Customer satisfaction
HUGO BOSS believes that the desirability of its brands is the most important factor in the Group’s long-term success. The goal of maximizing customer satisfaction is in line with this fundamental concept. Customer satisfaction is also an important foundation for long-term customer retention. The Company therefore focuses all its activities on the customer. Customer benefit and customer satisfaction are both a benchmark and a target in all key decisions. Group Strategy
At HUGO BOSS, customer satisfaction is systematically measured and evaluated by the central department Corporate Strategy, which reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer. The Managing Board is kept regularly informed of the progress and results of the work.
Targets
Particularly in times of intense competition and increasing customer demand, the target of maximizing customer satisfaction contributes to the long-term increase in enterprise value.
Measures
Key levers for increasing customer satisfaction for HUGO BOSS include enhancing the shopping experience, further optimizing the product offering and continually improving product and service quality. In 2019, the Company invested in consistently modernizing BOSS stores, expanded its range of personalized products, and targeted its marketing activities even more directly to the customer through partnerships and collaborations. Group Strategy
Since 2019, HUGO BOSS has relied on a systematic Customer Experience Management (CEM) as an important instrument for measuring customer satisfaction. This system gathers, aggregates and evaluates feedback from customers given on a voluntary basis after they have made their purchases and makes it available to the relevant decision-makers in real time. The focus is on evaluating the shopping experience through suitable key figures such as the “Net Promoter Score” (NPS) or a five-star rating system. In 2019 all freestanding retail stores in Europe, as well as the Group’s own online stores there, were connected to the software introduced for that purpose. This allows the subjective perceptions of customers in individual stores or countries to be observed and compared in real time, for example. This is intended to allow the Company to further educate its sales staff and provide them with more targeted training in the future, or to develop specific measures to further optimize the online ordering process. HUGO BOSS plans to expand the CEM to the other regions in 2020 and to collect perspective-based feedback on the Company’s brands and products through the CEM in the future as well. Additionally, the Company uses feedback from specially trained test buyers of external service providers, an exercise known as mystery shopping. The results provide the Company with important findings about increasing customer satisfaction and are incorporated primarily in the targeted training of sales staff.
Performance indicators
When evaluating the data obtained, the NPS is an important key figure. Through customer surveys, it measures the likelihood of a customer recommending the BOSS or HUGO brands. This allows the Company to further increase the brand dynamic and customer satisfaction on the basis of objective, measurable data. A high NPS compared to the competition was once again achieved in 2019. The Group’s target is to further improve this indicator in the future.
Data protection
The aim of data protection is to guarantee the individual’s right to self-determination in terms of information. Because the business model is becoming increasingly digitized, this topic is also steadily becoming more important for HUGO BOSS. Customer data, in particular data from its own online business and the customer loyalty program, is of particularly high relevance for the future success of HUGO BOSS. The proper handling of its employees’ and business partners’ data is equally important to HUGO BOSS. Breaches of data protection laws represent an increased compliance risk. The Group aims to counter this risk using a system that complies with data protection laws and through appropriate technical and organizational measures. Risk Report, Material Organizational Risks
The central Data Protection Officer is responsible for data protection monitoring and compliance. In addition, HUGO BOSS has appointed data protection officers in the respective Group companies. The work focuses on preventive measures such as early risk identification, issue remediation and employee education. Any contraventions must be reported to the Data Protection Officer. The Managing Board is kept updated by regular data protection reports.
Targets
HUGO BOSS aims to completely rule out any contraventions of applicable data protection laws as far as possible.
Measures
The Group’s employees are educated on data protection matters through activity-related training courses, the obligation to adhere to the Code of Conduct, and a separate duty of confidentiality. In 2019, the e‑learning program, which all employees with access to a PC are required to complete regularly and which is intended to strengthen awareness of compliance rules, was extensively reworked and expanded with regard to data protection issues. The Company has additionally enacted an internal data protection policy as well as other data protection guidelines, particularly in order to guarantee the comprehensive rights of affected persons. With the EU General Data Protection Regulation now applicable, since 2018 even more focus has been placed on data protection and on the implementation of and compliance with the new changes in the law.
All internal processes and systems for processing personal data are measured on an ongoing basis and continually improved to ensure that they comply with the legal data protection guidelines. The improvements are aimed at preventing data misuse and theft. There are extensive data protection provisions for the Company’s online presence and mobile apps, for example. When legal violations have been discovered, the Company has implemented contingency plans to initiate countermeasures.
Performance indicators
In 2019, as in the prior year, the Company knew of no violations in the sense of data protection breaches that had been determined by an official authority or a court.