Daniel Lalonde (born 1963)[1] is a Canadian businessperson[3] known for heading brands such as Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, SMCP Group, Nespresso[4] and Moët & Chandon.
[1] Fluent in both English and French,[8] Lalonde spent his youth in Cornwall[5][4] and attended École secondaire catholique La Citadelle[4] with aspirations to become a professional hockey player.
[5] His first major task at LVMH was to improve lagging sales for the TAG Heuer watch brand;[3] Lalonde focused on "superaffluent" markets,[5] such as the golf community in North America,[3] and redesigned the company's customer service[5] and retail strategies.
[5] Lalonde served as president and CEO of Louis Vuitton North America[10][3][11][4] from 2006[10] to 2010,[10][3] and in five years turned LV into the number one luxury brand on the market, thanks to strong strategic moves, new flagship stores, the launch of E-commerce and creative partnerships.
[10] In May 2014,[11][14][15] he became the president[6] and chief executive officer of SMCP Group (Sandro - Maje - Claudie Pierlot),[9] an internationally expanding French luxury fashion company [16][7][17] in which he also became an investor.
[4] During his first year of leading SMCP, Lalonde travelled extensively in Asia, the Middle East, the United States, and Europe,[18] with the company posting a 19.2 percent rise in sales for the first half of 2016.
[16] Under Lalonde leadership, SMCP became a leading player in accessible luxury through a global expansion and a strategic multi-channel approach including digital transformation and a publicly traded company on the Paris Stock Exchange in October 2017 with a valuation of US$2.5 billion at its IPO.
[4] In June 2019, after having reported revenues of 1 billion euros for 2018; Lalonde announced that SMCP will acquire French menswear "Accessible Luxury" label De Fursac,[19] with international expansion planned for the brand.