BazarChic is entering a new stage by appointing Émilie de Fautereau as managing director, bringing more than two decades of experience in brand transformation, digital development, and business turnaround to the French e-commerce retailer.
AA Investments bought BazarChic about a year ago and the company is now seeking to speed up its transformation and enhance its position with both its customers and its partner brands.
De Fautereau’s responsibilities extend beyond ordinary management; she will focus on making BazarChic more appealing to customers, strengthening relationships with brands, and putting the business on a more sustainable path for future growth.
As De Fautereau pointed out, BazarChic has earned genuine goodwill from both its customers and its partner brands. His present aim is to accelerate the company’s transformation while increasing its desirability to achieve sustainable growth.
De Fautereau has a career that has involved consumer brands, technology-led businesses, and companies undergoing significant change.Her earlier experience included leading the turnaround and digital transformation of Oasis and Schweppes, and she then joined Meetic Europe / Match Group,
where she was vice president of brand and consumer for Europe, with responsibility for brand strategy within a major consumer platform.
She then entered the technology and insurance industries, serving as chief marketing and growth officer at Leocare before assuming a general management position at Aliive Groupe.
The combination of skills in marketing, growth, and operational leadership might prove especially relevant for BazarChic as it aims to rebuild its momentum in a highly competitive online retail market.
The change in leadership is also occurring under a difficult financial situation.
Until August 2025, BazarChic was owned by the Galeries Lafayette Group, and during that period its turnover declined over several financial years, falling from 51 million euros in 2022 to 38.6 million euros in 2024, as stated in the published figures.
The company’s weak financial position makes it all the more important to have a clear strategy for turning things around. The most recent financial year ended with a net loss of nearly €10 million and the debt was about €45 million.
De Fautereau’s task will therefore be to achieve a balance between transformation and commercial performance; in order to regain growth BazarChic will need to improve its customer proposition, maintain its strong brand partnerships and establish a more efficient business model.
Despite its financial difficulties, BazarChic enters this new chapter with something that is difficult for an online retailer to build from scratch: an established customer base and relationships with recognised brands.
The comments made by De Fautereau indicate that the company plans to leverage its existing goodwill rather than pursue growth at any cost.
This appointment is significant for BazarChic, as the new owners are now aiming to restructure the business. It will be seen in the coming time whether her experience in brand development and business transformation can lead to renewed momentum for the retailer.
With BazarChic, the aim is clearly to convert existing customer and brand loyalty into a more durable business for the years to come.
