"Damien has a great sense of the job well done. He is looking at innovative yet pragmatic solutions that will support brand and business needs. He has a great eye and a strong sense of aesthetics, essential in the luxury business.”
Julie Thompson
Ex-CDO, Piaget
Context & Objectives
During my 10-year tenure at Piaget, including 7 years as the Global Head of Digital Experience, I oversaw the brand's complete digital ecosystem. Operating with a small, agile team, I took a highly hands-on approach to manage a 7-figure budget and ensure Piaget maintained its leadership in the competitive luxury watchmaking and jewelry market.
The main objectives were to:
- Drive Global Strategy: Lead the roadmap for Piaget.com across 32 localized sites and 11 languages, balancing premium brand image with high e-commerce performance.
- Modernize the Ecosystem: Overhaul the technical and UX foundations to create a seamless, mobile-first customer journey.
- Bridge Digital & Physical: Deploy advanced omnichannel services to connect the online experience with the physical boutiques.
Results & Impact
By being deeply involved in everything from UX/UI and technical development to SEO and data analytics, I successfully transformed Piaget’s digital presence into a benchmark for the luxury industry. Key highlights include:
- Global Platform Redesign: Led the complete overhaul of the e-commerce site, streamlining the technical architecture by reducing global CMS platforms from 6 down to just 2 (one Worldwide platform and one dedicated to China). The resulting architecture was so efficient that the Richemont Group made it the technical benchmark for other Maisons (like Jaeger-LeCoultre and IWC) to launch their own sites.
- Award-Winning UX & Campaigns: Achieved the #1 ranking for UX among luxury brands in a 2017 Accenture audit. Later, in 2021, Google recognized Piaget as the best-performing luxury website for speed, with load times successfully optimized to under 2 seconds. Furthermore, my hands-on involvement in crafting immersive experiential mini-sites for campaign launches earned the brand 10 prestigious digital design awards (including FWA and Awwwards).
- Seamless Omnichannel Deployment: Bridged the gap between e-commerce and retail by launching highly complex omnichannel features, including live in-store stock availability, boutique appointment bookings, WhatsApp integration, and seamless CRM synchronization.
- Data-Driven Growth & Analytics: Boosted organic traffic with a steady +5% YoY growth through rigorous SEO strategies. I also implemented robust tracking dashboards and continuously optimized the user journey and conversion rates using A/B testing and behavioral analytics tools like Contentsquare and AB Tasty.
- Pioneering Digital Innovation: Continuously pushed the boundaries of the luxury digital experience by leading and deploying innovative, tech-forward projects, including real-time 3D watch configurators, Augmented Reality (AR) virtual try-ons, and immersive Virtual Reality (VR) brand films.
