duPont REGISTRY On Creating a Luxury, Auto and Tech Ecosystem

NARRATOR: Welcome to TD Cowen Insights, a space that brings leading thinkers together to share insights and ideas shaping the world around us. Join us as we converse with the top minds who are influencing our global sectors.
OLIVER CHEN: Welcome to the Retail Visionary podcast series, a podcast about visionary ideas and people. My name is Oliver Chen. I'm TD Cowen's new platform's retail and luxury analyst. In this episode, we explore the DuPont Registry Group, the world's leading luxury automotive ecosystem that encapsulates the culture, community, and commerce on the high end automotive lifestyle.
For more than 40 years, DuPont has served as a trusted advisor to the vibrant, global community of members looking to buy and sell luxury vehicles. Today, we're excited to feature Dupont's chief executive officer, Antoine Tessier.
Prior to joining DuPont in 2023, he spent 12 years with the LVMH group, most recently as the chief technology officer of LVMH Americas, where he spearheaded strategic initiatives, fostered a dynamic and inclusive culture, and consistently delivered exceptional results.
And before that, he worked at Louis Vuitton for over 10 years, ascending to multiple roles including director of digital and retail. Antoine, it's a pleasure to have you here.
ANTOINE TESSIER: Pleasure to be here, Oliver.
OLIVER CHEN: Antoine, so DuPont Registry has become a definitive destination for luxury and exotic car buyers. What is DuPont Registry do today and how has your vision evolved regarding the entire DuPont Registry ecosystem?
ANTOINE TESSIER: Yeah. Thank you, Oliver. So the group was created in 2023, and at the inception of the group, there is amazing brands that have one thing in common is that they talk to the passionate car collectors and car enthusiasts.
Among those brands are Flagship DuPont Registry has been created in 1985, and it's been for the past 40 years the go to platform for luxury car buyers and luxury car sellers to find the products they love.
We're now transforming a set of brands that are producing engaging amazing content, amazing experiences. We're transforming their experience with a lot of digital innovation, so that they can now fulfill their passion online. And we're seeing tremendous success so far.
OLIVER CHEN: Antoine, what would you say the DuPont Registry brand stands for and what are your customers like? It's a highly engaged community.
ANTOINE TESSIER: Yeah, the consumers and the people in our ecosystem are extremely engaged. Why? Because they're looking for something they want, not something they need. And we want to nurture their passion and to fulfill their passion.
To me, DuPont Registry stands for one thing, which is trust. The one thing that we have and that all of our clients are telling us is that they trust the brand. And when you want to build a digital platform and a digital brand, you need that trust, especially when you're selling a $4 million Bugatti. In those transactions, you're not able to test drives. You're not able to touch those cars.
So when you put a product online for $4 million, there's someone who's going to buy needs to trust the brand behind. And that's the one thing we have across all of our group. All the brands that we have, they're trusted by our consumers.
OLIVER CHEN: And Antoine, what is the group like? What's the composition of the business? I was at your car show with you and learned a lot, and it was highly experiential. But what's the snapshot of the group and the different businesses you have?
ANTOINE TESSIER: Yeah. So the main business is in our car business today, is to buy and sell cars and really helps the luxury automotive industries to transact, whether it's our partner dealerships, the OEMs or the clients.
When you look at the group structure, overall, we have two amazing platforms, a content strategy and a community strategy, which are bringing people in our ecosystem at a very low customer acquisition cost.
We're producing engaging content with DuPont Registry, with Petrolicious, who's one of the brands that we have in the group, producing amazing videos about how much someone can love their cars more than anything else.
And on the other side, we have companies like Canossa or Supercar Owner Circles that are creating some of the well known and most sought after events in the world. It can be a very curated rallies in the best places in the best roads of Napa Valley or Italy. It can also be the car show that you attended on Saturday, which is 25,000 people coming together in Naples, Florida. So that's the scope of our group.
OLIVER CHEN: What would you say sets you apart in terms of your core competencies and what makes you special relative to competition? What is competition in your field?
ANTOINE TESSIER: When we look at competition, we don't have one that does exactly what we are doing. We are the largest ecosystem of luxury car buyers and sellers in the world. We have 15 million visitors every year coming to our platform organically. 60% of our traffic is direct. So people know the brand and they trust the brand.
When you look at competition, we have competitors in specific segments of our business. Again, if you look at the overall picture of what the group is doing, we don't have any competition today.
OLIVER CHEN: Antoine, what about your relationships with different brands of car companies? How has that evolved and how will that be sustainable in the future?
ANTOINE TESSIER: So I cherish the ecosystem and the relationship we have with OEMs. Ferrari is one of the investors in one of our events called Cavallino, which is actually this Saturday in Palm Beach.
We have a relationship with McLaren, with Aston Martin, and with other OEMs in the space. What's interesting to me, I'm coming from the luxury world, and I know in the luxury fashion world when the Real Real or Mytheresa came about, all the luxury goods companies were a bit scared. And they closed their eyes, this is not happening. You cannot buy a second hand luxury bags.
In the luxury automotive industry, it's completely different. The second hand market is something that is already strong. All the OEMs knows that they need the second hand market to reach new clients just because they're creating scarcity on the new car side.
If you want to get an allocation to buy a Ferrari today, you probably have to start your journey by buying a used Ferrari, like the one I have behind me. And we know that the OEMs cherish the group because they know that we have the data on those clients. And we've captured that information on data and on cars for the past 40 years. So that is a valuable insight for them to recruit prospects. And that's why they are advertising. They're promoting their programs through our ecosystem.
OLIVER CHEN: Antoine, it's a big, big market, over $100 billion, the US luxury used car sales market. What do you see happening there and also your corporate strategy to seize that opportunity?
ANTOINE TESSIER: Yeah, the road ahead is amazing for us. If you know, the US car market is about one point-- the US used car market is about $1.2 trillion. If you look at the luxury segment, there was a report by BCG early December, and they captured all the transactions for vehicles above $100,000.
We know we're playing something slightly bigger because we still consider the Porsche with mileage that is $80,000 a luxury car, and it appeals to our clients. But it's a framework for us. It's $110 billion, and it's a market that's going to double in the next 10 years.
So strong CAGR. About 7% CAGR over the next 10 years. What's interesting is what makes that market. First of all, you have an asset, the car itself that we say internally, our cars never die.
76% of Porsche ever produced are still in the market today. Most of the time, the cars will outlive the client. And you still have pre-war cars that are sold at millions of dollars at auctions today. So that makes that market growing.
The second part is that the client is changing. We're seeing that the client is getting younger. On average, our clients is about 35 to 45 years old. They are the digital native generations. They are looking for digital experiences, but also 30%-- they are telling us that 30% of their buying decision comes from experiences.
So we have the ecosystem that provides them amazing community event where they can meet like-minded people and also digital experiences where they can buy those cars.
OLIVER CHEN: The other part of the story that's interesting, Antoine, is all your years at LVMH. We cover that company deeply, and it's an amazing luxury global platform. How might you compare and contrast LVMH to what you're doing and your experiences there relative to DuPont Registry?
ANTOINE TESSIER: Listen, it was an amazing school for me. There is one thing that I always remember of my time at Riverton is that I was one day on a retail training and someone said, you need to dare to learn who the customer is before trying to sell him something. And to me, that resonated a lot.
You need to know your customers, especially in the luxury high end segment. You need to make sure that you know their life, what they're expecting, et cetera. And if you build that trust and that relationship, transactions will come because they trust you.
How do I compare? One of my joke is to say that now I'm serving the other side of the wallet. My previous client used to buy luxury goods. Their husband was buying cars. So now, I'm talking to the-- we have a more male audience for sure. And we're catering to the same lifestyle, which is a lifestyle of not just about cars, it's about watches. It's about yachts. It's about jets. It's about experiences and hospitality. And we want to really become a global luxury ecosystem.
OLIVER CHEN: One of the really powerful parts is you do have a lot of engaged trusted customers. And one of the classes I teach at Columbia Business School is about customer lifetime value. What about your customer acquisition cost and what do you see ahead for driving customer lifetime value?
ANTOINE TESSIER: So we are fortunate enough that my CFO is happy about that. The customer acquisition cost is extremely low. Because we have those businesses that are producing content and community, they are driving clients in the ecosystem.
We don't pay for-- we pay for experiences, we pay for content, but those clients are coming in, and those businesses are profitable, and they're generating revenue for us. When you look at what are those clients and how do we increase their lifetime value, today we really want to make sure that we're part of the transaction, and we're helping them transact.
There is a lot of importance for me when you have to control the experience in the luxury world, especially if you're building a digital experience, you need to control the full value chain. That's something that also I've learned from my LVMH days. And the value chain of an automotive transaction is you have a lot of places where you can generate revenue and profitability on the trading, on the financing, on the insurance, on the vehicle service contract.
And the industry today is not at all digital native. So there is no digital tech driven experiences. We are building that for our clients, and we believe that through that process, we will maximize their lifetime value.
Our clients on average have six cars in their collections. They're transacting every 18 months. So it's extremely important for us to be able to transact and to help the dealership transact with their clients, so that we can really push the luxury automotive industry forward.
OLIVER CHEN: That's also another unique aspect of your background, Antoine, being head of technology at LVMH. What do you see happening with technology in your data, as well as leveraging AI to deliver analysis as well as engagement?
ANTOINE TESSIER: The one thing that I've learned and when I joined the group in 2023, I started to look at the data. We have in our ecosystem, in our platform today, we have about 1 million Vinz. We know those Vinz. We know all the options, the details about Vinz.
And in the luxury car world, it's extremely important to know exactly that this car has specific option, or it's going to be a 1 of 50, and it's been owned by a celebrity. So we have all that data. We also have pricing history on some of those Vinz. So we're able to tell you from a trend standpoint where it's going.
And that's the one thing that I've discovered during my first year is that most of car collectors spend a lot of their time trying to find out how much their car is worth. So we use the data we have internally, which is our proprietary data. And we've built an index called DuPont Registry Index, which is now available on DuPont Registry Garage. It's an app that we released at the end of October. And it gives every collector the ability to know at what point in time the value of their collections, the value of their cars, if it's going up, if it's going down.
And we're starting really to treat every car as a new asset class. If you want it as an investment, we're going to tell you if it's a good moment to buy, if it's a good moment to sell, if you should hold your inventory. And that's the first step on how we're using our data. AI is helping a lot, but it's not AI for [INAUDIBLE].
It's AI to deliver value for our clients. We're using that now. Almost 85% of our code is run through AI. We have a very limited team of developers, but they're very efficient. And we're going to continue to build products to enhance the digital experience through AI but always looking at what does the customer want.
OLIVER CHEN: As we fast forward a decade, Antoine, how will DuPont Registry make money? What will the business model look in terms of revenues and profits? What are your thoughts for how this platform will evolve over time?
ANTOINE TESSIER: So the way we think about it, today we're really focusing on harnessing the US luxury car market. It's a big market, $110 billion as we said. There is a lot to do here. USA, America is a big market for luxury car collectors.
We know that we need to be in different regions of the world. So we know Europe is a big market, Middle East, India, and Asia-Pacific as well. So we'll get there at some point, most probably through external acquisition. DuPont Registry is well known in the US. It has less brand value in Europe and elsewhere, but we'll continue to grow there.
The second thing to me, and we talked about it, is the lifestyle. Our clients, they trust DuPont Registry brand. They love cars, but most of them love watches. They love yachts, hospitality, and other things. So I really want in the future, 10 years from now, to me, I'm a global luxury ecosystem, and I have revenue coming from different regions but also different product categories, with always one goal, making sure that we continue to serve our clients. And we serve their lifestyle.
OLIVER CHEN: And Antoine, how will you balance that? DuPont has a very famous print magazine. You have very experiential events, and then you have a growing transactions business. How do you balance these different levers for brand engagement?
ANTOINE TESSIER: To me, the two, if you look at content engaging and it's the strategy we have had for the past 40 years, it's to educate the young car enthusiasts. It's also to continue to educate the car collector. That was the purpose of the magazine. It's to bring the people together and educate them on new cars and what the industry is going, where the industry is going.
We do the same thing with experiences. That's the same goal. This weekend, you've seen how much people can be enthusiastic about cars. This is extremely important for us, and we will continue to put the priority on fulfilling what our clients need through amazing content and amazing experiences, yet our focus now for the next two, three years is really to help our dealerships and our clients transact. And that's our main focus for the next, I would say, 24 to 36 months, and then we'll start expanding to the future and the different product categories and different regions.
OLIVER CHEN: And what's been the hardest part of the journey so far?
ANTOINE TESSIER: I think the hardest part of the journey is to transform legacy brands and find synergies. The group has been created through external acquisition of brands that have decades of history and legacy. So you need to bring those in, and you need to start finding synergies, harmonizing the data, trying to understand who our clients are, then navigating across the ecosystem.
And that, to me, has been the hardest part, because it's dusty brands, and you need to transform them with technology. And we're doing that slowly but surely.
OLIVER CHEN: Another segue, I mean, who are your clients like? What are they typically like?
ANTOINE TESSIER: So if we look at our clients, who are very well represented in the really top of the funnel of millionaires, billionaires, and [INAUDIBLE] billionaires who are very well represented there. There are clients that for them, I would say, money is not an issue. They're able to transact something that they want.
We had an example the other day where I was discussing with one of our clients, and he's like, I'm looking for this specific Porsche. And my CEO was next to me is like, Antoine, we have one in the inventory. He came, he saw the car, he bought it there, and it was an $800,000 car.
So this is the types of clients we have. They're able to buy 5, 6, 10 cars. They're flipping them. 60% of them are actually financing those cars, so that was also an interesting statistics for us is that even though they are wealthy, they are using their capital somewhere else. And when they need to buy and continue to add to their collections, they're actually financing those cars. So there's a lot of ways to monetize that as well.
And those are clients where they are passionate. So their buying decision is even though they're researching is going to be an impulse. They've been looking for that car. They find that car, they're going to buy it, and they don't have a problem to do that.
OLIVER CHEN: Yeah, really looking for in a way money can't buy experiences. And also, really enjoying this process of both the support, the engagement, and the heritage, and the richness of the industry. What about luxury dealerships? There are some great luxury dealerships. And I met one of your recent acquisitions as well. What about luxury dealerships versus DuPont Registry? Why would someone go to DuPont Registry instead of a luxury dealership and/or M and A in this space too?
ANTOINE TESSIER: So they already go to DuPont Registry anyway. We have the largest inventory of luxury cars, and this is coming from our partner dealership. So our goal has always been and will continue to be to help the dealership in this ecosystem to transact with clients.
The client is coming to DuPont Registry because we have the inventory, and we're consolidating that inventory digitally. And then we're going to help them transact through our platform. And the dealership will still be able to sell that car.
So we have a strong relationship with dealership. We don't want to, of course, alienate that relationship. They are part of the ecosystem, and we want them to grow with us. We already offering additional value by buying cars from them, giving them access to new inventory. So we're already consolidating a lot of value for the dealerships.
And we want to make sure that we help them transact. The thing for us that we want is we keep the client, we control the client experience, and we're able to monetize the value chain better.
OLIVER CHEN: On the digital side, why do you think, Antoine, the market is ripe for digital disruption and used cars? And also, why hasn't it happened yet?
ANTOINE TESSIER: So it hasn't happened yet because you don't have a trusted name. The market is fragmented. You have a lot of dealers. If, today, I try to sell you that car online, and my name is Antoine Tessier Motorsport, it's not going to work. You don't trust me.
If you put it as DuPont Registry, yes, you trust the brand, and you trust the product and the name, and you're going to buy online. So I think that's one of the reasons that it never happened before is that you need a brand that people trust. We have that brand, and we're starting to do that.
And I think that's the main reason for us that we're going to be able to disrupt that industry. If you look at 75% of our clients are telling us that they're ready to buy their next car online. We've seen that recently. We've launched our auction platform, DuPont Registry Live. And we've sold already fully digitally million dollar cars, the highest was a Bugatti for $4 million.
So someone was able to buy a car for $4 million because they trusted DuPont Registry. And in the space, you cannot test drive. Those assets are verifiable, which is great. So when we take those assets, we know that they exist. We know that they are legit. They have a VIN number, they have a certificate of authenticity.
And let's be honest, they are well taken care of. They are not daily drivers. They are cars that you drive on weekends. So the reconditioning is very limited. So we're able to intake those cars, we inspect them, we detail them, we take nice pictures, we have a photo studio dedicated for that, and we push them online.
So that's really what we want to do is to continue enabling digital experiences by really focusing on showcasing the product the right way.
OLIVER CHEN: And Antoine, that was a good point you brought up earlier. We work with a lot of the luxury companies and handbags and watches. What's the automotive brand approach to aftermarket relative to Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, and aftermarket?
ANTOINE TESSIER: Now, they know the aftermarket is key for their older dealerships usually, even when they're buying, they are doing only new cars. Sometimes they take trade ins. So they know that the aftermarket is useful for those trade ins.
And their view on the second hand market, all the OEMs are familiar with the aftermarket, and that's why they trust DuPont because we have the data. We have the data on that aftermarket. If you take Ferrari, Ferrari doesn't know 50% of all the Ferrari transactions in the world that are happening. We have that data because we have the cars on our marketplace, and we're helping the clients and the dealership transact. So that's why they're promoting their CPO program. They're promoting it on DuPont Registry only because they know they can touch those clients.
OLIVER CHEN: Well, Antoine, last question. Thanks for your time today. Which part of this has been the most fun for you? And also, anything that you think is less well understood about DuPont Registry as well?
ANTOINE TESSIER: So the most fun part of this job is that I get to drive those cars from time to time. So that's probably why I like it the most. Last weekend, I had a 48 Spyder. The week before, I had a McLaren. So the fun part of the job is to be able to drive those cars.
The one thing that I think people don't realize yet is that we're not just a magazine anymore. The story started 40 years ago as a magazine. And Tom DuPont, the founder of DuPont Registry, used to say, we don't have millions of readers, but we have readers with millions. That was the positioning of DuPont Registry from day one, luxury and talking to luxury car collectors that are enthusiast and passionate about the product.
We are no longer just a magazine. We have a full ecosystem where we can produce amazing content. We have a strong social media footprint. We're able to push and build amazing events around the world.
I don't know if you saw there was something on The Economist today about how much luxury experiences are growing faster than luxury goods, which is something that clients want experiences more than the goods. And they're seeking those experiences. So we have that in our ecosystem. People don't realize it.
We are, of course, pushing more and more external communication to change people's mindset about the group. And we really want to make sure that people understand that we are a luxury ecosystem.
Our core business today is auto. We're going to move to a different business model in the future, and we are a luxury ecosystem that can do it all, which doesn't exist anywhere else.
OLIVER CHEN: Antoine, thanks for those remarks, and it's been great having you here. Thanks for sharing so much of what's happening with innovation and really reinventing and transforming a powerful brand and platform.
Also, we need to make some handbags together, small leather goods, back to your roots. And I love that too. And then also we need to do some DJing and music together. But the future of retail, the future of luxury is indeed this blend of in person, as well as appreciating all these amazing heritage brands and new ways with technology, trust, authentication, service. Thanks, Antoine.
ANTOINE TESSIER: Thank you so much, Oliver. Pleasure.
NARRATOR: Thanks for joining us. Stay tuned for the next episode of TD Cowen Insights.