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Abstract
This article explores the role of institutional voids in the internationalisation of proto-modern brands in London from the mid-1820s through to the early 1850s. Internationalising firms addressed institutional deficiencies in the market through the establishment of retail operations identified here as international maisons spéciales and by adopting marketing strategies designed to legitimate their proto-modern brands. Together, these organisational and strategic marketing responses enabled firms to overcome institutional voids and shape market norms. These mutually supporting organisational and marketing innovations occurred at a much earlier date than the literature currently suggests.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 For an example of the organisational context in which brands are developed and retailed internationally, see: Alexander and Doherty, Citation2017.
2 For further observations on the nature of proto-brands see: Moore and Reid, Citation2008.
3 See Lopes and Casson (2012) for a recent article on counterfeiting during this period.
4 A later example of a specialist international retail outlet is the Paris operation of Tiffany of New York. Tiffany’s international retailing operation in Paris developed out of its role as commissionaire or merchant in the 1860s (Alexander and Doherty, Citation2017, p. 315).
5 This area was rebuilt in the 1920s. Although the original buildings are no longer visible the street numbering still provides the observer with an indication of where the original buildings stood.
6 Kelly’s London Directory and Robson’s Directory of London, various 1828–1851.
7 Kelly’s London Directory and Robson’s Directory of London, various.
8 The two firms that were not based in Paris have different but particular characteristics. Aubert & Klaftenberger was an amalgam of Swiss and British production facilities. They exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851 as a British firm. In contrast, Lehocq, based in Boulogne, is a firm indicative of a larger scale of manufacturing production than the other firms included in the list.
9 The Morning Post, 21 February 1828, 1d.
10 The Morning Post, 21 February 1828, 1d.
11 The Morning Post, 4 August 1830, 1a.
12 Disraeli (1831, p. 11): ‘Shall we forget the panniers of shoes which Melnotte had placed in every quarter of the gardens?’ In the 1830s, Melnotte became a convenient reference point for luxury consumption in general and the consumption of luxury fashion items in particular. In her novel Hyacinthe, published in London in 1835, Elizabeth Caroline Grey also makes reference to Melnotte when seeking to express luxurious living: ‘A small pair of Melnotte’s shoes soon decked her pretty feet’ (Grey, 1835, p. 115).
13 The Correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot, De Montfort University, Leicester, LA34 (MW)-42.
14 Census, 1851: 107/1485/29 PRO. The Morning Post, 22 May 1845, 2c. The firm appears at the address 180 Regent Street in Kelly’s for the first time in 1846 in Kelly’s London Directory, Streets, 458.
15 The Morning Post, 22 May 1845, 2c. The Morning Post, 1 June 1863, 1f.
16 The Morning Post, 7 April 1837, 1c.
17 The Morning Post, 21 February 1831, 1d.
18 The Morning Post, 19 January 1832, 1b; The Morning Post, 5 May 1834, 2d.
19 The Morning Post, 19 April 1832, 1e.
20 The Morning Post, 19 April 1832, 1e.
21 Melnotte’s maison spéciale was relocated to 23 New Bond Street in 1845. Melnotte was succeeded in the business by Dufossée. The value of this proto-modern brand was recognised and retained by his successor. The Morning Post, 14 April 1845, 1f. Bottin Almanach du commerce de Paris, 1842, 32. Galignani’s New Paris Guide, 1844, 504. Lerolle Frères left the market altogether in 1849.
22 The firm left the London market for a short period, reopening a retail unit at 121 New Bond Street in the 1920s. When referring to this firm we use the spelling Dùvelleroy unless we are quoting from a source that uses the form Duvelleroy, in which case we reproduce the spelling as it appears in the original.
23 For a discussion of partnership arrangements at this time see: Lamoreaux, Citation1995; Hilt and O’Banion, 2009.
24 The Morning Post, 29 July 1851, 7f.
25 Kelly’s London Directory, 1839 and 1840. The business of foreign bookseller is listed under Jean-Baptiste Baillière’s name for the last time in 1839 and under Hippolyte Baillière’s name from 1840.
26 When referring to this individual, or a business with the same name, we use the spelling Doucét unless we are quoting from a source that uses the form Doucet, in which case we reproduce the spelling as it appears in the original.
27 Census, 1851: 107/1485/8 PRO.
28 Kelly’s London Directory, 1851. The French birthplace of two of his children suggests Barlow was resident and working in France in the late 1830s and early 1840s. The firm opened a retail unit in Regent Street: 1849. Census, 1851: 107/1485/8.
29 The Morning Post, 17 September, 1853, 1d.
30 This new arrangement was advertised through the winter of 1853–1854: The Morning Post, 17 September 1853, 1d; The Morning Post, 29 April 1854, 8c. Geoghegan & Co. was a well-established firm that had been operating in the arena of consumption since 1823: just after the building of that part of Regent Street. Then operating as ‘The Belfast Linen Warehouse’, they were ‘manufacturers, bleachers, and importers’ of Irish linen: The Morning Post, 25 October 1823, 1c.
31 National Archives, Kew. Reference C 16/1053/D154. Doucet v Geoghegan, 1875. ‘Madame Doucet sought a declaration that her late husband, François Eugène Doucet, was a domiciled Frenchman, and that his estate should be administered according to French law’: The Morning Post (London, England), Tuesday, February 20, 1877; 7b (Fawcett, Citation1985). Doucet v Geoghegan (1878) 9 Ch D 441, 457 (Brett LJ).
32 The Morning Post, 20 February, 1877; 7b.
33 The Morning Post, 20 February, 1877, 7b.
34 The Morning Post, 20 February, 1877, 7b.
35 The Morning Post, 20 February, 1877, 7b. Didot-Bottin, 1870, p. 303. The firm’s Paris branch was originally established at 4 Rue de la Paix as ‘Géoghegan et Doucet, chemisiers’. This was the same street as Doucét’s family ran their business: 21 Rue de la Paix. Subsequently, the firm operated from 23 Rue de Luxembourg. La Presse, 19 Janvier 1874. Courrier Des Hotels, 17 Janvier 1874. National Archives, Kew. Reference C 16/1053/D154. Doucet v Geoghegan, 1875.
36 Bottin Almanach du commerce de Paris, 1852: Rue de la Paix, number 32, ‘Jacobs, Chasseurs de dames’, 1030.
37 Census, 1851, 107/1485/29.
38 Kelly’s London Directory, 1847: streets, 453.
39 At 40 Great Castle Street, near Regent Street: The Morning Post, July 25, 1853, 1c.
40 The Morning Post, 4 July 1846, 8 c.
41 The Morning Post, 8 February 1856, 3c.
42 The Morning Post, 19 February 1867, 5a.
43 The Morning Post, 29 August 1870, 1b.
44 Daily News, 20 August 1869, 2c.
45 Westminster Rate Books, St. James, Church Ward, 1847–1867.
46 In 1851, Jules is resident on census night: Census, 1851, 107/1485/19 PRO; in 1861, Charles is resident at the retail unit on census night; Census, 1861, 9/64/66/8 PRO.
47 The Morning Post, 22 April, 1865, 3c.
48 Kelly’s Directory for London, 1866.
49 From 1868, L.T. Piver is the listed firm in the street listing in Kelly’s directory; while in local tax records, the brothers (later Jules on his own) are the ratepayers.
50 Piver had maintained its wholesale business with the rest of the British market throughout the firm’s time in Regent Street. Advertising shows that wholesaling was dealt with at their warehouse at 121 Cheapside, London: Birmingham Daily Post, 31 May 1875, 6f; The York Herald, 23 December 1875, 1c.
51 Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. Probate Date, 21 January 1880.
52 The Graphic, Saturday, December 4, 1880; p. 576 Col.D.
53 The Morning Post, Thursday, March 17, 1881; 4a.
54 The Morning Post, Thursday, March 17, 1881; 4a. Jules Lauvergnat died on ‘29 December 1879 at 160 Regent – street’ Principal Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. London, England: Jules Lauvergnat, Probate proved 21 January 1880. His brother Charles predeceased him.
55 The Morning Post, 1 May 1849, 1f.
56 The Examiner, 8 March 1851, 157d.
57 The Examiner, 17 May 1835, 316b.
58 The Examiner, 1 December 1849, 767b-c.
59 The Morning Post, 5 June 1829, 1c.
60 The Morning Post, 16 January 1858, 4a.
61 The Examiner, 17 May 1835, 316b. At this time, their retail unit was at 13, Thayer Street.
62 The Morning Post, 4 July 1846, 8c.
63 Having established an international retail outlet firms were keen to emphasize this fact in Parisian trade directories. Early entrants such as Baillière established the practice of listing their Regent Street address in French commercial directories in the 1830s: Bottin, Almanach du commerce de Paris, 1833, 163. Houbigant established their Regent Street store in 1837 and the following year listed it as one of their two addresses in Bottin’s commercial directory for Paris: ‘Fg-St-Honoré, 19, et 216 Regent street à Londres’: Bottin, Almanach du commerce de Paris, 1838, 261. By the early 1850s, Piver’s Regent Street address appears prominently in their listing after the firm’s Paris address, ‘St-Martin, 155’, and before their Brussels address ‘G.Rue-des-Bouchers, 41’, their only other international address: Bottin, Almanach du commerce de Paris, 1854, 950.
64 The Morning Post, 1 May 1850, 1b.
65 The Morning Post, 26 November 1847, 1b.
66 Census 1851, 107/1485/16.
67 Census 1851, 107/1485/19.
68 Census 1851, 107/1485/39 and 107/1485/40.
69 Blocks numbered 132–154, 171–195, and 133–167 ‘were leased, and therefore almost completed, but not necessarily let, between 1820 and 1823’: Hobhouse, Citation1975, p. 52.
70 Tallis (Citation2002) provides illustrations of the new retail architecture.
71 London Evening Standard, 8 February 1861, 5b.
72 The Morning Post, 25 May 1827, Unnumbered. Paris store: Rue de l’Ecole de Medicine.
73 London Land Tax Records. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives, St Giles in the Fields and St George Bloomsbury, Camden, England MR/PLT/3620. Proprietor, Duke of Bedford; tenant, J B Baillière.
74 Robson’s Directory of London, 1832. The Morning Post, 29 December 1832, 1b.
75 The Examiner, 17 May 1835, 316b.
76 The Times, 30 October 1839, 7e.
77 Liverpool Mercury, 4 October 1844, 1f.
78 The Morning Post, 24 April 1849, 3e. Here Sardinia refers to the Kingdom of Piedmont.
79 The Morning Post, 16 January 1858, 4a.
80 The Standard, 16 January 1861, 1e.
81 https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/4777/watch: Accessed: 16 July 2015. A watch with the movement marked as ‘Aubert and Klaftenberger 157 Regent’s Street’ was purchased by Queen Victoria and presented to Prince Albert on his birthday on 26 August 1859. It is engraved ‘To Dearest Albert, from his ever devoted Victoria R, Aug 26th 1859’.
82 The London Exhibition of 1851 is now considered the first world’s fair. See Rydell (2014) for a discussion of the terminology used to describe these events.
83 Exhibition MDCCCLI, Reports by the Juries on The Subjects of the Thirty Classes into Which the Exhibition was Divided, Royal Commission, Vol. 1, London, 1852.
84 The London Illustrated News, 7 June 1851, 523.
85 Annuaire Général Du Commerce, 1852, 15th edition, published by Firmin Didot Frères, Paris.
86 The Morning Chronicle, 17 November 1851, 1e.
87 The Morning Post, 23 April 1853, 1e.
88 The Morning Post, 1 May 1850, 1b.
89 The Morning Post, 18 May 1848, 8b. ‘The perfumery trade in France was the preserve of glovemakers, or ‘gantiers-parfumeurs’, who were organized into a guild association of craftsmen’ (Jones, Citation2010, p. 16). Jouvin won a prize medal at the 1851 Exhibition for its gloves. Exhibition MDCCCLI, Reports by the Juries on The Subjects of the Thirty Classes into Which the Exhibition was Divided, Royal Commission, Vol. 1, London, 1852, clxi.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Nicholas Alexander
Nicholas Alexander is Professor of Marketing at Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University, United Kingdom. His research is in the area of international marketing, branding and business history, with particular emphasis on advancing theoretical perspectives on brand building, the management of brand authenticity and brand development.
Anne Marie Doherty
Anne Marie Doherty is Professor of Marketing at Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom. Her research is in the area of international retail marketing, particularly employing an institutional lens to explore market entry methods, franchising and retail internationalisation in emerging markets and historical contexts.