Brand Stores

“Flagship”, “lighthouse”, “high street store”, “community store”, “full price store”, “future store”, “factory outlet”, “concession store”, “outlets”, “brand experience shop”, “neighbourhood store … and many more creative terms exist in the brand lifestyle industry to describe one and the same location: A brand showcase to create a brand experience and generate sales and profits.

We saw far 1.000+ stores from inside, analysed financials of 10.000+ in close to 50 countries of all continents. And we learned over time, there are huge differences about good, bad, profitable or just huge expenses. At the end it all comes down to one important question: How much brand experience do you want to create, and how commercial you want it to be?

In this section, we share a little from our long journey in brand retail, and what differentiates successful stores from the others. Feel free to reach out and share your favourite brand store, your review or where you want us to take a look. We promise, if our travel passes that way, we take a careful look and share our observations.

KPIs is not All – Learn to read your Brand Retail DNA!

Brand retailers have many KPIs, but still can’t guarantee expansion success. This article shares how to read a brand’s retail DNA and lower expansion risks.

Imagine you are CFO or Finance Director of a successful wholesale brand – a brand that sells home interior items, chocolate, toys, or BBQ grills. You have a portfolio of more than 100 own and partner stores. You are a strong brand in your segment, but your forays into retail show mixed store P&Ls. Unlike wholesale profitability, the performance spread of your store is huge. Your organisation offers many explanations and excuses. But you can’t really ‘read’ why sometimes retail works and sometimes it doesn’t. (more…)