International Expansion
How India’s Digitization Impacts Retail and Brand Distribution
India has been on an exciting digitization journey since 2009. Many key elements that will form the backbone of ‘Digital India’ also serve to enhance retail and brand distribution.
Some of the building blocks are already well in place, tried, tested, validated, and nationally rolled out, and others will be introduced in the next 2-3 years.
The “Next Normal”: Rethinking The Brand Business Model
The Brand Business Model for many established brands and retailers has sadly not been enough to deal with the Next Normal
It’s failed to stop many closures even before the pandemic, and Covid has only accelerated this trend.
Introducing The Store of the Future
We expand on the article series with ‘The Store of the Future’, a series exploring the evolution of store design.
We look at the concepts and techniques premium and luxury brands are using today, to stay ahead of the curve tomorrow.
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How International Brands Succeed in India
Global Brands in India look back on a history spanning more than 150 years. What success factors can today’s brands learn from the earlier waves of brand expansion to the subcontinent?
How to Drive International Expansion Without Escalating Complexity
Customise or standardise? That’s perhaps the most important question a brand at the beginning of its international expansion has to answer.
Depending on who you ask, you will get very different answers. If you ask your brand and marketing management, they will vote for as much standardisation as possible. If you ask your sales force, the answer will be quite the opposite.
Brand Sales and Distribution: New Best Practices that drive International Growth
International sales growth remains mostly dynamic post pandemic. But as financial reports show, growth rates have decreased for many. Be it in the US or in Europe, especially domestic-bound retailers and brands stumble.
Global expansion in sales and distribution competence has become a lifesaving strategy feature, but allow me a question first:
Drive Dynamic Brand Growth or Maintain Profitability: EBIT vs. EBITDA KPI Slam
After a tumultuous year that almost saw the company drowned by its previous strategic investor, German vertical retailer Hallhuber found a financial investor in Robus Capital Management. Management of both firms agrees to invest in brand growth.
Strategic Brand Management at its Best
Shoppers love unique products and great brand stories. If on top you sell upcycled products, are a niche company from a small country, that makes all the ingredients for a great brand story. For us that delivers great learning on strategic brand management.
If someone had told you in 1993 that someone would manage to turn truck tarps into it bags in Seoul by 2019, and create a best practice brand development story in the process, you may have questioned their judgement.
Rapha is not a brand, it’s brand community management at its best
How does a small UK cycling apparel brand become the global benchmark for brand community management? Here’s why brands around the world use Rapha as a best practice case study.
In case a cycling jersey isn’t yet part of your casual wardrobe, this story about brand community management may change that when bike apparel may well set trends in mainstream clothing by 2025.
Retail Portfolio Management: Renegotiating Your Rental Contracts
This is the second installment of a short series that dives into a few uncommon KPIs for successful retail portfolio management. Learn how traffic cost and footfall per hour can help you renegotiate rental contracts.
For many years, retail expansion was the main growth strategy in the brand retail world. More recently, however, brands increasingly face an under-performing retail portfolio. Realising that retail expansion doesn’t work without like-for-like growth of existing stores, brands are busy assessing their retail portfolios in order to focus on profitable stores and stores with potential for improvement.
Spain & Portugal on the Brand Horizon
Is it time for brand expansion to Spain and Portugal? The economic outlook for the Iberian peninsula is currently boosting the confidence of international retailers on the lookout for new opportunities.
Spain and Portugal are back in the mindset of expansion managers! Several international brands are currently revisiting their expansion strategies or considering taking up business in Spain and Portugal. There might even be more opportunities for international brands now than there were before the crises.
Going Benelux? Done right, a growth opportunity for brands and retailers
What are the challenges and opportunities for brand expansion to Benelux? Learn how to best tap the full potential of the Benelux retail markets.
When considering new regions for brand expansion, Benelux countries may raise concern about their small size as well as the many different languages and other cultural particularities. But taken together, the relatively small countries of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg represent an often underestimated powerhouse.
The Paul Smith Store in Berlin
Paul Smith has just opened his first Berlin store, and it wouldn’t be Paul Smith (or Berlin) if the store and its location were just ordinary.
Sir Paul Smith is a British designer of extraordinary fashion for men, women, children, and accessories. He has been for some 40 years, and in various collaborations he designs pretty much anything that can be designed. In an interview, he recently described himself as a ‘strange designer’. A few weeks ago, he opened his first small but nonetheless great Paul Smith store in Berlin. (more…)
Adidas Best Practice Brand Distribution Strategy
Aiming for the world’s most affluent consumers in highly competitive environments: Adidas’ ‘Top City Strategy 2020’ is at halfway, what is best practice and what can you learn for your business?
It’s widely known that consumer markets and brand distribution channels have fundamentally changed over the past 25 years in more ways than anticipated. Fact is, the internet as a brand distribution channel grew from 0 to commonly 8-15% of sales. But far more relevant from a commercial and strategic perspective is that many formerly emerging countries, especially China and countries in the Middle East and Central Europe, grew to 30-40% of total sales and profits in lifestyle brand distribution.
India’s Fashion & Retail Sector: An Overview
Private consumption driven economic growth, a population of 1.3 billion with huge linguistic and social diversity… amongst other challenges and opportunities to consider before entering India’s fashion retail market!
A € 575 Billion consumer retail spending, growing to reach €975 Billion by end of 2022 and very favourable demographics make India one of the world’s most promising and exciting retail markets for years to come. With India’s fashion retail segment at about € 52 billion in 2017, and poised to cross €85 billion by end of 2022, India offers great opportunities for European and other international brands.
Yes, the Italian Market Is on the Rise Again!
Milan’s CityLife Project, dm’s expansion to the Italian retail market and Starbucks’ Reserve Roastery plans indicate a revival of the Italian retail market.
A few months ago, I wrote about an apparent increase in attractiveness of the Italian market for foreign brands and asked, Is the Italian Market on the Rise Again? Meanwhile, Milan has seen a couple of important retail milestones and I would like to give you an update on the Italian retail market.
The Sanssouci Flagship Store
10 days to Christmas and the brand retail world out there has turned into the same frenzy as every year. Why not distract yourself for a few minutes with my vision for the next potential location of your flagship store expansion?
Is the Italian Market on the Rise Again?
In the recent past, market expansion experts would hardly have considered Italy their flavor of the day. Is Italy on track to becoming a hot market again?
Marketplaces Are Now the Biggest Digital Distribution Channel for Brands
Digital distribution via marketplaces is big business. The choice of marketplaces is large. Selecting the right ones and operational execution are key.
Germany’s Bundesverband Onlinehandel (BVOH) teamed up with the agency p.digital to conduct a study about the state of the e-commerce marketplace industry. The study ‘Marketplaces Across the World’ charts 335 marketplaces in Europe alone and lists over 740 globally.
These findings alone make obvious that e-commerce marketplaces in Europe and globally have become an important channel of distribution. But there is more:
