In an interview at last week’s ECMOD Conference,
Johnnie Boden, the eponymous founder of the British apparel
catalogue known for its appeal to “yummy mummies” and
the British upper-middle classes, said the key to his business’s
future success was not opening up more retail stores, but rather
expanding internationally.
The business, which started out with eight menswear items in
1991-and in a good week saw sales of £10,000 in the early
days-is now debt-free, turns over more than £200 million
($319 million) annually and had profits of £28.7 million
($44 million) in 2009. It also operates two retail stores in the
UK.
Much of Boden’s growth in recent years has been attributed to its
success in Germany. The company has been active in Germany since
spring 2007, and saw sales rocket to £16.7 million ($25.6
million) in the 12 months ended December 2009.
The company is also active in the US, where it experienced modest
growth last year as trading conditions remained tough. Boden told
delegates there were “problems” in the States that
were “causing unease”. Although he didn’t divulge the
nature of the problems, he did say that the Boden novelty was
starting to wear off in the US and that Boden “doesn’t give
great service” across the Atlantic, adding that there are
“so many things I feel we could be doing better.”
However, despite this uncertainty, Boden said there were still
plenty of people who hadn’t heard of the company and that there
was “still lots to play for in the US and
Germany”.
When asked whether he would consider opening more stores, Boden
stressed that the company’s expansion will not take the form of a
greater retail presence. It was “much easier to expand
direct into Germany than to get the same level of sales from
retail”, he told the room. As confirmed at the time of its
latest financial results announcement, Boden now intends to fully
launch its Austrian business, which was trialled successfully
during the year. He also said that expansion to France was next
on Boden’s hit list.
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