Expanding overseas continues to be a top priority for
multichannel sellers-to the point where they’re investing in
additional expertise and infrastructure.
Luxury-fashion etailer My-Wardrobe, for instance, appointed
former Harrods Direct director David Worby as its global chief
executive, effective July, to lead the company’s expansion into
emerging markets. His appointment comes in a year that has seen
London-based My-Wardrobe, which launched in 2006 as a destination
for “affordable luxury”, extend its international
presence in Australia, Europe and the Middle East. In the last 12
months, My-Wardrobe opened an office in Sydney, which will now be
the springboard for its planned expansion into New Zealand and
Singapore later this year. It also opened an office in Norway and
since launched a localised website for Norwegian customers with
Swedish and Danish sites set to follow within six months.
Extending its reach into more new territories, My-Wardrobe opened
an office in Dubai this year, with a view to grow its sales in
the Middle East. Its website for the region is currently in
English, but a spokesperson for My-Wardrobe confirms a fully
localised version will be unveiled within 12 months. After Dubai,
the online retailer plans to open up in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait. It’s all about “getting support for nuances”,
says the spokesperson, and in the Middle East the main issue when
shopping online is trust, she explains. Based on information
gathered by the local office, My-Wardrobe knows its customers in
the Middle East would prefer using prepaid cards over credit
cards and My-Wardrobe will introduce support for those methods
soon. “China is a little further away,” she says,
adding that My-Wardrobe first needs to ensure everything is in
place, “from product, brand mix, translation, payment
method, and crucially, sizing”.
Undeterred by the breadth of the Chinese market, Stanley Gibbons
is in the midst of a full-scale international push. The stamps
and collectibles specialist, which recently reported a sales
increase of 35 per cent to £35.7 million in the year ended
31st December, says its new Hong Kong office, opened this past
September contributed £500,000 of sales and generated a
profit in its first quarter of trading. Further expanding its
reach in the region, the company developed trading relationships
in greater China during the last financial year, enabling a
further £500,000 of sales directly into the Chinese
market.
As well as an eye on China, Stanley Gibbons is also preparing an
assault on the US market. In a statement, chairman Martin
Bralsford said the business had completed its initial
investigation into opportunities in the United States, which
“still represents the biggest collectibles market in the
world”. This year will also see Stanley Gibbons explore the
potential of opening new offices in Switzerland, Singapore,
Monaco, Gibraltar and Brazil using a franchise-like model.
The American dream
Although the trend appears to be for retailers to expand into
emerging markets, the US remains a hotspot. Some marketers, like
Naked Wines and Aurora Fashions, for example, are expanding to
both the US and other, less-saturated territories, at the same
time.
To enable it to develop its business, Norwich-based Naked Wines
is investing £5.5 million to set up 22 new winemakers and
help grow existing winemakers. The investment will see the
business expand internationally with offices in the Napa Valley,
California and in Australia. The NakedWines.com website will now
be able to serve Australian customers and from later this summer,
American customers too. In addition, Naked Wines will invest
funds into vineyards located in Australia and the west coast of
the US.
Aurora Fashions has also identified Australia and the US as
lucrative markets and launched its Coast, Oasis and Warehouse
websites into the two regions in May. Aurora is using the
www.andotherbrands.com tabulated site to house all three of its
brands, following the success of the site in Germany, which has
been live since August last year. The launch will be followed by
four other European countries later in the year, which will each
have tailored language and payment methods.
Despite the market’s maturity, there is clearly plenty of
opportunity for growth in the US. One company that has been
active in the States for almost two years is plus-size apparel
title Simply Be, which delivered a 500 per cent sales growth in
the US in the year to March 2012. Sales from Simply Be USA were
£4.8 million, up from just £800,000 the previous year.
Seeing the potential for its other brands to make it big across
the pond, parent company N Brown has confirmed it will trial its
Marisota womenswear and Jacamo menswear offerings in the
USA-initially through the Simply Be website. It has also
appointed local digital agencies to accelerate online customer
recruitment activity.
Targeting the Eurozone
Closer to home, and despite the ongoing monetary crises, Europe
remains an attractive proposition for many retailers. Mobile Fun,
an online retailer of mobile accessories announced the
recruitment of Teresa Gualtieri to manage the set-up of Mobile
Fun’s Italian office. Mobile Fun Italy will be the company’s
sixth international website in the past four years and joins
Mobile Fun’s already established presence within the UK, Germany,
France, Spain and the Netherlands.
Commenting on Mobile Fun’s overseas expansion, the company’s head
of international Richard Moore says, “Our strategy of
sharing the experience and resources of our UK team with the
local knowledge and skills of native-speaking managers has
certainly paid off. Our first UK-based international manager,
Vanesa Nunez, flew back to establish our Spanish office well
ahead of the 12 month period, we had initially anticipated. This
has dramatically reduced our initial funding, to produce an early
and lucrative return on investment.”
With international sales accounting for more than 25 per cent of
total orders, Moore adds that plans are in the pipeline for
“a number of international sites across Europe and the rest
of the world”.
Footwear retailer Schuh is another to cross the English Channel
with its first foray into international territories. It launched
a French version of its website in May and appointed an
additional customer service team comprising four French speakers
based at its Livingstone head office to deal with customer
enquiries. The retailer has also secured a Paris phone number for
customer calls and will provide a local address in France for
returns.
To promote the site, Schuh will send a series of emails to its
3,000-strong French customer base featuring a “sign up a
friend” message. As part of the launch, Schuh has partnered
with French postal carrier La Poste and will use its So Colissimo
service for deliveries. Schuh will assess how it is received in
France before further expanding into Europe.
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