European accessories brand Parfois operates around 240 stores which are throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia with a dominating presence in Portugal, Spain, Poland and Saudi Arabia.
Filipe Correia, Expansion Manager at Parfois, shares his ambitious plans with us.
“For this year we are opening around 65 new stores in total,” he said. “The markets include France, Spain, Poland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, Georgia, and the Philippines, and Hungary – where we have just opened our first store at the West End Shopping Centre in Budapest.
“The Hungarian market has been on a decline in the last few years and now it is starting to come back and there is a great demand for accessories brands. In West End Shopping Centre you find all the known accessories brands so we needed to be there.”
Last year the brand opened 42 new stores and is currently on track to meet its target of 65 new stores in 2011.
Correia said: “The plan for 2012 and onward is to open around the same number of stores as 2011. In terms of the markets, we plan to increase our saturation in the countries where we already have a presence. There will of course be one or two new markets as well.
“Among the markets we are studying at the moment is China – this is probably the country we are more focused on entering. We don’t have a target year to enter China because we think we need to study it properly. Its size and opportunities make it the ultimate retail destination adventure.
“We are also studying other countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.”
When selecting the perfect location for a Parfois store, Correia explains the key considerations.
“The location has to be a fashion environment that corresponds to our target audience. We also consider the amount of traffic and the visibility of the brand; it has to be profitable in the long term.
“We go for both shopping centre and high street locations. For example, in Madrid we now have three high street locations (Calle Preciados, Fuencarral and Goya) because we know that in Spain the street location is very important.”
The company’s product range continuously evolves and Correia says it is imperative to update the brand’s displays and store concept to accommodate the new offers to keep things fresh.
For the full article, please see the June 2011 issue.
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