Travelling Brands
For years, luxury brands were very focused on opening stores in key locations. Promising markets, high-end malls and luxury avenues...
Going massively global, fast.
This was their major concern. The result today is that many brands have incredible networks of stores around the world. In countries like China, Russia or Japan, brands have more stores than in their countries of origin.
Opening stores this fast comes with a few issues. In an earlier post, I talked about how Chinese luxury malls were still empty because prices of luxury items are inflated. Having many empty stores is not a good look. These quickly-opened stores also all have the same design, layout and product mix. Copy and Paste. Because you have to be efficient in order to be fast. When a brand has more than 300 stores, like Louis Vuitton or Gucci, it becomes quite difficult to control the consistency of the brand image and the store experience, but it is also hard to not be perceived as completely ubiquitous, almost common. Luxury is meant to be exceptional, having the same store in every high-end mall or luxury avenue is not being an exception.
The challenge when a brand goes abroad is complex:
preserving its identity
expressing its personality
while understanding local specificities
and appealing to communities.
Being consistent and locally relevant is a balancing act few brands seem to get right. Aesop is one of them, the unicorn! Aesop manages to be highly recognizable, yet having very unique store design and being quite active in local communities. Nike, despite its colossal size, also succeeds in having a wide range of retail formats that fit different types of locations. Nike adapts to local needs through store size, store design and even pricing strategy and product mix & turnover.
From the consumer's point of view, Nike or Aesop are perceived as more exceptional than some luxury brands, because visiting their stores is always a unique experience, as opposed to luxury brands with same stores around the world.
