MANILA, Philippines — While Italy remains “a place of style and inspiration,” in an increasingly globalizing retail environment, its brands are now looking East for expansion. The Italian casualwear chain Liu Jo, for example, is setting up more stores in different Asian territories for further brand growth.
“A lot of big companies now realize that when you need to grow, you have to come to Asia because it’s booming,” says Marco Marchi, one of the brand’s founders. “We also believe that the Asian region is currently the tiger of the world economy.”
The brand has put up Liu Jo Asia Pacific Limited, a division that specializes in penetrating Asian markets. Liu Jo opened its first Philippine store in 2010, in Ayala Center Cebu.
Fernando Fornaciari, managing director for Liu Jo Asia Pacific Limited, agrees that Asia is a burgeoning continent, but it’s “not just because the opportunities [for growth]” are in Asia recently. “We also want to build something that can grow and be stable in the long run,” adds Fornaciari.
In catering to a foreign continent, it seems that Fornaciari and his team are still observing what kind of merchandise fits properly into the Asian region. Women’s wear and ladies’ accessories remain core retail factors, aspects that the brand prefers to keep its business focus on for the time being.
Marchi recognizes that men worldwide are spending again for fashion, but the subject of menswear in Asian countries like the Philippines is still subject for conscientious evaluation. “We know that there’s good potential [for men’s items in Asia] but we have to be 100 percent sure [of it] first. We want to anticipate things for the meantime so maybe [we’ll bring menswear here] next year,” says Fornaciari.
Marchi and Fornaciari consider investing in the Philippines, though, as a viable measure, as they are enthusiastic about the brand’s local development despite “a small presence of Italian brands” in the country.
While most foreign brands venture into the Philippines by building stores in Metro Manila first, Fornaciari says that the first Liu Jo shop in the Philippines opened in Ayala Center Cebu last 2010 instead in order to discern a more diverse set of shoppers, which consists of Filipinos along with tourists from different countries like Japan and Russia.
“Cebu is an important international city,” relates Fornaciari. “There are a lot of international tourists in Cebu, so [it was a good opportunity for us] to [observe] local customers and foreign consumers as well. Metro Manila has a lot of foreigners but they’re expats, so they’re mostly [in the country just] for business.”
“Cebu is known as a tourist destination. Many international customers are familiar with Liu Jo and this presence supports our international visibility,” adds Marchi. Reception has been positive, with accessories representing 40 percent of total sales in the Cebu boutique.
Marchi and Fornaciari, who recently visited Metro Manila and Cebu, reveal that the brand is now ready to expand into Metro Manila. Liu Jo recently opened its accessories boutique at The Podium mall in the Ortigas business district, while a Liu Jo store is set to be launched at the Glorietta shopping center in Makati City later this year.
Marchi and his brother Vannis established Liu Jo in 1995, in the knitwear district that is Carpi, Italy. The aim is to sell clothes that are “in tune with the latest trends” for “feminine and confident” women. As Marchi relates, the brand’s name came from the words “Liu” and “Jo,” nicknames that he and a former girlfriend gave each other years ago, “and today it stands for my desire to convey a natural taste for beautiful things. It has been our [brand's] good luck charm over the years.”
Eventually, Liu Jo’s product portfolio extended into junior and baby wear, beachwear, underwear, shoes, accessories, and menswear. Possibilities for worldwide awareness are created through opening stores abroad, airing video commercials with an international mileage, and even starring supermodel Kate Moss for its recent Spring-Summer 2012 campaign.
Forward-thinking Italian companies, as Marchi puts it, also address heightening global presence through an extensive distribution network. A Liu Jo press note reveals that the brand currently has “over 190 mono-brand points of sales and almost 4,500 multi-brand stores ensuring the presence of the brand in 35 countries in [three] continents (Europe, Africa, and Asia).”
source: mb.com.ph
