UK fashion retailer Fat Face is looking for further expansion opportunities internationally, after a successful trial on the East Coast of the US. The company is also hoping to open its first store in Europe next year, with Germany the most likely location.
“We have around 220 stores in the UK and we are 30 years old this year, so we are a very established brand,” Fat Face head of global partnerships, Kirsten Pottinger said. “We are really keen to learn about more opportunities, because we feel that as a premium casual lifestyle brand, we are a great fit for a lot of different markets.”
Fat Face has opened 12 stores along the East Coast of the US over the past 18 months, primarily located in affluent tourist towns and alongside peer fashion brands. Many of these stores are showing double-digit like-for-like sales growth having traded for over a year, encouraging the company to look at more locations.
“We have been fortunate enough to find some unusual properties, like a former bank and an old post office, which has helped make our brand relevant to the local catchments,” Pottinger said. “I think we’ll undoubtedly end up with West Coast stores eventually as well, although we’re taking expansion steadily.”
In Europe, Fat Face has identified Germany as its key target market, although Pottinger said that the success of its wholesale and online business internationally has encouraged it to look at other markets, including Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Fat Face recently launched with Zalando in Germany which will also lead to further Zalando country platforms across Europe. “We will use this also as a basis for making decisions on where we open space across Europe. We’re happy to consider different routes, including pop-ups, franchise partners, distributors and taking our own stores,” she said.
Fashion and homewares retailer Matalan is also on the hunt for franchise partners to help it open its first stores in North Africa, Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Canada and India. “We are looking for the opportunity to meet franchise partners in new territories where we can open stores,” said Damian Hopkins, international director for Matalan. He said the retailer was looking to open stores in the region as soon as possible once it finds the right franchise partners. It looks for master franchisees for each territory.
Matalan currently operates 30 international franchise stores in nine countries, including 23 stores in the Middle East and four in Malta. The retailer will open its first stores in Cyprus and Greece in 2019/20, after signing with a franchise partner there, and will expand further in Malta and the Middle East next year.
Hopkins said the retailer was looking to open around 15 to 20 new international stores over the next two to three years. International stores are typically around 1,500 to 2,000 sq m in size, smaller than the UK footprint for Matalan stores.
Hopkins said Matalan offered a great opportunity for franchisees. “If you are looking for a value family offer of good quality fashion and homewares then we are a one-stop shop for that product. We are a first price, right price retailer rather than a discounter,” he said.
He also said that that company worked hard with franchise partners to support their expansion. “We take pride in making sure our partners get as much input from the UK business as possible,” he said.
Iconic British boots brand Dr Martens is embarking on expansion plans that will see it increase its physical presence in France in Germany.
The retailer is putting into place plans to add 10 to 15 stores in Continental Europe in the short-term future, with longer-term plans to expand its portfolio in Germany, where it currently only operates four stores, to as much as 25 over the next few years.
Dr Martens EMEA expansion manager Anne Sophie Barrellon said that the retailer wanted to establish a presence in every major city in France and Germany and was moving forward “step-by-step”.
Barrellon added: “We have ambitious expansion plans, especially outside the UK. We’re taking the time to explain the brand and what it behind it.”
Dr Martens is set to open two further French stores before the end of 2018, with one opening in Lile and another in Toulouse before the year is out. The retail currently has four stores up and running in the market, three of which are in Paris.
