However, James Shepherd, general manager of Swarovski UK, insists that while the expansion plans are ambitious, they are not aggressive. "We opened our first store in Bluewater in 1998. I'm not one of those people who, when asked how many stores they will open by the end of the year, replies '200'," he says. "We are now at 33. I'd like to see us get to 50 stores over the next few years.

"I don't see an opportunity for more than that. Obviously it depends on shopping centre development, but there's no ambition to be in every shopping centre in the UK. I know which ones work and which ones we're targeting, but it's a process that is considered. We'll wait for the right units in the right shopping centres, and because there are strengths and weaknesses in all shopping centres, we always stay true to our plan."

Shepherd targets malls with a strong focus on fashion and units in high traffic flow areas with strong adjacent retailers. The latest openings include stores in Canterbury and Merry Hill, and four more are due to open this year - in October Derby and Silverburn will open their doors, with Solihull and Braehead, following shortly after in November. There are further openings in the pipeline and the retailer is continuously looking for more opportunities.

"We're excited about White City and Cambridge," says Shepherd. "And Touchwood, which should be strong. We've done the 'no brain' of shopping centres, opening in Bluewater and the Trafford Centre. Having opened, we then review our locations within those shopping centres so that we can upgrade to larger sites there. That's how I've always looked at it. There's always a desire to open more and more stores, but I prefer to make sure that the ones we do have are working. If they're not, we need to know why and look at doing something about it."

At Bluewater, Swarovski has moved to a larger unit and since then has seen a huge improvement. "I don't look at units over 1,000 sq ft gross, which is difficult, especially with new shopping centres which tend to build larger units. I'm disciplined with the type of space I want and 700 sq ft is the optimum."

Shepherd says Swarovski brings a premium fashion look to a shopping centre, both in terms of the product it sells and its shop fit. The company is always innovating and evolving its product offering, as it has been doing for the past 112 years, since Daniel Swarovski, a Bohemian inventor and visionary, first moved to the village of Wattens in the Austrian Tyrol with his newly-invented machine for cutting and polishing crystal jewellery stones. The company doesn't believe it has any direct retail competition and, despite being a fashion jewellery retailer, cites fine jewellers as its nearest competitors.

"I think our shop fit is very strong," says Shepherd. "And we invest heavily into that. We don't open a store on the cheap, we do it well, whereas certain landlords today have moved away from that and its more about getting the tenants in. It's important that retailers have an obligation to do their best in a shopping centre as well."

Swarovski has stores in every country across the globe. The UK is the third largest market in the world and the largest retail business in Europe. "It's been a focus of mine over the last few years," says Shepherd. "Our strengths in retail are that we definitely have a creative offer and even from an architectural point of view people are happy to come in and shop, because our stores look good.. I'm very sales focused and it's all about ensuring that the customer has the right theatre.

"It's vitally important to always have something that sets us apart from other retailers."

Statistics

swarovski uk

Number of UK stores: 33 (23 in shopping centres)

Number of premium independents (franchises): 14

Number of concessions: 27

Average store size: 800 sq ft

General manager UK and Ireland: James Shepherd

Turnover: E2.37 billion in 2006 (for all areas of the business)

Like-for-like sales: 11.5 per cent increase in the first half of 2007

Website: http://www.swarovski.com

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend