Prada Slows Shop Opening In Hongkong And The Mainland To Renovate Shops

Global economic slowdown and Hongkong

Retail environment is sluggish, Italy

Group Prada Prada (1913.HK) has begun to slow down its shop opening rhythm in Hongkong and the mainland of China and renovate its shops.

Prada is the largest store in the past two years.

One of them has led analysts to doubt whether it will overexpose.

A group spokesman said that in the next two years, the group will optimize its retail network, rationalize its inventory and close or reduce some less profitable shops.

Prada has recently expanded its flagship flagship store in Guangdong Road, Hongkong, which has an area of more than 14 thousand square feet and two storey buildings connected to Harbour City shopping plaza. In 2002,

Stefano Cantino, group strategic marketing director, points out that this is the group's trust investment in the potential market. Even if the market environment is difficult, the brand should always maintain a high quality and vivid image, which is very important for a luxury brand.

After the renewal of the store, it is more in line with the expectations of the modern consumers. They believe that the market in Hongkong can produce good results.

At the beginning of this month, Prada also renovated stores in Shanghai's Hang Lung Plaza. As for the opening of new shops, they are basically not in the Greater China market. Retail analysts and FIT professor Robin Lewis believe that the decline in Prada profits is also attributed to the over exposure of brands.

Since 2012, the company has been expanding wildly, adding 260 new stores to the BRICs market, including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

It is meaningful for the brand to attract the potential new customers, but when the brand is everywhere, it has lost how to maintain its rare image.

In April this year, the group CEO Patrizio Bertelli had expressed a very cautious attitude towards the brand's annual development. As of the first 12 months of January 31st, the sales of Prada in the Asia Pacific region dropped by 16.1% due to the slowdown in China's regional economy.

Robin Lewis explains: "overexposure is the death of all luxury brands.

The problem, however, is that brands do not know that they have been exposed to overexposure, and that when they are discovered, they have already failed.

According to the group's earnings report, the group's net profit in 2015 was 330 million euros, down 26.6% from the same period last year, and its operating income was 3 billion 548 million euros, down 0.1% from last year, and 7.7% at the fixed exchange rate at that time.

Now, Prada has begun to repair the problem of overexposure to brands, and has shifted its focus to providing personalized experience and services to consumers.

Stefano Cantino said at a reopening ceremony at the Prada flagship store in Hongkong on Friday. The refurbished shop reflects the company's new consumer centric business strategy. Unlike in the past, the new store's message to consumers is more intimate and personalized, and the company hopes to provide customers with a unique shopping experience.

In addition, Prada also launched customized services for customers with special requirements. The group said it would re evaluate the price of goods every month and control the price difference of goods in different regions within 10%.

In addition, the Group actively invested in digital communications and social media, attracting new customers and millennial consumers. Last year, Prada and Miu Miu achieved special results in social media investment. Last year, the number of Instagram fans increased by 167% to 6 million 900 thousand. At the same time, Prada also re examined and focused on the mainland market in China. In February this year, the group opened official micro-blog on Sina micro-blog.