FRANCE. French lingerie brand Etam has revealed preliminary expansion plans for European and Asian travel retail, as part of a wider remit to grow its international business.
While exact launch dates and airport locations have yet to be confirmed, Etam CEO Marie Schott said it was the right time for Etam to fully launch into travel retail, starting with its home market in France before branching out to other locations in Europe and Asia.
“Over the past two and a half years we have been introducing new products and trying to get the right price-to-quality ratio with our products,” she said. “We are now ready to do travel retail. We are not ashamed to be in a corner of a store with luxury brands.”
Schott and other Etam executives spoke exclusively with The Moodie Report at a Paris Fashion Week press event last week. At the “˜Live Show Etam’, staged at La Bourse de Commerce (Paris Stock Exchange), Etam unveiled its latest collections of lingerie, nightwear and swimwear, including its seventh collaboration with supermodel Natalia Vodianova. The line was inspired by Peruvian feather-work she saw while on a trip to Peru.
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Taking place on a round catwalk before a packed audience at La Bourse de Commerce in Paris, Etam unveiled its latest lingerie, nightwear and swimwear collections |
Kicking off Paris Fashion Week, the show featured 80 models parading around a circular catwalk to live electro-pop music performed by six international music artists (including Breakbot, Cassius and Kavinsky 3-D from Massive Attack, as well as American hip-hop artists Azealia Banks and Eve).
Earlier in the day at a press conference, Etam confirmed that it was in the process of recruiting a travel retail team, which will be headed up by Jean-François Ninu, Etam’s Export and International Projects Manager. Ninu joined Etam in January and has 15 years’ travel retail experience in senior positions with L’Oréal and Aelia, including General Manager Travel Retail Europe, Middle East & Africa for L’Oréal Luxe.
Ninu said Etam is already well established in international markets, including France, China, Russia, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, and is now looking to develop its presence in additional countries.
“Travel retail is a big part of building Etam’s international business,” he explained, adding the brand wanted to target Chinese travellers in particular, among whom Etam already enjoys a strong following. “[Etam] is taking steps to go strong in travel retail in line with the brand’s global strategy.”
Founded in 1916, The Etam Group has a network of approximately 4,300 sales outlets in over 40 countries worldwide. The group is comprised of three brands: Etam ready-to-wear and accessories and Etam Lingerie; 1.2.3 upscale womenswear; and Undiz lingerie. In France, Etam has 400 stores, accounting for 10% of the lingerie market in the country, according to the brand.
Etam currently has a stand-alone airside boutique in Terminal 1 (Departures) at Barcelona-El Prat Airport, which Schott said has a “huge turnover”. She added that she would like to capitalise on that experience by expanding the brand in airports worldwide through similar stand-alone boutiques and shop-in-shop concepts, borrowing elements from Etam’s recent store opening at the Aéroville mall next to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
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Etam’s travel retail expansion will include stand-alone stores such as its boutique in Barcelona-El Prat Airport (above), as well as shop-in-shop concepts |
“We want to be more visible in airports in France, Europe and Asia,” said Schott. “I am convinced that lingerie will expand in travel retail.”
Ninu said Etam offers consumers “affordable luxury,” in the form of a special item that a woman selects for herself when she’s travelling, or a gift bought by a man for his girlfriend or wife.
Similarly, Schott said: “People don’t want just luxury brands in travel retail. They also want accessible brands. We have a game to play and a real story to tell.”
Both Ninu and Schott agree that for Etam to grow in travel retail, the brand must develop a specific offer that caters to travellers.
“You need to have structure in order to succeed in travel retail,” said Ninu. “You need the right team, the right offering and the right concept.”
Etam’s travel retail range will also have to compete with more established competitors such as Victoria’s Secret, which has a large focus on beauty products in the channel, in addition to its core lingerie offer.
Etam is working on a beauty line that will launch sometime in September. Schott hinted that some products could find their way into travel retail.
Other Etam products that she believes would be well suited to the channel include nightwear, swimwear and accessories, such as slippers. Schott added that the “˜Glam by Etam’ range of bras and panties in 22 colours would work well in travel retail.
Schott said travel retail was important to Etam for two reasons: “One, the brand is dedicated to women. Women travel and we want to follow women wherever they go. The second is image. People who are important are at airports. That’s part of the brand strategy that we’re building.”
Schott and Ninu said they wanted to bring Etam’s brand platform around “˜beauty therapy’ into its travel retail offering. The “˜beauty therapy’ concept centres around the idea that well-fitting undergarments can change a woman’s day by making her feel better at work and at home, as well as more confident overall.
“We care about women. We want to make women’s lives better,” said Schott. “When women travel, they need this too.”
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Etam’s latest fashions on the catwalk centred around five themes, including Live Show, Dark Punk, Seaside, Romantic Futurist and Vodianova’s collection, Who’s that Girl? | |
