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Assmann Ladenbau fitted out the new Spar Gourmet at Check-in 3 of Vienna Airport |
Austrian group Umdasch has announced a new brand strategy that will see its shopfitting division operate under the single brand label Umdasch Shopfitting from 2013. The new brand will be created from the group’s two present core brands Assmann Ladenbau and Umdasch Shopfitting.
At a press conference during the Alpbach International Retail Forum, Umdasch Shopfitting Executive Chairman Helmut Neher said: “On the one hand, by combining the expertise of both companies we can fulfil better the increasingly multi-disciplinary requirements of the retail sector; and on the other the single-brand strategy will also lend wings to our ambitious expansion plans.”
With an annual turnover of over €200 million, Umdasch is one of the biggest and most important players in European shopfitting. Since the purchase of Austrian shopfitters Assmann in 2001, the company had pursued a two-brand strategy in its market operations.
Umdasch Shopfitting is a professional shopfitting partner for the non-food areas of the retail sector, while Assmann Ladenbau operates in the fields of food and health and beauty stores.
Clients include Esprit, Gebr Heinemann, Globetrotter, Hugo Boss, Intersport Eybl, Mexx, Migros, Mulberry, Nike, s.Oliver, Selfridges, Swisscom, Wolford and Spar.
“With the focus on a strong brand operating internationally and a unique range of services we can support retailers and brands as equal partners as they set out to master exciting challenges,” explained Neher.
He added: “The ‘E-Volution’ in retailing is just one of these challenges, requiring a well thought-out interconnection between digital concepts and real shop areas. The tremendous speed with which the new formats and concepts crowd onto the market, also shortens the lifecycles and hence the refurbishing cycles.
“At the same time there is a continued increase in both concentration and globalisation in the retail sector. In order to operate successfully in this setting, a shopfitting company also requires a high degree of professionalism in a variety of disciplines.”
360° Shopfitting
The new Umdasch Shopfitting brand stands for a cross-sector, integrated range of shopfitting services, or “˜360° Shopfitting’, the company said.
Umdasch offers expert knowledge and planning in the areas Fashion & Style, Food & Care and Home & Entertainment. In each case these areas are subdivided into Shop Consult (professional store branding), Shop Project (project and construction management), Shop Systems (shopfitting systems) and Shop Academy (training and continuing learning for retail professionals).
The Shop Academy, for example, which to date has centred on the non-food world, is now developing event formats for the food retail sector. And the idea of sustainability, which is anchored in the corporate culture of Assmann, will be transferred to Umdasch Shopfitting.
Assmann is one of the few shopfitting companies which is certified in accordance with ISO 14001:2004. Over the next few years, all of Umdasch Shopfitting’s Central European production locations will follow.
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Space for People
The positioning of Umdasch Shopfitting on the European shopfitting market is to be more clearly expressed in future through a new corporate design.
The company explained: “The use of colour accents for the claim ‘Space for People’ will focus attention on what determines shops today: the fact that it is the people who make bricks-and-mortar shops into places of encounter and meeting places. And that is why the mission of Umdasch Shopfitting states: ‘We build shops in which people feel at ease.'”
The future of retailing
Umdasch Shopfitting is undertaking a study into the future of consumerism and the retail landscape which will examine the development of new shop formats and shop systems in a digital consumer world.
The results will be tested live on the market and will then be presented at the EuroShop 2014 in Düsseldorf.
