The decision to come, however, will be influenced by the brand’s performance in Poland, the region’s most developed market, where the Japanese group opened a pop-up store.
The Warsaw space is meant to test the waters in this market, and if the results are good, next year and even 2024 will be years when attention will turn to this country. If things go well and with permanent stores, Romania could be the next target, ZF sources say, who add that a local entry will not happen before the second half of 2024.
The Japanese giant’s decision to come to Romania, after Poland, would be justified by a number of factors, starting with the country’s population – the second largest in the region – and continuing with Romanians’ appetite for fashion and trends. Although the average salary on the local market is lower than in the Czech Republic or Hungary, the share of it that goes to clothes or shoes is higher, a sign that Romanians place emphasis on how they look.
That’s why the fashion market is very crowded, with most of the big names already present.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)