Unlike other retailers that have expanded aggressively regardless of the state of the economy, LPP chose a cautious approach during the crisis and stepped up expansion afterwards.
The change of pace came about eighteen months ago, when Romanian executive Alina Bistreanu (31) was appointed executive director of the Romanian operations of LPP.
“We have 18 openings planned for 2016. We have already finalized negotiations over 13 of them and are in advanced talks for the remaining five. Out of the 13 stores, six will open in Bucharest, four in Timisoara and three in Constanta,” Alina Bistreanu said.
The group also plans to open two online stores. Reserved already has an online store inaugurated at the end of 2015, but the company wants online stores for two more of its brands.
LPP has five fashion brands in Romania – Reserved, Mohito, Sinsay, Cropp and House and is one of the most developed groups on this market in terms of brands, after Spain’s Inditex (owner of Zara) and the Kenvelo group.
“We opened 12 stores under the five brands last year, that is four Reserved, three Mohitos, three Sinsays, one Cropp and one House. We did not close any stores.”
All the brands of the group in Romania are mass-market brands, but target different types of customers. Like most fashion retailers, LPP, too has concentrated on malls in Bucharest and the big cities. It has 21 stores in all, 11 of which in Bucharest, four in Ploiesti, three in Brasov, two in Cluj-Napoca and one in Bacau.
The local fashion market, put at EUR4 billion, will continue to grow in 2016, as well, with a significant increase in online sales, the LPP executive believes.
“We saw like-for-like growth of 44% in the first two months of 2016, following a like-for-like growth of 15% in 2015.”
The 2015 revenue stood at EUR13.2 million, up 114% on 2014, and the figure includes expansion. The group expects sales to go up to EUR26 million this year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)