Translated by
Roberta HERRERA
Published
Oct 21, 2022
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Bestseller plans to reach 1,000 shops in Spain within five years, driven by womenswear

Translated by
Roberta HERRERA
Published
Oct 21, 2022

The Danish group Bestseller, owner of brands such as Jack & Jones, Vero Moda, Only and Pieces, began operating in Spain 25 years ago. Its facilities then, a modest office in Malaga, and its resources, a series of physical showrooms, were far from what they are today: an impressive headquarters inaugurated five years ago in Churriana, on the outskirts of the capital of Malaga, and a retail network that will soon reach seven showrooms.

In addition, the company boasts 600 mono-brand spaces, 1,800 wholesale clients and 2,200 multi-brand points-of-sale. In these two and a half decades, Spain has become the third most important market for the company, behind Germany and France, and its strategic plan is to reach 1,000 shops in the country within the next five years.


Bestseller headquarters in Churriana (Málaga) - Bestseller


Jack & Jones is Bestseller's main asset in Spanish retail, with 110 shops and 100 spaces in El Corte Inglés. The company is planning to boost this chain with 20 store openings in 2023. However, the group's driving force will be womenswear.

"We are aiming to open 50 Vero Moda and Only shops in the next 24 months," Andrés Contreras, the group's CEO Spain, Portugal and Latin America told FashionNetwork.com.

"With these store openings and others to come, our goal is to reach 1,000 shops by the 2027-2028 financial year. In these 1,000 spaces we include the 400 points of sale that we already have in El Corte Inglés, so growth from now on will come from our own shops and franchises, although 70% of this network will be self-managed," continued the manager.

Bestseller's strong offline sales network in Spain consists of six showrooms, located in Malaga, Madrid (with offices where the marketing, communication and architecture teams work), Vigo, Bilbao, Barcelona (where it also has a warehouse, opened two years ago) and Valencia, which opened this year. Next November, a seventh space will be inaugurated in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, bringing its network of showrooms to seven.

The group's growth and commitment to the Spanish market is also reflected in its investment in the country, which reached 5 million euros in the last 12 months.

"We intend to continue this investment, especially in the online area, where we are betting on digital showrooms in order to complement the physical ones," he added.


The company celebrated its 25th anniversary in Spain with a corporate gathering of employees, customers and partners - Bestseller


Of the 20 brands in Bestseller's portfolio, 17 are available in Spain, either in multi-brand, retail or online. The latter channel is indeed one of the growth drivers of the group, which runs an e-commerce store for each brand and market (more than 400 in global terms) and is also present in marketplaces.

"In the company as a whole, online sales already account for 50 % of total sales. In Spain this figure is lower, at around 30 %, as e-tailers such as Zalando or Asos are less established in Spain than in Germany or Austria," he explained.

Offices in Portugal and potential in Latin America



Contreras has been CEO of Spain, Portugal and Latin America since February 2020, although he joined the firm 22 years ago.

"The management of Portugal was done from Spain, but in 2022 we have opened offices in Lisbon, where we already employ 30 people. Our expansion plan is to open 25 Jack & Jones shops in the next three years and to reach, with all the brands, 100 shops. Our objective is also to develop wholesale with the aim of adding more than 500 multi-brand customers in the next three years," explained Contreras.

Before assuming his current position, he spent eight years in Montevideo, heading the Latin American market, where he managed more than 500 points-of-sale and 1,000 employees.

"We are present in 17 countries in the region, but Latin America is managed from Uruguay, and there are also offices in Mexico and Chile," said the CEO.

He went on to underline the region's potential: "We expect to grow to 1,000 shops within three years and for this market to outgrow the Spanish market over the next two years."

Although it does not break down its turnover by country, Bestseller did detail that it distributes 15 million garments annually in Spain. Overall, the company closed the 2021/2022 financial year (which ended on July 31) with record sales of 4.7 billion euros and a pre-tax profit of 8.6 billion euros. With a presence in more than 70 countries, it operates almost 9,000 shops worldwide, 6,000 in China and the rest mainly in Europe.

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