Esprit new chairman: "I do not represent the future, but I bring change."

"I don't mean the future, but I'm bringing change," said Heinz Jürgen Krogner-Kornalik, the new chairman of Esprit.

Krogner-Kornalik took over from Michael Ying in January 2006 and began managing the world’s fifth-largest clothing retail group including the Esprit brand and its franchises, outlets, stores, online stores, and the Red Earth brand (cosmetics). Holding 49% of China Resources Esprit Group (Joint Venture).

What is the "change"?

The first is to increase staff.

Krogner-Kornalik plans to add a high-end brand to the "Esprit family". The approach taken may be to rebuild a well-known "disoriented" brand, and he is confident.

Followed by brand integration.

In Europe, Esprit's positioning is a mid-range brand. The main consumers are middle-class women aged 28 or older. They are concerned about popular but not chasing, and the second-tier edc is for younger consumers aged 15-22. However, in Asia, its positioning is even younger and its price is even lower. The branch that entered the United States in 2002 made Esprit a children's wear brand. This situation is something that Krogner-Kornalik cannot tolerate. In his original words, "We cannot be a cat in Asia and a dog in Europe. We have to unify the perception and the position." Global brand integration is inevitable. Row.

There is also regional expansion.

Taking the US market as an example, Esprit has always been considered as a children's wear brand by department stores and is arranged on the children's wear floor. In order to reverse the brand's positioning, Esprit and Nordstrom (having more than 70 department stores in the United States) work together to adopt a retail-led strategy to reach out to more end consumers and continue to expand their influence, determined to use 10 years to achieve the same as in Europe. Influence.

In Esprit’s largest market, Germany, its market share is 3%. Compared to H&M’s 12% to 15% share in the Swedish market, and Inditex’s 20% share in the Spanish market, it can be said that the potential of Esprit is survivable. Long way to go.

(Selected from WGSN, ANGELA RUMSEY interview with Krogner-Kornalik)