US retailer Nine West is positioning itself as a high-end boutique in Asia, using Hong Kong as a platform to expand its market reach

Ms Ho Asjoe said the company had chosen Hong Kong as its Asian headquarters because it is the most internationally aware and fashion-forward city in the Asia-Pacific.

To capitalise on this, Nine West will launch its biggest store in Asia in Hong Kong's Pacific Place shopping centre this spring, to serve as its Asia-Pacific flagship. This will be used to test the waters for its expansion plans in China.

"Hong Kong and Japan have the most sophisticated markets now, so by launching the flagship store in Hong Kong you have an advantage," she said. "If you have a formula that works here, your chances of going to other markets will be improved.''

The footwear and accessories retailer opened its first Hong Kong store in 1994. The chain now has seven stand-alone stores that pitch themselves as selling high-quality, low-priced products.

"Nine West is positioned as a higher-end boutique product in Asia, as opposed to the US, where it is more mass-market. In order to maintain that prestige concept you have to have freestanding stores,'' Ms Ho Asjoe said.

"We have been branding ourselves as a total lifestyle concept, from footwear to accessories.''

The Nine West Group has 10 brands catering to different market segments, its major product lines being workwear. Labels include Nine West, Enzo Angiolini, NW by Nine West, and Easy Spirit. In addition to the expanded floor space in Hong Kong, the company plans to expand its range of brands on offer and increase its accessories lines.

Brand positioning a key strategy

To compete in these markets the group has devoted more resources to brand positioning, visual merchandising and customer services.

The company plans to open at least one flagship store in Thailand, China and Taiwan, beginning with Beijing in April. The outlet is an existing store that will be refurbished with a floor area of about 185 sq. m. Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen will follow with their own flagship outlets over the next two years.

Nine West has the hard way learnt that breaking into the potentially huge Chinese mainland market is not easy. After launching in China with its Shanghai store in 1997, it discovered that its wholesalers were not projecting the correct brand image of Nine West across its 17 mainland outlets.

That spelt trouble for a brand that was trying to position itself at the higher end of the market.

"We were trying out different things so at one point we had a series of wholesale accounts because China's so big," Ms Ho Asjoe said. "Through the years and experience you learn not to do that and instead remain tight with your wholesale account.

"So after Beijing, there will be a revamping of those stores and a lot of changes for the major cities. This will provide a more cohesive image and it helps to give mainland staff more product knowledge so that the end results will be better.''

Operated in the Asia-Pacific by master licensee GRI Asia Ltd, Nine West has 200 outlets across Asia including Hong Kong, China, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand, Korea and the Philippines.

Related link:
Nine West www.ninewest.com