retailer of luxury goods in China that fit brands to the rights to re-sell
Three years ago Alice Wong, Managing Director of Imaginex Group, and his colleagues discuss a hot topic in her office in Hong Kong: How can the company's distribution rights for brands they keep?
Designers like Gucci, Coach, Prada and Cartier had begun to take over the management of their products in the mainland of brand management and distribution company that had first brought the brand to the mainland 20 years ago.
Imaginex is a distributor of high fashion in Asia. Founded in 1992, it is part of the Lane Crawford Joyce Group, one of Peter Woo Kwong-ching, chairman of Hong Kong-listed property company Wheelock & Co.
It helps foreign luxury brands open and run shops and market, and the taste of the customers looking for products continent. Also recruited and trained sales staff and provide after-sales service.
He makes his profit by buying luxury goods at a price and then sell to local customers with an appropriate markup.
But the market has changed. The continent has eased into a profitable business luxury Beijing and restrictions on foreign retailers in 2004.
Many brands have decided to recover the distribution rights of their continent and the agent more control over distribution channels in the world's largest luxury market.
In 2008, Hong Kong-based sales company Fairton International Group the right to the products of the Swiss leather goods brand Bally lost sale.
Another dealer in Hong Kong, Dickson Concepts to hold against their distribution agreement with Polo Ralph Lauren in 2009, and ended its partnership with Tommy Hilfiger in 2011.
The loss of these brands hurt distributors and cast a shadow over the future of their industry.
"We discussed the problem often on the inside. We asked ourselves how we can make it harder for brands to take the rights back?" said Alice Wong. "We have realized that we are a strategic partner for brands, not just a business operator needs for them."
In 2010, the company decided, the number of fashion brands they represent to reduce. He became the exclusive partner of some brands on the continent. The strategy worked.
Meanwhile Imaginex developed marketing campaigns for brands such as Paul Smith and Alice + Olivia.
Imaginex currently represents 19 brands, including Paul & Shark, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, DKNY, Club Monaco, Juicy Couture and 3.1 Phillip Lim It operates over 450 stores in more than 50 cities in China and Southeast Asia. He recorded double-digit growth in sales last year. Wong said the company expects a similar growth rate this year.
Wong is the company's acquisition of the brand Imaginex head and looks after the marketing and creative sectors.
With 23 years of experience in the fashion retail industry, she explains how the company deals with the challenge of luxury brands back distribution rights and their impact on the industry.