Samsonite to open more stores on travel optimism
The luggage maker is targeting Asia and the US in its plans to add sales outlets in the key markets on expectations of growth in tourist numbers
Hong Kong-listed Samsonite International, the world's largest travel luggage maker, plans to open more new stores in Asia and the United States next year in a bid to capture the growing number of travellers in these regions.
Kyle Gendreau, chief financial officer of Samsonite, unveiled the company's expansion plan to the South China Morning Post in an interview in Hong Kong yesterday. He said the company would open 45 more stores across Asia next year to bring the total to 600, and 18 new stores in the United States to bring the total in that country to 115.
In addition to its own brand stores, the company also has thousands of sales outlets in department stores.
"We believe next year will be a better year than this year," Gendreau said. "Europe has seen strong recovery while the US has seen strong growth in sales this year."
He said the growth would continue next year although the pace might not be as strong as this year. "In Asia, we have seen very strong growth in China and many other markets this year and they will have similar growth next year," Gendreau said.
In the third quarter, the company's North America net sales grew 37.5 per cent year one year to US$162 million. Asia, the company's largest sales market representing 40 per cent of all sales, posted net sales amounting to US$199 million in the third quarter, up 8.9 per cent annually. Europe recorded 12.8 per cent annual sales growth during the quarter to US$140.7 million, while Latin America sales increased 8.2 per cent to US$25.6 million.