London store targets Chinese shoppers

Ermenegildo Zegna, the luxury Italian menswear brand, opens a new branch in London's Bond Street, the home of many luxury brands' flagship stores. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Ermenegildo Zegna, the luxury Italian menswear brand, is targeting overseas Chinese shoppers at a new branch it has opened in London's Bond Street, the home of many luxury brands' flagship stores.

The number of Chinese tourists visiting the UK reached a new record high of 270,000 in 2015. Those visitors spent more than 586 million pounds ($738 million), according to VisitBritain, the UK's official tourism board.

To better respond to the influx of Chinese customers, the new Zegna London Global Store has hired Chinese-speaking sales staff and the services of personalized consultants who can explain the brand's history and culture.

Ermenegildo Zegna, the fourth-generation CEO who runs the family brand, said: "Chinese customers are one of our biggest clienteles. By offering native speaking staff , who understand the culture and the customers' needs, we are able to bring a comfortable shopping experience to our Chinese patrons."

To satisfy the particular tastes of Chinese customers, the fashion house in London has stocked a wide range of luxurious menswear collections.

"Chinese love light wear because they use the products for traveling, and also they adore sportswear and leather goods," said Zegna."We have a good assortment of those products in the London Global Store particularly catering to the tastes of the Chinese."

The Italian company, which has its own sheep farms in Australia that supply wool to mills in Italy, opened a branch in China in 1991, becoming the first luxury apparel company to launch a store within the Chinese market.

Greater China is now its biggest single market, accounting for about one third of its global sales of 1.26 billion euros ($1.37 billion) in 2015.

"This would not happen if we did not take the market seriously by making the early entry, building the right store, creating the right team and keeping investing in new things," Zegna said.

He believes retailers selling in the China market should never stand still and rest on their laurels, because customers keep asking for more products and services, and because competition is fierce.

"To remain a leader as a menswear luxury brand in China, you have to keep renewing yourself and reinvesting in the brand to make sure that people are given superior service and a constant innovative brand proposition," Zegna said.

He added that China's key stores have become a testing ground for the company as it introduces new products and ideas because Chinese customers enjoy being exposed to fresh thinking.