French LOUIS VUITTON to increase Market Presence in Russia - So Easy Franchise
According to Roberto Eggs, Managing Director of LVMH for Eastern Europe, LOUIS VUITTON plans to increase its brand presence in Russia by expanding existing stores and opening new boutiques. The fifth LOUIS VUITTON store will be launched in the Olympic City of Sochi by midsummer 2013 which will resemble similar objects existing in Courchevel
and St. Tropez. The history of LOUIS VUITTON in Russia goes back to ten years. The first store was opened in Moscow on Stoleshnikov Bvd. in 2003. A year later a second store appeared at GUM, and, three years later, the company launched a store in St. Petersburg. Ekaterinburg allocated the fourth Russian boutique, in 2009. Former plans to take multiples to Rostov-on-Don, Samara and Nizhny Novgorod were waved.
Instead the Russian team of LOUIS VUITTON implemented stores in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. According to Daria Yadernaya, Executive Director of Russia ESPER CONSULTING "the experience of LOUIS VUITTON with stores in regional capitals, like Ekaterinburg, is not so much encouraging because clothes of the brand are not in demand, even in Moscow". "What sells at a share of around 80 percent is footwear, bags and accessories", Yadernaya explained. As Esper Group further assessed, sales of LOUIS VUITTON in Russia should have accounted for Euro 104 million in 2012.