LPP to open 50 new stores in Russia

Leading Polish retail group LPP is expanding its presence across Europe. Owner of contemporary fashion brands Reserved, which recently opened its first flagship store in London, Cropp, House, Mohito and Sinsay, the company has set its sights on actively developing in Russia in particular. LPP aims to open 50 new stores in Russia in 2018, as it foresees its sales from the country to have increased to 19.5 billion rubles (249 million pounds) over the past year. In order to learn more about LPP expansion plans for Russia and Europe, FashionUnited spoke to Anna Pilyugina, CEO of LPP Russia.

FashionUnited: LPP opened one of the largest Reserved stores in Aviapark six months ago in Russia. The new store features a number of new changes to the brand’s retail format, such as a renewed concept. What are the first results from the new store?

Anna: “Reserved in Aviapark has seen remarkably good result since the first days of opening. It has been also the first store to feature Reserved’s new store concept, known as “open to public”, which is very transparent, minimalistic, packed with high-tech tools and much more customer-oriented. Following the opening of the new Reserved store in Aviapark, we have opened stores featuring the new concept in Mega Ekaterinburg, Mega Belaya Dacha, Mega Teply Stan and as well as in other shopping centres in the region. The biggest Reserved store in Russia is located at Galeria Saint-Petersburg, and was named the best-selling store of the LPP group last year.”

How has LPP grown in Russia throughout the year? How many stores were opened, or closed during 2017? Did you open store in any new cities?

“As I already mentioned, we opened new stores in several Mega shopping centres in Moscow and Yekaterinburg, and we also had new openings in St. Petersburg, Tyumen, Orel, Samara and Nizhny Novgorod. By the end of 2017, we will open stores in Kursk, Tula, Smolensk and Rostov-on-Don as well. Most of these areas are already known to us, we have been working here for several years. In total, we opened 46 new stores in Russia this year.” “We also closed about 10 stores, most of which featured our old concept with a small retail and did not live up to our expectations. By the end of the year, we will operate about 330 stores in Russia with a total retail area of 190,000 square meters.”

In your opinion which of LPP brands is doing the best in Russia and why?

“More than 50 percent of our income from Russia comes from our brand Reserved. The second best-selling brand is Cropp. We started growing in Russia since 2004, and these two brands were the first brands in our portfolio to open stores in the country. They are the most recognizable brands. But this is not the only reason why they have done so well. The fashion industry continues to become more complex and we must meet the expectations of our customers every season. So our success in Russia is the result of all the hard work of LLP employees, who are successfully managing all our brands.”

You recently returned from a trip to London. Were you present at the opening of Reserved first flagship store in the UK? How important was this opening to LPP?

“The opening of Reserved’s first store in London was a very important event for our company. Therefore, it was decided to hold a meeting for all directors from all LPP’s markets in London. At the moment there are16 directors who are responsible for the external markets of the LPP group. We shared our results, opinions, experiences and learned something new from our manager in London. He is a very experienced man, who has been working in the fashion sector on Oxford Street for many years.”

“This was not our first Reserved store opening in Western Europe. We currently operate 19 stores in Germany, in large cities such as Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne, and Hamburg.”

How is Reserved's children's line performing in Russia? Are there any p lans to expand the range?

"We opened a dedicated Reserved Kids store in a separate location (in Moscow Aviapark and Tyumen City Mall) this year, which has seen remarkable results. That does not mean that we will always open separate stores for the range, but it shows us that Reserved Kids is attractive to our Russian customers. Our brand team who is responsible for Reserved Kids is working on a new collection."

How does LPP plan on developing further into Russia over the next year?

"We will continue to develop and open new stores for all our brands all across Russia. LPP will open about 50 stores in Russia in 2018. We also plan on accelerating the development of our youngest brand Sinsay, which has shown very promising results following the opening of its first store in Russia. "

Photos: courtesy of LPP