Coach eyes Europe for expansion

Coach, an American accessories company, is aiming to expand its brand in Europe. The company's European president, Nigel Darwin, is preparing to build on the the brand’s potential into regions where the brand believes there’s room for growth.

Darwin took up the position in October after previously having worked for New Look. He has since facilitated the opening of a 1,640 square-foot shop-in-shop in Harrods.

The Harrods shop, a first for Coach in the U.K., is just the first of many retail spaces expected to open across Europe, where the brand is aiming to build up a market share of more than 10 percent in the long term.

“It’s a ten-year vision, and our ambition is that Europe, all of Europe, becomes a significant part of the overall Coach business,” Darwin said. “We want to be successful with the local customer base as well as tourists, but we don’t want to build up a tourist business exclusively. And we’re looking at a multichannel approach: retail, wholesale and online.”

Coach was founded in 1941 as a family-run workshop. In a Manhattan loft, six artisans handcrafted a collection of leather goods using skills handed down from generation to generation. Discerning consumers soon began to seek out the quality and unique nature of Coach craftsmanship.

Coach’s distribution strategy is multi-channel. As of June 30, 2012, there were over 500 Coach stores in the United States and Canada, and over 300 directly-operated locations in Japan, China, Singapore and Taiwan, with additional retail locations in Malaysia and South Korea acquired in July and August, 2012.

Image: Coach campaign