Esprit: Doubling Sales In China In The Next 5 Years

Hong Kong

In a statement to the Hongkong stock exchange, the company said it currently has 169 businesses in mainland China and 931 stores.

The plan has increased to 1700.

Meanwhile, Esprit will continue to open the world's largest brand store in Frankfurt later this year as planned.

Germany is still the largest market for Esprit.

In the statement, the company said: "looking ahead, we will focus on expanding our market. China is undoubtedly the top priority market."

In January this year, Espiri bought the shares of Chinese Huarun in the joint venture for HK $3 billion 880 million, and controlled the mainland business independently.

ChewFookAun, chief financial officer of the company, said that next year, the company will invest HK $1 billion 100 million in the mainland market. The total plan is to invest 2 billion 200 million Hong Kong dollars in the mainland.

The company said that part of its expansion strategy will include the introduction of low price series to three to five tier cities, and expansion of retail businesses to at least four major cities.

The mainland's wholesale business will focus on franchising to extend to three to five tier cities.

ChewFookAun also said the wholesale business in the European market is still under pressure due to weak consumer confidence.