ICSC: 'Big is not always better'

Big is not always better, according to retailer Bestseller, which prefers to enter new markets via small city stores.

'In small towns we are becoming the local heros,' Jørgen Nielsen, European expansion manager at Bestseller, told a panel on retail expansion at the ICSC European Conference taking place in Stockholm this week.

Not all the panellists agreed with him. Turkish retailer Koton, which operates in its home country and across the Middle East, prefers to open flagship shops in new locations. Yilmaz Yilmaz, CEO Koton, explained: 'If you don’t show your entire concept in good locations then the customers and mall locations cannot locate your brand properly.'

But with a lack of the right type of retail space in the right place retailers are having to widen their expansion net globally.

Koton is active in 26 countries, mainly in Turkey, the Gulf region and old Yugoslavian countries, and an expansion into Central America 'is certainly on the table', according to Yilmaz. Indonesia and Germany might also be new markets. However, while acknowledging that Europe is an opportunity, he added: 'Germany is the biggest market and we think we are ready to develop the brand there.'

Bestseller has operations in 36 countries across Europe. 'We are also expanding with all our brands in Scandinavia and we would like more business in Turkey and the UK than we have today. Spain and Italy are not easy, We are cherry-picking for good opportunities. It’s more about getting the stores to run well.'

For Funky Fish CEO Sagi Avrahami, which is active in 24 countries from Aruba to Venezuela, there are still opportunities in the Philippines, India and Africa. But having heard about the spending power and population growth across Scandinavia from Citycon’s Marcel Kokkeel, he added: 'Until today I didn’t know about Scandinavian opportunities, now I do I would be happy to expand here.'