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Faster collection intervals to accelerate growth of GERRY WEBER

29
Sep '08

Despite the ongoing crisis in the German retail trade, GERRY WEBER International AG further widened its lead over its competitors by posting new record sales and earnings for the first nine months of 2007/2008. With Group sales and EBIT up 12.8 percent and 26.4 percent, respectively, the GERRY WEBER Group once again demonstrated its strong business trend in a continuing weak environment and set itself apart from the industry.

“The crisis highlights the wisdom of our past restructuring programmes which are now bearing fruit. We have optimised our procurement and production structures, introduced an efficient logistics system and created a flexible distribution system. We can now respond swiftly to changes in all areas and act on all opportunities presenting themselves in the marketplace”, said CEO Gerhard Weber explaining his company's unbroken pace of growth. He added: “The key to our success lies in the fact that we increasingly assume responsibilities at the point of sale.”

Incoming orders for the first and second spring/summer collection 2009 also grew at a brisk pace and were up by 14.0 percent following another expansion of international market shares particularly in eastern Europe as well as in the Middle and Far East. The GERRY WEBER Group's export share has meanwhile risen to some 50 percent and the excellent order book underpins the Group's forecast which envisages another record sales figure for the year 2008/2009.

The GERRY WEBER Group has long been instrumental in its retail partner's success and remains committed to its successful cooperation with retailers.

“Our close partnership with retailers remains our single most important success factor. To continue our expansion even in challenging times, we have to make sure that our retail partners can earn solid profits on our products. For several years we have offered our customers higher mark-ups than our competitors and we also score the highest sell-through ratios in the ladieswear retail sector. As retail sales slump, retailers tend to focus on products which give them profits", said Gerhard Weber.

Moreover, EDI data links to 1,800 retailers as well as to all HOUSES OF GERRY WEBER constantly keep the fashion and lifestyle company abreast of the latest trends at the point of sale. The insights gained from the data not only inform the company's own retail business but are also made available to its retail partners. “We do not force our fashion onto our consumers but design our products from the point of sale up. At our stores we immediately see what goes down best with customers and can design our collections accordingly”, the company's CEO explained.

The GERRY WEBER Group has modified its collection intervals in order to continue to grow despite the recession in the German retail trade. For the 2009 summer season, the company will for the first time present four collections with twelve themes instead of three collections comprising 14 themes. New trends can now be implemented faster and it is possible to design even more fashionable collections which are even more attractive to consumers.

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