How Giordano Successfully Launched Its Brand in Fast Growing Emerging Markets

There once was a time when brands would only dabble in emerging markets.  Most brands avoided them.  Too complicated.  Too risky. Not enough potential revenue to justify the investment.  But that’s starting to change - and that change is being driven by two key factors.Traditional developed markets are highly competitive (every brand wants to be in these markets) and they are mature markets - making growth more difficult.  But that’s been the case for a while.What’s changing the game is that now emerging nations are seeing impressive growth of their middle classes - in terms of percent of population and buying power.And these are not all small nations.  Countries like Indonesia with a population of about 246 million, Nigeria with 201 million, India at 1.3 billion weigh in terms of numbers.   Smaller markets in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Africa also have a growing consumer populations who can and will buy international brands.Even though the numbers look enticing, entering these markets is not for beginners. New markets bring with them new challenges.  If nothing less than understanding local cultures and business practices.So how does a brand go about identifying which of these markets could be the right market for them? And then how do they get started where simply replicating what they did in traditional markets is not likely to be successful?To learn more about entering emerging markets I reached out to Mark Loynd, an Executive Director at Giordano International, and the group’s General Counsel and Head of Overseas Markets.If you’re looking at how to bring your brand into an emerging market, then Mark is the man to see.  He’s been there, seen it and done it.Mark has led Giordano’s successful expansion into nine countries in Africa, including its recent entry into Ghana, 8 countries in Central Asia, 7 Eastern European nations and many more in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.TIME STAMPS(4.46) Identifying the Right New Markets(8.48) Managing Inventory across over 30 Markets(13:47) The Benefits of a Strong Commitment to Quality(15:26) Understanding the New Consumer(16:19) Why Sticking to Their DNA has Paid Off(20:03) Fastest Growing MarketsBefore we get started, if you are looking to create collections for your brand that will be must-buys in new markets or traditional markets, then SPINEXPO is the place for you!  It’s the primary exhibition for yarns and knitwear.From technical innovation to cutting edge colour and design inspiration, SPINEXPO is a rich resource that provides  well edited forums featuring high quality products, as well as exclusive trend information that cannot be found anywhere else.   You can learn more at:  www.spinexpo.comAnd don’t forget to check out our new podcast website where you can find all of the previous episodes of A Seat at The Table podcast, the show notes,  plus lots of other useful information.   You can find it at www.seat.fm.  That’s seat.fm - fm because it’s a podcast.USEFUL LINKSSPINEXPO:  www.spinexpo.comGiordano International:  www.giordano.comA Seat at The Table website:  https://seat.fmThe Current Situation in Sourcing:   https://bit.ly/current_situtationSEND US A MESSAGEVisit A Seat at The Table's website at https://seat.fm