Special programme forum

June 2, 16.00:16.45. Personal Focus Session

ANATOLY VASILIEV ON LESSONS IN INTEGRATING WITH THE EUROPEAN MARKET

We are happy to witness an unprecedented event, for the first time in the history of the fashion industry a Russian company is taking over one of the most well known European producers! What is the aim of the purchase? What is more important about this decision: profits or problems? How do French experts appraise the prospects of the Russian company on the foreign market? How does the Russian company itself appraise its prospects? Participants of the Fashion Retail Russia Forum will be the first to learn the history of the brand acquisition and details of the transaction. Anatoly Vasiliev, General Director of Parizhanka Group of Companies, will address the Forum guests.

In the course of 13 years of successful work, Parizhanka has travelled a long way from a small 24 sq. m store in Togliatti to a major distributor of a number of global brands in Russia, Europe and the USA. The company has accumulated experience not only from organising its own retail trade but in the development of regional trading chains as well. It has thirty retail stores in several cities and more than 400 regional clients. It conducts active franchising work, its own logistics company, deliveries to international and national trading chains: hypermarkets AUCHAN, METRO, KARUSEL, Perekrestok and others. It has created its own Collection Design Centre and development both on the Côte d'Azur and in Moscow and representation and production in China. During the economic crisis Parizhanka has carried out several M&A transactions both in Russia and beyond, acquiring a French company with 35 years history, know-how, personnel, brand and production.

June 2, from 18.15 till late. Closed cocktail party!

The owner of one of the most famous Moscow boutiques welcomes Forum participants. This is a unique chance to learn firsthand about the specifics of working in the luxury segment, to find out about the new store concept, to try on garments from the new collection, to take part in a photo session and, of course, to buy garments at a discount.

Paid for separately. Places are limited. Contact the Forum organisers for details.

June 3, 11.45:13.00. Meeting of Fashion Consulting Group, a Forum partner.

WAYS OF DEVELOPING MULTI-BRAND STORES IN RUSSIA

There are distinct trends in the retail business today which may directly influence the development of multi-brand stores. The growth rates of vertically integrated retail companies, selling their own brand in their chain, are outstripping the others. The share of such companies is growing fast, and they are actually pushing out producers-wholesalers from the middle segment and correspondingly their retail distributors as well. More and more global trading chains and producers are terminating distribution contracts and entering the Russian market directly following the development of these retail companies. “Ways of Developing Multi-Brand Stores in Russia” session will help to understand what niche multi-brand stores will be able to occupy, competing with local and international mono-brand chains, and what steps the present day heads of multi-brand stores sector are undertaking to strengthen the positions of their companies.

Invited to participate: Trading House Holding Center, Veshch!, Snezhnaya Koroleva, ModaMo, Bosco Di Cilieji, Modnaya Tochka, Podium, Kupi Vip, boutique.ru, Mercury, Stockmann, Detsky Mir, etc.

June 3, 15.30:16.30. Talk Show “Challenge to a Duel!”

LOYALTY PROGRAMMES AND LOYAL BUYERS

Presenter: Dmitry Levitsky, Managing Partner Retail Training Group (clients include Levis, MEXX, Sela, Esprit, Reebok, Finn Flare)

What is customer loyalty? Are they customers with a loyalty programme card? Or maybe the loyalty is a synonym for customer satisfaction and can be measured by questioning customers? Or is it something material which can be measured by, for example, the percentage of customers who coming to your store for purchases at least once a month? The show participants, representatives of retail companies, will defend their programmes in order to find out, in an honest duel, the truth about loyalty programmes as well as the ways of managing them and how to make the existing visitors loyal to the chain.

“Most retailers are using loyalty programmes to give customers a material benefit, while discussions on loyalty are becoming discussions on price competition. Customer loyalty is created in the store: one customer after another, one memorable customer service experience after another. Just like that. It’s not magic!” says Dmitry Levitsky.