French leather and luxury goods company Longchamp is ramping up its Chinese presence to boost consumer awareness of its brand. 

Longchamp has been in China for about 20 years, however its executive team says a huge effort is still needed to increase brand awareness.  

“We are still in the process of building up the brand so we need to gain more visibility in the market,” said Longchamp CEO Jean Cassegrain. “Frankly, the issue is the brand awareness. We need to work to be more physically visible, that is the main goal.”

“We are a medium-sized independent company, so we can’t do everything at once, so we have been working on some other markets a little bit more intensively and actively in the past 10 years.”

Longchamp plans to take the number of its directly operated stores to 20 by the year’s end across the mainland from 14 currently. The company will also build a new flagship in Hong Kong, which will be the Asia’s largest.

Aiming to make China one of its top three markets worldwide, Longchamp also plans to launch its own online mainland store.

Longchamp founded in 1948, achieved total sales of €390 million (US$496.70 million) in 2011, 22 per cent up on 2010. Greater China sales grew by more than 140 per cent.

Addressing this year’s outlook, Cassegrain said: “It is hard to forecast exact figures in such a fast-changing world. However, we are prepared for growth as we open major new stores and continue to invest in our global business.”

Longchamp, owned and managed by Cassegrain family, produces luggage, handbags, apparel and accessories. It owns over 236 exclusive boutiques around the world and is also sold in more 1800 multi-brand stores in 100 countries.

GB