Apparel magazine compiled their top 10 takeaways from the National Retail Foundation’s infamous Big Show last week. Among many other gems of retail wisdom was something that we here in the GTM community know very well: To grow your apparel business, expand internationally.
The lesson may seem simple, but the implementation is a bit more complex. As companies go global, they can take one of two paths: the “clone” model or the “distributed” model. The first model perfects its brand and copies it in other locations – like Apple, for example. The distributed model, on the other hand, lets its brand develop relatively independently around the globe. Many of the companies in this second category began as wholesalers, like Levi’s. The clone-model companies often struggle with local relevancy, while the distributed-model retailers tend to struggle with brand consistency.
Levi’s, an Amber Road customer, struck a balance between the two models in order to solidify its brand worldwide. Whereas Levi’s originally used a regional-focused model to expand globally, the company has now changed its mindset and organizational structure to create a unified global brand experience. According to Enrique Atienza, SVP of retail at Levi Strauss Americas:
“We completely reorganized the way we operate. Previously, we had an overwhelming assortment of product catered to regional markets … 20 different models across the world … leadership in every country … and a local-only, single-channel mindset … [that made for an] inconsistent customer experience.”
Now, Levi’s has three global retail teams, has aligned every retail channel, and has reduced the number of styles by about 60 percent, Atienza says.
To read more about how Levi’s streamlined its global expansion, and to see the nine other Big Show takeaways, click here.