Building new business opportunities from scratch is a prime motivation for Basil Artemides, the managing director of retail group Bardot. Along with his wife and business partner Carol Skoufis, Artemides strives to initiate fresh labels, product lines, store designs and advertising campaigns – and encourages his staff to drive them to fruition.
“You can’t do it on your own – it is about getting the team together and working on creating your own process,” he says. “That to me is very important and I enjoy that. I think that is what we are about at Bardot.”
This formula appears to be a winning ticket for the Melbourne-based business, which was launched in 1996 by Skoufis, before Artemides joined in 2000. Young women’s fashion brand Bardot is accompanied in the stable by children’s lines Bardot Junior and Beau by Bardot. A plus size young womenswear line, Monroe, is also produced and stocked in Myer.
Bardot sister company BC Clothing creates wholesale apparel for Myer and runs a new women’s occasion wear line called mucci & me. Artemides also co-owns Sasco, which produces bags and accessories line Aliss & Ena. In addition, a menswear venture, James Marlon, was recently launched as its own entity to offer well-priced denim. To manage the mix, a team of 60 people work in the company’s Abbotsford head office and around 500 staff are placed across its retail stores.
As recently reported in Ragtrader, a key development for the business is a revamped Bardot shop-fit, unveiled at the new Sydney MidCity store this month.
“It is brand new, a really new direction for Bardot from its traditional set up,” Artemides says. “We have refreshed Bardot a few times over the years but this is quite a big departure. It is a lot more modern.”
He explains that it moves on from a monochromatic look to introduce vivid yellow detailing, which was once representative of the label. Over time the new interiors will be rolled out across the brand’s 37 stores nationally and implemented in new stores going forward.
The stores will also see a tighter inventory of product, which he says is the result of improved internal processes and quality control measures. The company produces much of its apparel in China and its denim in Australia.
“Our pricing policy remains the same – driving hard to improve quality at effective cost, which over the last few seasons has happened,” he says.
Bardot Junior is a steadily developing sector for the company. Designed for young girls sized zero to 14, it was recently complemented by boy’s line Beau by Bardot.
“Obviously lots of people [brands] are in the junior market at the moment, but we felt that it was quite a good concept. I feel that the products are slightly more fashionable than just throwaway. We are trying to appeal to the fashion forward mum,” he says.
The company has just opened its fourth Bardot Junior store, located in Westfield Bondi Junction, Sydney.
“Junior is just in Melbourne and Sydney and there is a long way to go,” he says. “[Growth is] not quite as quick as Bardot. It is good and slow organic growth.”
Skoufis directs design for both Bardot and Bardot Junior, with a focus on quickly translating current European trends for the Australian market. New collections are dropped into store every week for Bardot, while Bardot Junior product is also frequently turned over.
“We don’t believe Junior should have an opening summer drop and then sit there for the whole year,” Artemides says. “We think it can be a trend business, which is what they [the designers] are really enjoying in terms of creative inspiration.”
Bardot Junior recently launched into the e-commerce sphere, which Artemides believes is an endeavour with great potential.
“There are all those mums that have gone back to work after a year and they don’t have time to shop. They have the least time to shop out of everyone. It’s a big market from an online perspective.”
Artemides says the original Bardot’s e-commerce venture has grown to be the equivalent of a stand-alone bricks and mortar store in terms of sales, but a revamp of the website is due in November. This will coincide with a greater social networking push, to create an online community around the brand.
“I think as much as you refurbish your retail store you need to refurbish your online platforms now very regularly.
“We’ve done a lot of creative [billboard/magazine campaigns] in the past with big artwork. We are probably focused a lot more now on our loyalty, our members and our online environment.”
Another new promotional strategy will be the launch of a free quarterly in-store Bardot magazine, with the first to be released this month. It will feature lookbook shoots, style advice and behind the scenes information to encourage consumer interest and connection with the brand.
Cracking the menswear market is on the agenda, with the company striving to increase the profile of James Marlon. It was launched in June 2009 in collaboration with Chris Skoufis and is stocked in Myer.
“We have a real success in denim with Bardot and we want to emulate that into the menswear range,” Artemides says. “We are not aiming at the upmarket denim market, but there is a lack of fashionable denim at a reasonable price. Prices in James Marlon are $129 to $159 for jeans.”
He says the brand is not ready for its own retail stores, but a new team of account managers and designers is being implemented for future expansion.
Accessory label Aliss & Ena is also being readied for a lift. It has been operating on a wholesale basis to date, but Artemides and business partner Alex Servos plan to launch retail stores for the label over the next year. This will be accompanied by a more aggressive marketing approach for the mid-priced brand, which encompasses leather bags and accessories with fashion at the core.
Ever creating new projects, Artemides’ latest start-up, mucci & me, a young women’s cocktail dress label, has been secured by Myer for summer 2010. Run in conjunction with Maria Palmucci, the brand is pitched at designer-conscious consumers, but at affordable price points.
“We’ve had quite a good response from quite a few of the chains,” he says. “I think it’s going to have a really good beginning. It has been picked up by a buyer in Dubai as well. I think there is a lot of scope in that occasion wear and formalwear [sector] to develop that brand. We like to develop it ourselves, do it quietly and let the brands grow organically.”