Sophia Hwang-Judiesch has replaced former Esprit Australia general manager Andrew Bousie, building on her existing eight years working for the men’s, women’s and childrenswear apparel brand in Asia. Speaking from Esprit Australia’s Sydney head office, Hwang-Judiesch said the brand’s net sales per square metre were down 20 to 30 per cent on 2008/09 levels.
“The biggest issue right now, and this is actually something I recognised when I was working with Andrew, is the net sales per square metre – or as we call them, the productivity numbers – are really not up to snuff at this point,” Hwang-Judiesch said.
Her strategies to turn the figures around are multifaceted.
“The biggest key for me is when I do my store visits, I can see the standards are very different across the board. We’re trying to make that consistent.”
Also changing in time for spring/summer 2011/12 is the breadth of retail price points available in Australian stores.
“In other global markets [Esprit] had opening price point, mid price point to the high price point. In a lot of cases, for a lot of categories, [Esprit Australia] skipped certain price structures. As a result we lost a certain customer base that were buying on price point,” Hwang-Judiesch said.
Those three tiers of price points are now being reinstated in Australian stores.
“Our average retail unit price is about $25 to $30...so you take anything below that as opening and then anything higher than that as a higher price point,” Hwang-Judiesch explained.
Trying to refresh Esprit’s brand image is also on this managing director’s to do list.
“We know that customers recognise Esprit – we’re highly recognisable as a brand within most global markets – but in terms of relevance, we’ve kind of lost that footing. You can actually see that in the footfall counts across most of the stores. Whilst we feel that we are a very good brand, we need to now show the customer something new and different.”
Among those ‘new and different’ elements will be trend-driven capsule collections that will drop in line with northern hemisphere timelines. These will be tested in stores “in the next few months” and will complement Esprit Australia’s main product, which currently runs six months behind the northern hemisphere.
Also refreshing Esprit’s public image will be celebrity-fronted marketing campaigns. The first campaign hits Australia for spring/summer 2011/12 and features international models Erin Wasson and Jessica Hart. It is a departure from Esprit’s long standing ‘product first’ marketing strategy.
Despite these ‘brand refresh’ strategies, Hwang-Judiesch said the local invasion of Zara and Gap was not a threat to Esprit Australia’s market share.
“...[E]very time we’ve had H&M or Zara or some of the big retailers that we compete against on a global level come into the market, we see our footfalls increase by 20 to 30 per cent. I think it’s a reaction to the fact that more competition within a shared space or a shared street really ensures that more people will come and as a result they’ll shop everywhere. We get the overflow of customers which we’re really happy about.”
There are no more Esprit store openings on the horizon, with Hwang-Judiesch content with the brand’s 73 freestanding stores, 92 Myer concessions and 11 outlets. Esprit’s intimates line is also carried by 35 David Jones stores. Hwang-Judiesch said the Myer concessions in particular have been “very successful”.
“I think Myer’s customer base is very similar to Esprit’s,” she explained.
Hwang-Judiesch’s appointment to Esprit Australia is not her first international retail role, having spent time as country manager for Esprit in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Prior to that, Hwang-Judiesch worked for Guess Jeans, Club Monaco and Danier Leather.
Hwang-Judiesch’s predecessor, Bousie, held the managing director role for five years.
Erin O’Loughlin