Canada Goose global expansion will see two Chinese flagships this year

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 31, 2018

High-end outdoor brand Canada Goose sees a huge opportunity in China and plans to open two flagships there later this year, its CEO said Thursday. And it's opening an e-commerce channel on Tmall, China's largest platform for brands and retailers.

Dani Reiss said it will open a Hong Kong flagship in October and one in Beijing the following month. The move will come five years after the brand entered the Chinese market with a presence in upscale department stores such as Lane Crawford.

Reiss said that the company has potential to grow the business “significantly” in China and is benefitting from strong consumer awareness as Chinese shoppers travel and visit the brand’s own stores abroad as well as cross-border shopping online.

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“The opportunity is massive,” Reiss said. “We have been working with Chinese consumers for the last two years at our own stores and seen the demand. On our websites, we can see where the orders are coming from, and the volume of traffic we get from China.”

The China move will also come with a new regional HQ in Shanghai to be run by seasoned company exec Scott Cameron who has moved from being head of strategy and direct-to-consumer to president for the region.

International growth is clearly a focus for the brand with its debut on London’s Regent Street last November acting as its gateway to Europe. And the company has plans to open up to 20 retail stores around the world by 2020.

But Reiss said that the brand doesn’t want to move too fast and open too many stores, preferring to focus on locations that “are all strategic, are all in the right place, and are all well positioned to be profitable.”