Sports fashion brand Superdry has revealed it will open another store in New Zealand in Queenstown. The date for the opening has not been disclosed, but brand general manager Antony Hampson said Brand Collective, which holds the licence for Superdry in Australia and New Zealand, is actively looking for locations in the area. According to Hampson, Superdry could roll out more stores in the country depending on how the market responds to the brand.
“For now, it would just be Auckland and Queenstown so we have representation across both the North and South islands,” he said.
Superdry announced earlier this month it will open its first store in New Zealand in April in the heart of Auckland’s Queen Street shopping district.
The 193sqm store will be split into two levels, with the menswear department on the first level and a glass staircase leading consumers to the womenswear section on the second level. The Superdry Auckland store will also offer a selection of Superdry Snow, which features fashion forward, technical alternatives to traditional snow gear.
“The store will incorporate the latest Superdry fit-out which involves a more digitised experience for our customer and clearer layout,” Hampson said.
“There will also be a strong emphasis on our snow collection which is going from strength to strength and of course we will continue to ensure we present the product categories we are most renowned for: fleece, jackets and t-shirts.”
Hampson said the brand is confident it will deliver strong sales, given the demographic there. He said the climate suits the brand as well.
“The brand is not new to the market, we have a healthy wholesale business and strong partnerships with a number of key retail partners over the past 10 years,” he said.
“We know there is demand for the brand and we feel that the opportunity is now to present the full collection of products to the customer base there which is what a concept store gives us the ability to do.”
Superdry is also in the process of bringing over its e-commerce operation to run out of Melbourne to improve its speed of service. It is currently run out of the UK.
“This will enable us to communicate consistently to our customer base both in Australia and New Zealand,” Hampson said.
In a tussle for leadership of the company in the UK, former CEO and co-founder Julian Dunkerton and the board have each made disparaging remarks about the brand’s performance of late, alternately laying the blame for slowing sales on misguided strategy and undifferentiated product that no longer appeals to customers. But Hampson said it doesn’t directly affect Superdry stores in Australia and New Zealand.
“Superdry is operated under Brand Collective Pty Ltd who has the license for Superdry within Australia and New Zealand, so this doesn’t directly affect us here.
“UK retail has been tough in general with a much warmer than expected summer which has had an impact on high street sales, particularly in those winter product types which Superdry is synonymous with,” he said.
“It is important to note that the brand is still very profitable and is continuing to stay true to its values around innovation, quality and design. The product is evolving for the better.”
Superdry UK announced last December it may close or relocate some of its stores after its annual profits came in £30 million ($58.2 million) below expectations.
