JBC gets German expansion through Galeria Kaufhof

Belgian fashion chain JBC has major expansion plans for Germany, thanks to a deal with department store chain Galeria Kaufhof. JBC’s collection will be sold in Kaufhof’s 99 locations.

Expansion needed to grow

It will not be JBC’s first step into Germany, as it already opened its seventh store there last year. However, the chain does feel this is the best way to see where further expansion is possible. “The Kaufhof collaboration is a way to see in which regions our clothing is popular. That opens up a path to our own stores there”, CEO Bart Claes said. The chain recently also added its entire kids collection to its German web shop.

JBC needs the international expansion to help grow the Claes Retail Group, which also owns Mayerline. The group’s turnover dropped 14 % to 237.1 million euro in 2016, although its net loss also dropped, from 18.7 to 11.5 million euro. “We lowered our loss because we did not have to write off huge numbers like we did in 2015”, Claes said. “We also cut costs by merging JBC and Mayerline’s warehouses, among other things.”

JBC is not the only Belgian fashion chain going through a rough patch: 2016 proved to be a weak year and growth has not picked up as forecast for 2017, although that is true for the entire industry.