Cosmoparis goes international while strengthening in France

By

Lucile Deprez

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Oct 24, 2016

It is time for the footwear label to focus on its distribution network, having worked on brand DNA to strengthen its image, giving it a more fashionable, creative appeal, and also broadening the product range.

Axelle Mathery, the label's General Manager, stated she has harboured "a strong intention to expand internationally" for the last two years. Cosmoparis first began retailing in China a year ago, at the 'Pacific Place' concept store in Hong Kong, and has landed in Macao a month ago, at the 'The Parisian' shopping mall.

As for Europe, Cosmoparis is now present in Oslo’s Steen & Strom department store, and in Germany in the KaDeWe department stores. Mathery has no intention of stopping at that, and explained the brand is also targeting the Middle East and countries in North Africa. In order to satisfy Cosmoparis aficionados abroad, within a year the label also expects to start delivering internationally from its online store.

Cosmoparis' plans for international expansion are clear, while its owner, the Vivarte group, is sailing through troubled waters. Group President Stéphane Maquaire seems to rely on this small brand's potential, after announcing last September the closing down of about one hundred stores belonging to the La Halle Aux Chaussures chain.

The plans are the same for France. In the last two years, five long-standing stores in Paris closed down since, according to Axelle Mathery, the areas they were located in had changed and were no longer suited to the brand. New openings have made up for this, in the Parly 2 and Val d’Europe shopping malls, and in rue Saint-Honoré, and today Paris accounts for 30% of the footwear brand's revenue.

According to Mathery, "the objective is to open new branches in other major French cities," such as Lyon, Lille and Bordeaux for example. She is planning on opening between two and three directly owned stores per year, with two of them expected for next summer.

Finally, Cosmoparis will beef up its presence inside the Printemps department store, where its display area will double. Cosmoparis currently operates eighty stores altogether in France and abroad, seventeen of which are directly owned.