America, Get ready for Mango Invasion!

Yes, Mango as in Spain based hip and trendy fashion chain store, Mango. They plan to open 15 stores in the US nationwide by the end of the year. Here is more details as written by FashionUnited.co.uk:

Mango looks to America

Mango, the Spanish retailer, is hot on the heels of Zara and is expanding in the US market, with a view to being as strong in the market as the group is in Europe. The company has been carefully scouting the U.S. market for suitable locations, creating anticipation over several seasons about when the privately owned, $1.4 billion Barcelona fashion chain would follow in the footsteps of Hennes & Mauritz and Zara.

"It's difficult to find the best locations in the best malls," said José Gómez, Mango's vice president of business development, during an interview with key members of the Mango team. "In Europe , we are relatively high-street based, but America is a mall culture, though we are planning street locations, as well. "By the end of the year, we will have 15 stores opened in the U.S. , in major metropolitan areas. We are a very strong brand in Europe . We are working toward that goal in the U.S.."

The stores in the U.S. are called MNG By Mango because of trademark regulations; the MNG label appears on the clothes worldwide. Mango's U.S. stores will be 4,000 to 8,000 square feet, though in other countries, they are as large as 20,000 square feet, like the flagship on Oxford Street in London. Asked how many stores are envisioned for the States, he replied, "The market will tell us." He said there was no perceived cap, though there have been previous reports quoting Mango officials predicting around 250 units in a decade, assuming real estate that meets Mango's high standards becomes available.

Mango, founded in 1984, operates almost 1,000 stores worldwide and has been opening 100 stores annually for the past few years. The biggest market is Spain , where there are 240 Mango stores and its major competitor is Zara, which is owned by Inditex. Mango is not widely known among U.S. consumers, but to build awareness, the retailer's image catalogue, with 25 pages, will be distributed in a 10-mile radius from the new stores. Top models or celebrities have appeared in the catalogues and ads, such as Milla Jovovich, who is in the current campaign, and Claudia Schiffer, Elizabeth Jagger and Naomi Campbell. Worldwide, the company mails 20 million catalogues translated into 25 languages.

www.mango.com
14 September 2006