Hugo Boss Says 75% of Sales Will Come from its Own Stores by 2020

Hugo Boss has plans to upgrade its core Boss brand, invest in direct-to-consumer retail, increase its women’s wear business under designer Jason Wu and look to the emerging markets in Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The German company released a statement about its strategic growth plan for the next five years in advance of an investor event this week.

“Considerable sales and profit increases underline the success of our strategy in the last years,” said CEO Claus-Dietrich Lahrs. “The initiatives introduced today develop this strategy further and secure profitable growth. We will elevate our core brand in both menswear and women’s wear. In doing so, we offer customers an attractive brand experience across all touch points.”

The company says it plans for high single-digit sales growth in the next several years, “despite the increasingly challenging macro-economic and industry-specific environment.”

The core Boss brand will be “significantly upgraded” in an effort to reach a 20 percent share of the luxury market; that plan means a shift away from wholesale. The company says it expects 75 percent of its sales to come from its own stores by 2020. While Hugo Boss will not exit wholesale altogether, the plans outlined a takeover of its own shop-in-shops from wholesale partners.

And finally, the Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East markets, which Hugo Boss calls under-penetrated, will be a major source of sales growth.