Women'secret aims for big growth in China

By

Jean-Paul Leroy

Published
Sep 27, 2012

The lingerie chain of the Spanish Cortefiel group, women'secret, just announced a major deal for China with The BasicHouse out of South Korea. The chain's new partner will orchestrate the opening of more than 300 retail outlets and corners over the next five years.

This agreement follows another deal that Cortefiel signed in March with the Chinese group Scarvic for the opening of 800 points of sale in China for its Springfield and Piedro del Hierro labels.

As for the lingerie brand, it already signed with Turkish group Unifor to open 60 stores in Turkey last April.

Women'secret's partner in China started up in South Korea in 2000 with its first retail outlet. It has been active in China since 2004 where it now has 150 points of sale. Internationally, The BasicHouse heads up a network of over 1,500 retail outlets and corners located throughout different countries like South Korea and China, but also Russia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Armenia.

The BasicHouse has mostly developed in-house brands. It also oversees licenses in Korea for the D'Urban brand, owned by the Li & Fung conglomerate and Speedo. The company is listed on the stock exchange in Seoul.

This agreement is part of a larger plan for the internationalization of the Spanish group. Cortefiel is now present today in sixty countries through its different brands, with the goal that international business accounts for at least 50% of turnover in the medium term.