British luxury brand Mulberry is known for its swank and stylish designer handbags. But it has never really made it to the top rung of luxury accessory companies. Not until now, that is. Business at the luxury handbag company has been on the upswing of late. The company could soon grow into a tough rival for the likes of Prada. A rise in global purchases of Mulberry products has led to a significant boost in profits. A Bloomberg report stated that Mulberry now has the best-performing fashion retail stock in the world. The news is sure to be good news to the ears of Mulberry shareholders. The British luxury brand is finally entering the big league.
Over the last one year, Mulberry’s stock value has increased by a whopping 527 percent. That is undoubtedly a huge growth scale. And this is just the start. The company’s profits actually quadrupled to $28 million in the last year. This luxury handbag maker clocked an impressive price-to-earnings ratio of 59 times. Even luxury brands like Hermes are several steps behind with a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.4.
The Mulberry growth story should partly be attributed to its expansion into the United States, China and Korea. The British company is aggressively targeting new markets. It is also important to note that a large proportion of the company’s profits have come from the availability of Mulberry’s Club 21 brand in the United States. As the company extends its reach and establishes itself in other markets, this growth story should carry on. Within the next couple of years, Mulberry has plans of introducing its Club 21 line in China. The company has big plans for Korea as well. It plans to increase its count of a dozen stores in Korea to 20 by the end of this year.
Another big recent success for Mulberry has been the introduction of the $1,200 Alexa satchel. Named after style icon Alexa Chung, this school bag style product has proved a big hit. It appears that Mulberry is striking gold wherever it goes. The company will hope that this lucky streak continues as it enters newer markets in Asia.
In doing so, Mulberry could follow the lead of another British luxury brand, Burberry. In recent years, Burberry has worked on making its presence felt in emerging Asian markets by taking the tech-savvy route. Thus, the company has streamed runway shows online. It has also experimented with 3-D advertisements. The company has really gone out on a limb to woo Chinese customers. In fact, if you head to the Burberry store in Beijing, you will be stunned by the presence of enormous touchscreens that add a whole new element to the luxury shopping experience. These full-length touchscreens showcase special collections from Burberry. In case outfits of a certain size or style are not available in the store, the staff check for availability on special iPads.
Mulberry might want to follow Burberry’s example to gain a better foothold in these emerging Asian economies and further increase its profitability. Mulberry’s leather products boast of excellent quality and great designs. So really, there is nothing stopping this British luxury brand from growing into a strong competitor to other luxury leather brands like Prada and others.
Via: Forbes
