Founded in Hong Kong in 1981, Giordano International continues to grow globally and today represents one of the world’s leading international retailers for men, women and children. In this interview, RLI speaks with Ishwar Chugani, CEO and Managing Director, Giordano Middle East and Member of the Management Committee of Giordano International, to discuss the major milestone in the company’s history and what its growth plans are.
The pillars of Giordano’s success are rooted in its quality, knowledge, innovation, service and simplicity. The company embodies the modern lifestyle with its simplicity in design and quality in substance.
They are fully committed to providing exceptional service, excellent quality and great value to their customers. This has ensured that the brand has been able to build a loyal customer base and has helped the company achieve continuous and steady growth over the years.
Since it was founded 42 years ago, the company has grown from a single unit to today operating 2,000 stores across 35 countries in territories that include Africa, Asia, Australia, Central Asia and the Middle East.
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
“During the last two years we have successfully penetrated into South Africa, Mauritius, Kenya, Ghana and Egypt and we are also active in Tunisia and Algeria with potential partners”, Ishwar Chugani, CEO and Managing Director, Giordano Middle East and Member of the Management Committee of Giordano International.
“Our latest brands have launched in Dubai Hills Mall in Dubai and Jeddah Park Mall in Saudi Arabia. In the last six months we have been able to open four additional stores in Ghana and now we are focused on our expansion in India through licensing partners with 50 stores and counters before the end of the year
The company is now celebrating 30 years of operations in the Middle East since its first store was launched in the BurJuman Center on March 18, 1993. Since Giordano she launched 275 across the Middle East with more in the pipeline.
Selatan, Malaysia
Speaking about this fact and the future in the region, Chugani explains that the GCC region has all the ingredients to maintain a growing retail market and that the company is fortunate to be in a very soft and dynamic market. He goes on to say that the position of the GCC region, and especially the UAE as an international hub, will always matter and the continued influx of regional and international tourism will feed the growth.
One reason for the brand’s success with local consumers is its consistency and this is a quality that extends far beyond the clothes it sells. The constant and sustainable growth of the Jordanian brand in the region has the strength and power of their products.
“Looking back, I could not have predicted how far we have come since our inception in 1993 — our team, the Giordano brand, malls and continued opportunities to expand across the country. The whole region is buzzing,” Chugani emphasizes.
Korea
The focus of the celebrations to mark the brand’s 30th anniversary will be around the brand’s customers and its people – the backbone of its business and a series of events and activities will be organized for its loyal customers throughout the year.
“The rapid development of local infrastructure and the number of mega projects developed are phenomenal. We will use a cautiously optimistic approach, maintaining our momentum of expansion while paying attention to the challenges ahead from global geopolitical tensions and labor development requirements, highlights Chugani.
Moving on to the topic of social media and the unique role it plays in the modern retail world, Ishwar talks to us about how the retail industry is full of brand names and increasing market share and relevance on social platforms is what we need to become a customer. battle Expert use of social media helps Giordano to strengthen its relationship with customers while simultaneously building customer loyalty.
Korea
Sustainability is such a huge force in the industry today and Giordano is committed to creating a positive impact in the communities in which they do business. To achieve this, they strive to promote, among others, associations and charitable causes; we want the workers who produce their products to be treated with fairness and respect, and to always conduct business through resource-friendly, sustainable and environmentally friendly methods.
The success of the brand over the years explains Ishwar’s simplicity and culture at the center of these things.
“For simplicity, all the rest follow our values. By keeping it simple you can streamline your operations which allows speed to happen. So speed allows you to create value, because time is money, and by keeping it simple you can consistently offer your customers the advantage of knowing where to get the main garment to solve their problem,” says Chugani.
“As for culture, the culture of society is the ultimate advantage of the author. Competitors can steal your products or services or even key employees, they can never accept a great company culture. In my 45 years in retail, I have discovered that the key to survival is not assets, not money, not systems, not processes, but people and their attitudes. To continually exceed customer expectations, brands must ensure that customer interactions are rooted in empathy, engagement and emotional intelligence.
Korea
Before we ran into time with Ishwar, he talked about the future and challenges in today’s state board and explained the ever-changing market dynamics, customer buying patterns, customer loyalty, rising costs of doing business and the emergence and growth of businesses. Online shopping will present all the challenges in the coming year.
“The agents who will survive and thrive are those who understand their customers – and know what services they value in store. While there is no magic formula that works for all retailers, these challenges will also present opportunities for the retail retailer who is flexible and willing to adapt to changes.”
