Lingerie line Elle Macpherson Intimates has announced an aggressive European expansion plan just days after questions were raised about the discounting strategy adopted by its New Zealand parent company.
The Bendon-owned brand, which already sells across Australia, the US, UK and the Gulf States, began its march across Germany, Austria and Switzerland last week with Denmark and Sweden targeted for November and France, the Netherlands and Greece to follow.
The European move marks a big year for the 19-year-old brand, which began 2009 by extending its bra offering to include D to G cup sizes.
However the latest announcement follows publication of a story in APN newspaper The Herald on Sunday’s business section which stated that Bendon – which also owns the Hey Sister and Hickory brands – was moving to discount its intimate apparel to help encourage sales.
The report suggested the retail group, which already has 15 discount stores, planned to transform more of its 11 retail shops into outlet stores. It also suggested the company could be considering shifting strategy to move its Elle Macpherson Intimates range more cheaply.
The story quoted Bendon chief executive Simon Hughes as saying all clothing companies were finding the recession hard going and Bendon was “following the much more price-conscious New Zealand market”.
However, when contacted by Ragtrader, Bendon New Zealand marketing communications manager Rachael Parkin said the Macpherson expansion signalled the strength of the Intimates brand and the confidence Bendon had for its continued growth.
Parkin neither confirmed nor denied whether the company was considering changes to its operations, stating only that the newspaper concerned had “significantly mis-stated” Bendon’s position.
She described references to the pricing of the Elle Macpherson collection and conversion of retail stores to outlet stores as “speculative” and said they were not based on comments made by Hughes.
“Bendon is holding its own in a challenging retail environment, and making decisions appropriate to that environment in order to enable us to continue with our future growth plans,” Parkin said.
“If and when we have announcements to make in respect of stores or any other aspects of the business we will keep the relevant people informed.”