Head of Salomon AU/NZ Graeme Moore has confirmed that the French brand will open more stores across Australia and New Zealand over the coming years in a bid to capitalise on direct-to-consumer operations.
It comes as the brand opens its first-ever Australian store at Chadstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne this month.
Prior to this, the brand had been distributing its products in Australia since 2014, and had launched a local dedicated e-comm platform in 2019.
“Over the past three years, the demand for the Salomon brand in Australia has increased dramatically,” Moore said. “Therefore, we determined that now is the right time to launch our first retail brand store to offer our customers an authentic and premium brand experience, that is truly representative of our vision to be the leading modern mountain sports lifestyle brand in Australia and New Zealand.”
Salomon's latest push follows other wholesale-driven businesses attempting to shift towards physical DTC this year, including KMD Brands’ Oboz Footwear subsidiary that opened shop-in-shop concepts across its sister brand Kathmandu’s portfolio.
International baggage brand Antler will also soon open its first store in Australia after selling online and through various local retailers nationally including Strandbags, David Jones and Myer.
According to Moore, he says the shift to DTC is driven by the customer looking to have richer and more immersive brand experiences and services - whether that be in a physical retail or online platform.
“Brands have a stronger ability to enhance and control the customer experience in direct-to-consumer environments and I believe that is a key reason why DTC channels have become a vital component to several brand’s strategic growth plans,” he said.
“Salomon are also being careful to only enter DTC channels in premium locations like Chadstone.”
Moore added that while online and digital connection with Salomon customers remains vital - as this is where most customers begin their journey with a brand - wholesale and physical retail will still remain the dominant channel for Salomon in AU/NZ in 2025.
“Owned retail provides the opportunity for customers to fully immerse themselves within a brands DNA, experience physical storytelling and increasingly more important is the ability for stores to serve as a hub for brand communities offering unique experiences and opportunities that simply cannot be provided online.
“These factors are vital in building a stronger emotional connection between the brand and the consumer.”
Following the recent opening at Chadstone, Moore is forecasting strong growth for the brand locally over the next three years.
“You will continue to see exciting developments from the brand as we continue to look to innovate and focus on exciting new opportunities that will delight our customers and consumers in ANZ.”