SEOUL, KOREA - Italy's luxury fashion label Prada is doing extremely well in Korea. Unlike any other high-priced brands such as Fendi and Gucci which have been languishing for years since the 2008 financial crisis, Prada is defying the recession with a strong growth for years. Thanks to the Korean unit's high performance, the financial performance of Prada Group as a whole has improved substantially.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service on May 16, Prada Korea saw its sales revenue in 2012 (February 2012 to January 2013) increase 27 percent to 319.3 billion won from the previous year. The operating profit and the net profit rose 14.2 and 10.5 percent to 76.4 billion won and 58.7 billion won, respectively, from 2011. The company's sales revenue broke the 100-billion-won barrier in 2009, followed by 175.6 billion won in 2010 and 251.2 billion won in 2011.
Retail analysts attributed Prada's success in Korea to its intense focus on sales efficiency in each store instead of obsessing with excessive expansion. Currently Prada has a total of 30 store locations mostly in Seoul and Busan. The company has no plan for new store opening for years to come. The other reason for its popularity may have to do with the fact that Prada offers a variety of items from clothing to accessores without any signature items just like Louis Vuitton and Hermes with their Monogram bag and Birkin bag.
