Furla: Time to go to a mall

Marco Furlanetto, one of the heirs of the Italian leather goods empire Furla, was in Bucharest for the first time at the end of last week to look into ways of expanding the brand in the Romanian capital. “Romania shares the top spot with Hungary in terms of Furla sales in South-Eastern Europe,” Marco Furlanetto, the head of the European division of the Italian Furla company told ZIARUL FINANCIAR. He was in Bucharest for the reopening of the Furla store on Calea Victoriei, which was recently expanded. “At first, we decided to go for a streetfront location, so that people could become familiar with our brand. It is now time to take one step forward and go into a mall, which, in terms of business, is a huge opportunity. We have not yet decided what our next destination would be, but today (i.e. Thursday, October 2), we conducted our analysis and then we will be talking about strategy.” The almost 100 year-old Italian brand is currently present in two stores on the domestic market, one in Bucharest and one in Brasov. The franchise came in Romania through Adrian Puiu and his company Puiu and Fiii. Adrian Puiu has recently quit his position as manager of the stores and transferred the reins of the business to his wife Anca. Puiu, former marketing manager of L’Oréal, took the position of manager of the stores of Tchibo Romania, a company that plans to introduce a new retail concept on the market. The first step of Furla’s development strategy in Romania was to double the retail area of the store on Calea Victoriei through a 150,000 euro investment. “Whereas we had 700 products when we entered the market, we have now reached 1,400 and that is because we have expended the portfolio over time,” Anca Puiu says.