Cotton On to open more stores in NZ
Australian clothing and footwear retailer Cotton On Group intends to open eight new stores in New Zealand as it rolls out a global expansion plan.
The chain reportedly plans to open 153 stores over the next 100 days in 13 countries, including in New Zealand, where it has 117 stores already.
Over the next three years the retailer plans to open 570 stores, taking its total network to almost 1900 stores. Spokeswoman Greer McCracken said the new New Zealand stores would be open before Christmas.
They would not all be Cotton On, but also its sister stores – youth clothing store Factorie and stationery brand Typo as well as least one megastore housing a number of the group’s brands.
The company also owns Cotton On Body, Cotton On Kids, tween store Free, teen store Supre, T-Bar and footwear brand Rubi.
The New Zealand market was important to Cotton On, ‘‘and one we will continue to invest in growing’’, McCracken said.
The Auckland Queen Street megastore was one of the group’s biggest, spanning 1400 square metres over two levels.
According to Australian media, Cotton On Group plans to lift its online sales over the next three years from about A$45 million (NZ$50.6m) or 3 per cent of total sales to A$250m . Total sales were estimated at A$1.5 billion in 2015.