High-End Labels Coming to Cambodia

High-End Labels Coming to Cambodia

The world’s most prestigious brands will be entering the market over the next 12 months as Blue Bell Group announced yesterday that it has secured a landmark deal to manage one of the country’s most-anticipated retail projects.

The group has partnerships with more than 150 high-end labels, including Jimmy Choo, Moschino, Versace and Christian Dior across 10 different Asian markets that now will include Cambodia.

It was the first company to establish a distribution relationship with Louis Vuitton and introduced the brand to the region for the first time by opening an outlet in Hong Kong’s Peninsula Hotel in the 1970s.

“Phnom Penh is a booming Southeast Asian capital, so it was important that we enter here because we have been pioneering so many different markets. It creates a unique opportunity for brands and retailers,” said Pierre Balsan, Blue Bell’s managing director.

Blue Bell Cambodia will help bring up to 40 prestigious brands to the Kingdom, driving what is said to be tens of millions of dollars in foreign direct investment to the Kingdom over the next two years.

Balsan relocated to Phnom Penh last year as his company undertook its due diligence. He soon engaged former American Chamber of Commerce President Allen Dodgson Tan as a strategic adviser on market entry and subsequently appointed him as the company’s director.

Balsan said the company will direct about 60 percent of its marketing towards locals.

The bulk of its advertising spending will be directed to the country’s burgeoning middle class and premium cosmetics are anticipated to drive business growth.

Blue Bell first started supplying French perfumes to American soldiers in Europe after World War Two.

Soldiers would look for products such as Chanel No. 5 to take back home, Balsan said, noting that the company has always had a penchant for developing underserved frontier and emerging clients.

“The retail infrastructure is changing and becoming more diverse and we want to be at the forefront of that development. We have a growing and aspiring middle class, which is our core business in the luxury industry and we are happy to develop the concept of harmonised retail,” he added.

Harmonised retail is the combination of digital, physical and consumer touchpoints. Over the next 12 months, Blue Bell will introduce pop-up shops, dedicated retail locations, multi-brand retail outlets and, of course, digital sales.

Balsan declined to name exactly what brands will be coming to Cambodia but noted that it has a “strong relationship with LVMH Group” – the firm that recently bought Tiffany & Co and also owns Gucci, Kenzo, Bulgari and Seophara, among others.

“Luxury retailing… doesn’t necessarily follow the economic cycle; it has its own life,” added Balsan, noting that the pandemic would have a limited impact on business operations.

“We believe [that] the Cambodian economy and all the fundamentals that made Cambodia interesting before Covid still hold true today. Strong economic growth will return to Cambodia, fuelling demand,” stressed Tan.

He added that the firm will also bring the Luxury Brand Institute (LBI) to the Kingdom from South Korea.

The institute offers training and provides consultancy in the development of the luxury market.

Khmer Times