“Every customer – explains the number one of the company, Marco Palmieri – from September will have the opportunity to design the product they want on their ipad or on a console in our stores. That model will be made of top quality leather, 2,5 millimeters thick, by a Tuscan craftsman on the network with us and will be delivered within 40 days. Piquadro thus established itself as an increasingly customer-oriented brand, to the point of having them design a unique and exclusive object at relatively low costs, between 500 and 900 euros”.
A useful path for further growth also abroad, where Piquadro already generates 25% of its turnover. “We increase exports by around 5% a year and we want to keep up this pace. Also for this purpose - says Palmieri - we want to open, partly directly and partly in franchising, another 20 single-brand stores. On the program are Milan, Madrid, Moscow and of course China. In Hong Kong, for the first time, we will be opening a two-story store outside a shopping centre. Sartoria will probably start from there or from the Lombard capital”.
With these new openings, Piquadro will exceed 120 stores around the world, while the balance between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2011 closed with a turnover of 61,8 million (+18%), Ebitda at 16,4 million (26,6 .19,1% of consolidated turnover, up by 9,1%), consolidated net profit of 27,7 million (+0,1%) and the proposed dividend of XNUMX euro per share.
Growth at home, growth abroad: all internally, no acquisitions planned? “We looked around – replies the CEO of the group – but we couldn't find anything that met Piquadro's needs. Ours is a model that works, we have been growing for ten years and this year too we expect to reach a double-digit increase. We don't think we need to change course, it's better to continue investing in ourselves. Research and innovation are one of our strengths, we are constantly looking for what can be used, with the most advanced technology. Our bags are super-equipped and this will also be true for Sartoria: the casing will be in leather, offering tradition, but the interior will have the typical Piquadro options”.
So everything seems to be going smoothly. But is the road really all downhill? “In reality, nothing is easy. The market is increasingly complex and consumers change their needs. Fifteen years ago we believed that China's economy would explode in the indefinite future and that future is now. We are in China, but Greater China is one thing, Hong Kong and Taiwan quite another. We need to take into account what those consumers are looking for”.
Hence, evidently, the decision to go back to producing partly in Italy, to more strongly affirm the core of Made in Italy. “We are already a made in Italy company. But we wanted an even higher-end product. For now we have a small network of three or four artisans, but we hope it will grow due to demand. For the rest, nothing changes, we continue to produce in China, creating a product with all the qualities of an Italian object. I remember that leather, designers, technical development, engineering come from our country. In China we have 400 employees, but here we have 180 and it is in-house that we carry out strict controls on the finished product, to then distribute it around the world".
From Gaggio Montano to Piazza Affari: quite a leap, actually. “I am a child of art. My father was a small businessman, he had a transport company. While studying electrical engineering, I too started a small stock exchange company that worked on behalf of third parties. It is an activity that I have always maintained even when I interrupted my studies to devote myself to one of the first small electronics companies. Once that was sold, I concentrated my efforts on Piquadro. We began to imagine a high-end, modern, technological product for men and we did it with our own brand”.
And a big boost probably came from delocalization. “Producing in China has allowed us to free up resources to invest in Italy and thus we have been able to expand and also hire in Gaggio. Today we reap the fruits of that work. But you can never let your guard down." Has the quotation insinuated any temptation to sell? "Absolutely not. I even bought back something from Piquadro, about 3% and now I have 65%”.
