Helly Hansen appointed former Timberland marketing exec Erik Burbank as its global head of marketing. The hiring comes as the Norwegian outdoor clothing brand revealed plans to ramp up its retail expansion efforts, particularly in opening up flagship stores.
Burbank was most recently principal at Motherlode, a management consultancy. Previously, he was general manager for Miôn, the outdoor footwear brand that was discontinued by Timberland in 2008. Prior to that, he had been director of sales, West for Timberland and also director of brand marketing at Timberland. Prior to joining Timberland in 1999, he had been category advertising director at Nike.
Burbank will be responsible for the brand’s entire marketing strategy and supporting the launch of its first U.K. standalone store later this year as part of an overall expansion. Burbank is expected to launch an outdoor and experiential campaign to engage with local consumers and support the opening of the store located in Manchester’s Arndale Centre.
Opening retail stores in the UK is part of a four-year brand building strategy introduced by Helly Hansen’s chief executive Peter Sjölander when he joined the company, and there are plans to open more outlets in the next three years. Helly Hansen has also announced plans to launch an e-commerce platform early next year.
In an interview with Reuters, Sjölander said the company plans to open 10-15 stores in western Europe and the United States. The expansion had originally been earmarked as a four to five-year project but might now be completed in two to three years due to advantageous real estate. Besides Manchester, Helly Hansen is also opening new stores in Oslo and Gothenburg in the coming months.
He said the brand now has 132 shops around the world, mostly run by franchisees and distribution partners. It plans to add a further 150 over the next five years, most of them through a licensing deal agreed earlier this year with Hong Kong based Symphony Holdings. But it also plans to increase the amount of sales coming from its own flagship stores in coming years. He expects retail sales to account for about 25% of group revenues by 2012, up from 13% in 2008.
Sjolander said Helly Hansen's revenue should rise about 10% this year, matching the growth rate of 2008 when revenue was 1.6 billion Norwegian crowns ($2.4 billion). Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), which were a record 152 million crowns ($221.2 million) last year, would be flat, reflecting the brand's investments.
Sjolander told Reuters that there's been major variations in performance between regions, calling Russia “a catastrophe” and the United States weak, but Scandinavia, Germany and the UK robust. Overall, however, outdoor apparel has fared better than many industry sectors in the recession.
“People look at all those nasty headlines and they think, 'OK, I won't take that big vacation in Thailand'. But they still have a family, they still want to have fun. So they stay at home and do more outdoor activities,” he said.
Sjolander told Reuters that outdoor clothing had fared better than many industry sectors in the recession. Still, he pointed to major variations in performance between regions, calling Russia “a catastrophe” and the United States weak, but Scandinavia, Germany and the UK robust.
“People look at all those nasty headlines and they think, 'OK, I won't take that big vacation in Thailand'. But they still have a family, they still want to have fun. So they stay at home and do more outdoor activities,” he said.
Helly Hansen was bought by Altor in 2006, which was the same year that Sjolander launched a recovery plan based on integrating production with sales, innovation and cutting underperforming staff and stores.
