Acquiring retail chains and developing its own retail distribution channel form parts of Samsonite's strategy to double its worldwide sales by 2020.
"We look at a number of different things. Not only brands, but retail acquisitions as well," Timothy Parker, chairman of the world's largest travel luggage company, told The Nation recently.
After swallowing five brands in the past few years, Samsonite still has a "big appetite" for acquisitions that will also include retailers and non-luggage companies.
Samsonite sells 30-35 per cent of its products through its own retail distribution channels including shop-in-shops at department stores. The company wants to lift this share to 50 per cent in a few years.
Ramesh Tainwala, who succeeded Parker as CEO at the beginning of this month, said the company has recently introduced a concept store called "Trunk & Co" to leverage the growing multi-brand portfolio of the company.
Beginning with a few stores in Europe, it is now expanding Trunk & Co in the US and Asia, including Japan and Hong Kong. It plans to open one to two Truck & Co outlets in suburban and upcountry areas in Thailand next year.
"In 2015 or in the next 12 months, we plan to add 25 stores. It's interesting from initial feedback," he said.
Parker said Samsonite's well-established global distribution network, diversified customer base and deep product portfolio have helped the firm lessen the impact from the economic slowdown in China and elsewhere.
Unlike many other companies that depend heavily on the Chinese market, Samsonite gets only 8 per cent of its sales from China.
Samsonite reported a 13.8-per-cent rise in first-half sales to a record US$1.1 billion (S$1.4 billion) with double-digit growth achieved across all regions.
In the Thai market, the company booked 25-per-cent growth in first-quarter sales, though year-to-date sales fell to 15-per-cent growth, due to the economic slowdown that followed the military coup in May, said Lida Chessadatawornwong, com?mercial head at Samsonite (Thailand) Co.
Parker, who led a successful turnaround of Samsonite from its loss in 2008, said Samsonite's achievement owed much to its "glocal" approach to hand responsibility to its local distributors and full authority to its subsidiaries to make decisions and run their businesses.
It operates in the Kingdom under a joint venture with Central Group, Thailand's largest retailer.
Tainwala said competition from "unbranded" or cheap luggage made in China is considered a major challenge, but it could also be viewed as an opportunity to enlarge its market, if it could convince consumers to pay some 10-per-cent extra and shift to its higher quality products.
"We don't want to go down-market, but to communicate and convince consumers that there is merit in trading up," he said.
Samsonite was eyeing expanding into the luxury and fashion-led ladies' bags segment, and to raise its marketing budget from 6.7 per cent of sales to 7 per cent in a few years.
"I think in every successful business, it should attempt to maintain the percentage. Especially for businesses that are quite ambitious as we are, should spend a bit more as a percentage of sales," he said.
Samsonite had spent $345 million for five acquisitions, including three that closed this year - US backpack maker Gregory Mountain Products; Speck Products, an American designer and distributor of slim protective cases; and French luggage brand Lipault.