The three steps of Armani, the world's top brand

In 1975, Giorgio Armani was founded by 40-year-old Giorgio Armani. Thirty years later, Armani is already a brand of more than 2 billion U.S. dollars. In the first quarter of 2005 alone, sales in Greater China, including mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, increased by 52%. Today, the Armani Group has a total of more than 300 stores and 5,000 employees worldwide.

As a designer, Armani also serves as Chairman and CEO of the Group. How an early window designer would create a brand in a 14-square-meter studio and become a long-lasting world-class brand, which is also a lot of advice. The topic of the company's research, but throughout Armani's management discovery, he is a persistent, persistent and will seize the opportunity.

The Armani brand did not enter the ranks of the top brands in the beginning. The transition was in 1980 when Armani designed the “power suit” for men and women. In order to promote this design to the top group, Armani will wear the clothing. The lead actor Richard Gere was given to the American Gigolo, and the full set of Armani “power suits” appeared with the screening of the film in the same year. The film was a success, and the Armani brand was also sought after in Hollywood.

Armani never designs costumes for unnamed movie stars. His customers mainly include big names who want to be respected, such as Jodie Foster, Glenn Close, Mark Wahlberg, Ricky Martin and others. In recent years, the world's football stars have approached Armani one by one. Beckham, Ronaldo, Vieri, Piero, Figo, and Shepchenko are regular guests.

Armani is the first modern fashion designer to recognize the potential of the celebrity market. For this reason, he set up an office in Los Angeles specifically to hire costumes for celebrities and specialize in satisfying their fantasies about clothes.

In order to stabilize and develop Armani's achievements in the top markets, Armani, a designer, has made many operational moves. These measures are also a reference for Chinese men's wear brands who are faced with confusion in brand management and marketing methods.

Armani has three main methods: First, to strengthen Armani Group's control over manufacturing and distribution through the acquisition of long-term franchisers and OEM factories; second, to actively control Armani's own retail stores to strengthen control of the retail end; and thirdly, to expand actively. product line.

The company uses cash to control most of Armani's production and distribution. Armani acquired one of the companies that it produced for itself and acquired two garment companies to produce Armani Collezioni high-end clothing. In addition, he also acquired a number of third-party distributors worldwide. However, in the acquisition process, Armani insisted on a principle that is not to buy other brands, so as not to merge or damage the Armani brand. This is different from Gucci and LVMH. Mike Ullmann, former general manager of LVMH, admired Armani's business skills. Ullman said that Armani has created an attractive platform for consumers through his coherence and his persistence in his own style. This attraction is based on the understanding of customer needs. By now, Armani insists on daily sales data from all over the world to conduct research and understand consumer demand.

It is also one of Armani’s marketing strategies to actively launch its own retail stores and strengthen control over the retail side. The Armani brand has settled in the Milan market in Italy since 1974, entered the London market in 1989, and entered the American market in 1991. In April 2004, he opened Armani's largest flagship in China in Shanghai. The Armani Group expects to establish a retail network with 20-30 independent stores in the most important cities in China before 2008.

As the founder of the concept of "diffusion line" (also known as sub-brand, leisure wear or jeans wear) in the fashion industry, Armani launched Emporio Armani in 1981 and started the trend of brand extension. Subsequently, other international big names followed suit. When domestic men's clothing companies began to criticize the brand extension as a drawback that caused the brand to be vague, Armani realized that the scope of brand expansion was not wide enough and the brand's vitality could not be prosperous. Only by building a product pyramid from different levels can the brand be full and powerful. Armani also extended its brand to many fields such as eyewear, watches, cosmetics, furniture, and jewelry. By designing custom interiors for Mercedes Benz, he has extended his reach into the automotive industry. He is preparing to enter a joint venture with a Japanese sushi company to enter the food industry; he even opened an Armani candy shop, and plans to open 14 Armani hotels with Dubai's Emma Real Estate Group...