Coccinelle exceeds 100 million revenue. In 2025 focus on the Emirates and Japan

While luxury has moved higher and higher up the consumption pyramid - with a price increase that, since pre-Covid, has certainly touched double figures - the premium brands that have managed to keep up with market developments have become more attractive than before. Among them is Coccinelle, a leather goods (and now also footwear) company based in Parma that has been part of the South Korean E-Land group since 2012: "The first nine months of the year went well, we recorded a 13% increase in revenues compared to the same period in 2023, posting growth in all channels and in all regions. We expect to close the year with more than EUR 100 million in revenues, up double digits on 2023, and with a significant Ebitda," explains Emanuele Mazziotta, General Manager of Coccinelle.

The business of Coccinelle, 150 employees between Milan and Parma, is concentrated in bags - with the latest arrival C-Me Bag, just launched in selected boutiques - and remains unbalanced in Italy, which absorbs 44% of sales. The other significant share of revenues (46%) comes from Europe, where Coccinelle recorded above-average growth in 2024: +15%, with Austria, Germany and Eastern Europe playing a decisive role in growth. The remaining 10% of sales come from China and South East Asia: "The Chinese market is growing less than in the past, but in the first nine months of the year we have dedicated ourselves to the consolidation and development of markets such as Thailand, where we have 10 shops and corners, all in partnership, and for us it represents a promising market".

The goal of Coccinelle, which today has 120 multi-brand shops, including direct and franchised shops, is to expand its presence in foreign markets, while maintaining a share of business in Italy of no less than 40 per cent: "In 2024 we continued our international growth path with openings and reopenings after restyling in Prague, Warsaw, Bucharest and at the end of the month in Vienna. We then opened a second space in Bangkok in the Central World Mall department store (the same group as La Rinascente, ed.) and reopened the Shanghai shop at Daimaru,' the CEO continues. 'In 2025 we will open in Japan: we will start with department stores and then, starting the following year, we aim to open a single-brand boutique. And then we will accelerate in the Emirates: after Abu Dhabi, where we opened at the Galleria Mall, it will be the turn of Dubai'. The greatest ambition seems to be landing on the stars and stripes market: "It is interesting," continues the CEO, "and we know this because we have many American customers both in the stores in Europe and Asia and because they buy online on our site. The online channel generates 6% of revenues".

The road map, therefore, is tight and ambitious. And it rests on a strategy that has seen, in the not easy period of the Covid, Coccinelle invest in its clientele, which today has an average age of 30: "For several years we have reorganised the company by focusing on a proposal with elegant connotations, of excellent quality, but accessible: the average price of a Coccinelle bag is between 250 and 280 euro," says Mazziotta. The company - which uses leathers tanned in Italy, but has manufacturing in several countries around the world - has also expanded its product categories: "We started about a year ago with a footwear capsule that had positive results and then evolved into a collection. Today, footwear is worth 5% of turnover, but the market share will grow'.