VIVARTE GROUP

Overview
Based in France

Europe's leading retail footwear group

Present in Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

22, 000 employees

4,500 outlets

24 brands
2010 they had a turnover of more than 3 billion €.

Examples of brands: * André * Carroll * Chevignon * Kookai * La Halle! * Chaussland * Naf Naf * San Marina

History

Started out as a shoe manufacturer, founded in 1896 by Albert Lévy as Manufacture Nancienne de Chaussures, based in the Alsace region town of Nancy. Specialized in producing quality, low-priced footwear. The franchise system helped them expand and open several stores different names in a single location in order to capture a wider variety of consumers from big cities and small towns.

Today, Vivarte has 4 major categories of business : 1.
Discount shoe stores , 2.
Discount clothing stores, located in out-of-town shopping centers, 3.
Downtown shoe stores , 4.
Downtown clothing stores.

For which shoe sales account for 49% of the company's revenues; clothing sales generate 44% of sales, while France remains the company's primary market representing 93% of the group's sales; of these, more than 70 percent are generated through out-of-town locations. In addition, in 2008 they set up their first online sales site and now accounts for 5% of the total sales.

Moreover, in contrast to their beginnings, Vivarte now contracts out nearly all of its shoe manufacturing needs, but the company still maintains a single production facility, in its historic home of Nancy.

Furthermore, on February 20, 2004 the group sold 54 % of its company to Financière 2 PAI, a company owned by funds investment managed by PAI partners, and of all its founders one remained with 14%