Retail Week speaks to Flying Tiger Copenhagen (FTC) managing director Michael Burke about high street rivals and how business is booming after lockdown
Burke has been in the retail industry since he was 16 and joined the Danish retailer in 2018 following roles at Dixons and Carphone Warehouse.
Since he took on the role as managing director in 2020, the company has been through the pandemic, the closure of its US stores and an overhaul of operations.
As customers return to the high street, Burke says FTC is focusing on product development, sustainability and digitally transforming through ecommerce and the use of self-checkouts in stores.
As Retail Week reveals that FTC is opening a brand new store in Bluewater in November, which is set to generate £2m of revenue a year, this is what Burke had to say on how the company is standing out with its unique offering.
What can be attributed to FTC’s 34% growth in a year?
“In the UK we have the most significant growth across Europe and a lot of that has come from external factors like coming out of Covid a little bit faster than some of the European markets. We were proactive, and customers were ready to come back out and shop so that made for a better exit out of the pandemic in the early part of 2022.
“Internally, we spent a lot of time preparing the business with the right levels of stock, the design and features that people were looking for, and we shifted the product base as we had some time to reflect during Covid. We focused on a campaign where featured products change every two weeks and the customers have reacted well to it.
“I do think the business was ready and prepared to come back as it was a case of right products, right place, right time.”
Who is your high street competition in the UK?
“Because we sell such a broad spectrum of products, we measure ourselves against businesses like Primark on some of the campaign items. For example, we’ve got a specialised range for picnics at the moment and Primark’s home section also sells similar items.
“Miniso is an interesting business and is accelerating growth in the UK. They are currently looking for sites directly next door to us or on the same streets, and some of the team used to work in Flying Tiger a number of years ago. I can see that they are plotting and following us around a little bit. But even so, they tend to sell cuddly toys so it feels like they’re not a complete competitor.
“I think we are fortunate that we have such a variety of products. I think that uniqueness is certainly why we have such a broad range of customers – from grandparents buying toys for their grandkids to students buying books and art for going back to uni. We don’t have a target demographic.”
Despite having such an eclectic range, is there anything else Tiger wants to sell that it is currently not selling?
“So there is a new category manager in Denmark who is looking specifically at textiles and clothing. They’re looking at things within those ranges, for example, quirky T-shirts that are a bit more fun, a bit more engaging, but at a really good value price using sustainable materials. So we need to be looking at that and not just doing it because customers would buy it, but making sure it fits within our range is important as well.
“Personal care is another one such as ethically sourced moisturisers and other skincare products. We want to start selling and expanding these ranges. Customers are saying they would love to buy more of this kind of stuff from us if we had a broader range of said items.”
FTC opened its global online shop in 2021. How well has that been doing so far?
“The business in Copenhagen is quite focused on ecommerce, but in the UK it only represents about 2% of our revenues. Because the value of the product is so low with four or five pounds being the average spend, customers will have to pay that much for delivery on top of that.
”Our ecommerce business that launched just after the pandemic continues to grow, and although it only represents 2% of our sales in the UK, now the plan is to reduce shipping costs to customers with low basket spends to make it a realistic alternative to shopping in stores.”
No comments yet