Around the world with Clarks

Competitive. That's the word to describe the American market. Which makes our sales success there even more impressive. For 2010-11, our turnover was up 19.2% year-on-year. 2011 also saw a new landmark for our US business: Our American customers are now able to buy Clarks shoes online. To support all this incredible growth, all these exciting new sales channels, we've set a brand new Logistics Centre in Hanover, Pennsylvania. We've also been busy working on our 'Global Systems' programme. This will integrate US systems with our existing worldwide systems, delivering smarter, more efficient, more responsive global planning and management.

The UK is still our largest market. But we don't do laurel resting or standing still. It's not in our nature. We're constantly looking for new ways to increase market share, improve the retail experience and share our fabulous products with more and more customers. A few examples? Our LEAP training programme is reinventing the way we serve customers. Then there's Clarks 7, a bold, new global store fits that's currently being rolled out. E-commerce is a hugely exciting and ever-growing part of our business too. Traffic to our e-commerce websites is up 67% year-on-year. What's more, 95% of customers who have bought from us say they'd happily recommend us to a friend.

We're taking the Clarks name to Europe like never before. In Germany, for example, we're opening up more of our own retail stores, as well as actively growing our franchise and wholesale businesses. But we're not forgetting the rest of the continent. We now have European language e-commerce websites – and we're driving customers to them in lots of clever new ways. We're also expanding our international franchise operations.

It’s hard to imagine a more exciting or fast-moving market than Asia Pacific – and a market with so much incredible potential. Asia Pacific is a hugely exciting place to be for our business, as the Clarks name becomes more familiar and more recognisable. With established presence in China, Japan, South East Asia, Australia and the Middle East, plus a joint venture in India, our business is doubling in size every five years and, on average, we’re opening one new Clarks shop every week, with a number of expert franchise partners and distributors. Impressive, we think you’ll agree, and the shape of what’s to come in this exciting part of the world.