Kiabi continues its intended strategy and opens its first franchise store in Belgium. The French chain previously announced that it wanted to grow in the country through franchise partners. The first Belgian franchise store can be found in Hannut.
Kiabi already has more than 300 franchise partners internationally. The franchisees account for half of the chain’s entire store base. In Belgium, the brand goes one step further by making franchising omnichannel, whereby the Belgian franchisee is also stimulated by the sales achieved in his region via Kiabi’s Belgian website. Belgium is therefore the largest omnichannel country where Kiabi is active, with 30 percent of the total turnover in Belgium via kiabi.be. Of that online turnover, 40 percent is recouped in the store thanks to click & collect with online payment or e-reservation with payment in the store, according to the press release.
Kiabi previously reported that it wanted to open ten stores in Belgium through franchising. In an interview from 2022, the chain indicated that it wanted to grow by about three stores per year in the country.
