In 2020, as the pandemic swept rapidly across the globe, most of our physical stores were required to close their doors – some for a short time, others for much longer. Suddenly, customers’ access to the worlds of BOSS and HUGO was purely digital – and their shopping experience moved entirely online. However, our objective is, and has always been, to provide a best-in-class customer experience: anytime, anywhere. Whether in person in our stores or via live chat in the online store, we always aim to provide our customers with the best-possible service.
The unpredictability of the pandemic had an overwhelming impact on our daily lives. However, the fact that our e-commerce expansion was already in full swing allowed us to continue to serve our customers, even when everything around us was changing. In fact, our online store hugoboss.com was rolled out as planned to millions more potential customers around the world in 2020, building on strong double-digit growth for the past three consecutive years.
While in 2019 HUGO BOSS had a digital flagship store in 15 countries, including the UK, Germany, France, the United States, and China, by the end of 2020 – just one year later – this number had grown to 47. Since April 2021, customers in twelve additional markets, including South Korea, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, can now explore and shop the latest BOSS and HUGO collections online via the Group’s online flagship, making it a total of 59 markets in which our collections are available via the own online store. More countries will follow in the years ahead, as we seek to make hugoboss.com available in virtually every market around the globe.
In parallel, we continue to develop comprehensive omnichannel services, to make the interaction between online and offline as seamless as possible. Fully utilizing the great potential of digital in the years to come will ensure a first-class experience with our brand at all customer touchpoints.
As we navigate these changes, our focus is clear: offering best-in-class products and services to our customers around the globe. Wherever they are, and however they prefer to shop, we will provide a personal, elevated, and memorable shopping experience that makes us proud to say: We are HUGO BOSS.