Italy embarks on ambitious expansion journey

On 24 November, JYSK Italy opened its second store in the Naples area. The opening is part of an ambitious expansion plan with 20 new store openings in FY23.

It was 9.25 AM on the opening day, when JYSK Afragola was ready for their grand opening. Store Manager, Vittoria Perna had made her final motivational speech to the team when she found a pair of scissors for the ribbon. At 9.30 AM, Vittoria passed the scissors to a customer standing in the doorway, who was asked to officially open the store for the team. The ribbon was cut, and now, the customers could enter the brand-new store in Naples.

“Opening a new store is always a great moment, and I have experienced more than one since I started in JYSK. But this was my opening. So, I do not find it strange that I was more passionate than usual. Above all, I motivated myself to a maximum to be able to face it in the best possible way by being organised and working by priority,” Vittoria explains.

Afragola is an area in Naples, Italy, and JYSK Afragola is the second store in the Naples area. It was the first store of 20 to open in Italy in the current financial year.

Expanding into two new regions

Cesare Bailo, Country Manager in JYSK Italy, and his team have a clear goal of reaching a total store count of 350 stores. With a current number of 76 stores, there is still quite a mountain to climb. But with an ambitious expansion plan of 20 new store openings within this financial year alone, Italy is well on its way to reach their goal.

“There are 20 regions in Italy, and JYSK is present in 17 of them today. We see a huge potential in the regions, which we are not yet present in. Therefore, as part of our expansion plan, we are going to open stores in two more regions this financial year. We want to grow fast, and we have a great opportunity to do so. With this expansion plan, we will grow 28% since last year,” says Cesare.

An important day for JYSK Italy

There is a lack of brand awareness in the south of Italy, as not many people know about JYSK. Cesare sees this as a huge potential, and he is excited for JYSK to become a player on the southern Italian retail market.

“Only one out of four knows about JYSK in Italy, and what an incredible potential that is. We need to move closer to our customers and build on our brand awareness. It takes a lot of hard work, but we want to release the potential that we see in Italy. There are 5.5 million inhabitants just in the Campania region where Naples is the main city. So, this is a big day for us with opening the second store in the area,” Cesare says.

One JYSK pushed the development

In 2019, the project One JYSK was initiated where all JYSK stores across the world became similar. As a result, there was a change in the assortment in JYSK Italy where the new products had a clear Scandinavian design. According to Cesare, the One JYSK project kickstarted the positive development in JYSK Italy.

“We were lucky with the One JYSK project because the stores became more modern with better lighting and floors according to the Store Concept 3.0. We kind of went from the past to the future where the new assortment now has a true Scandinavian feel to it. The Italians love it,” Cesare explains.