Samsonite continues positive, steady growth

Dubai: The UAE is the largest market for Samsonite in the Mena region, holding 42 per cent of regional sales.

The luggage is known for its strength. "It [ is made] the same material used for making bullet-proof vests," Prashant Vatkar, vice-president of Samsonite Middle East tolf Gulf News in an interview.

"It is the biggest breakthrough in the industry in the past 30 or 40 years," he said, adding that the luggage is made from thermoplastics as it is extremely lightweight.

The material, which has been patented by Samsonite for the next 25 years, greatly reduces the weight and increases the durability of the case. While a normal 79-centimetre piece of luggage weighs around seven to eight kilograms for a hard case and around six kilograms for a soft case, the Cosmolite bag of the same size weighs 3.2 kilograms.

Samsonite, the leading manufacturer of luggage in the world, is currently the top seller of luggage in the United States, Europe, and Japan and has had a presence in the Middle East for around 30 years.

The next biggest markets in the region are Saudi then Kuwait, according to Vatkar.

Samsonite's growth both globally and regionally, though slightly hindered by the recent economic downturn, is continuing in a steady, positive trend. In 2008, Samsonite reported a 40 per cent growth, while in 2009, hindered by the external economic climate, the company's growth slowed to 10 per cent.

This year has seen its market share increase from 40 per cent to slightly more than 50 per cent.

In the UAE, Samsonite has eight monobrand stores and is in the process of adding a further five this year.

Started with the lifesavings of a 28-year-old entrepreneur in 1910, the company's history was not without its hiccups. The brand struggled initially, launching at a time when competition between other luggage brands was fierce. Jesse Shwayder opted for a different approach. Instead of competing for the best price with his competitors, he would differentiate his products by quality and charge a much higher price. To reflect this quality, the first series was labelled Samson after the powerful biblical character.

In the UAE Samsonite is sold only by monobrand stores.

"A brand of this stature needs to be sold with a particular experience. Samsonite goes through a series of extremely rigorous tests which need to be explained to customers. Simple things, like all our wheels which have self-lubricating mechanisms, with a small amount of lubricant which consistently trickles onto ball bearings. In a hypermarket the suitcases' various features and manufacturing details will get lost," says Vatkar.

Globally, Samsonite earns 60-70 per cent of its revenue from retail. In the UAE, 90 per cent of its business comes from retail, while in the US, where they have more of a mass-market brand, 90 per cent of revenues comes from hypermarkets.

New lines

Within the region, the recently launched Cosmolite line has been the company's top-selling line.

Alongside this new line, the next year will see the company introducing 12 new lines and updating four to five lines.

In addition to durability, Samsonite prides itself on being the most innovative luggage brand in the world.

"If you look back into any and every innovation that has happened in the history of the luggage industry, at least 70-80 per cent of innovations would have been brought in by Samsonite," says Vatkar.

From around 80 years ago when all luggage was in the form of heavy wooden trunks, Samsonite was the first to introduce the use of sheet metal as its material and from then the shift to plastic to ensure a lighter travel companion.

Major alterations such as the shift from horizontal luggage to vertical, adding wheels and then adding brakes and including a lock to which airport customs have a master key, have also been innovations introduced by Samsonite. Other exclusive features in its luggage manufacturing include wood-frame construction, super-strong handles, rayon linings, fibre finishes and secure locks.