Luxury French jewellery manufacturer Akillis announced plans to expand its distribution network throughout the Middle East region through opening of boutiques, appointment of franchise partners, shop in shops and retail corners in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon as part of its first phase of expansion.
“The Middle East region has been identified as an increasingly important market for Akillis as it is an extremely receptive market for luxury products,” said CEO Caroline Gaspard. “In France, we sell a lot of jewellery to customers from the Middle East and India and a brand cannot be classified as truly global if it is not represented in the Middle East or India. The region is obviously a high-growth and high-income region and is a major player in the world of luxury.”
Akillis jewellery stands out from the ordinary and does not follow characteristic jewellery designs followed by leading jewellers around the world and none of the old school models of using hearts, small animals and floral patterns that are so common in jewellery designs form part of the Akillis repertoire.
Against the backdrop of the global economic recession, Akillis boasted a turnover of AED 51 million ($14 million) last year. “While the global economic downturn that began in late 2008 brought recession to the United States and Europe and the rest of the world, the global downturn has not dented the demand for luxury goods and the crisis had little impact on spending habits among the rich and super rich,” said Ms Gaspard.
She noted that despite a tougher economic climate, self-reward and pampering remained strong factors for buying luxury items. “Akillis has not really been affected by the worldwide recession. The people who buy our fine line of jewellery pieces are not affected by the recession and as a matter of fact, we actually grew our business 300 per cent during the worldwide credit crunch,” Ms Gaspard observed.
