Flagship Stores as a Method of Entering International Markets

Like other industries retailers have many choices for international expansion. Many scholars classified them in different ways or by different mode, but similar to all is desire to enter. Flagship stores can be a strategic way of market entry of foreign markets. They employed support and develop distribution activities in a certain desired market. Flagship store is a particular retailer’s store. It is given to a retailer's primary location, a store in a prominent location, a chain's largest store, the store that holds or sells the highest volume of merchandise, a retailer's most well-known location, a chain's first retail outlet, or the store location in a chain which carries the most high-priced merchandise catering to the most upscale customers. Due to its definition flagship stores are particular for the fashion retailers, especially luxury fashion retailers. Flagship store, for fashion retailers, are mostly opportunity for branding but also for international expansion of their products and entering into higher level of value chain creation. More then ever retail markets are facing their supply into fragmented and diverse markets and consumers who are very informed (overload) so attempt to go abroad mu st be planed and particular for every market. Every market has its story and every retailer has its stores but every store can tell the story, story that sells not only merchandise but way of living. The aim of this paper is to recognize “other” ways of entering international markets, and to deal with the question are flagship stores possible in other types of retail?