Kuwait Is One Of The First Countries To Recover From Covid Effect - Mr Paul Melkebeke

Mr Paul Melkebeke - the President, Asia Pacific & Middle East for Samsonite, was in Kuwait as part of his business trip.

Like everyone else, the last two years was challenging for us too. But our company is diversified. We have many brands, including Samsonite, American Tourister, Gregory, High Sierra, Kamiliant, Lipault and Hartmann brands catering to the different profiles of the consumers, Mr Paul Melkebeke said. During the Covid time, our Research team was very active in designing amazing products targeting future travel needs. Those are lightweight, durable, recycled material, More sustainable and Hygiene, he added

Commenting on future growth, Mr Paul said that we are almost at the end of the pandemic. The world is opening. The travel market had already opened up. We can see that in the US market. Domestic travel in the US has already come to the 2019 level. We have seen exponential growth there and are very sure about the future growth, he said.

Travelling is part of our life. I know that many of the Indian community living here have not seen their families for more than two years. Now things are changing, and they are travelling. They might travel in a slightly different way than before. Anticipating this, we have developed many new product lines during the pandemic period, Mr Paul said.

During the pandemic time, the Samsonite team also streamlined their digital channel. "Our digital channel is very seamless now with the brick-and-mortar store. If any customer comes to the store and a specific product is not available, the shop guy will help them to order it through our digital channel. The digital channel also improved the communication with the consumer," he said.

The Indian diaspora is very important for us, Mr Paul, who travelled the length and breadth of India, said.

As the President of the Asia-Pacific region, Mr Paul said that India is his second home. "While in many other countries I had colleagues, in India I have made friends for life," Mr Paul said. The group have an exclusive team of Indian designers at their R&D centres.

I had been to Kumbh Mela twice in India. I enjoyed all celebrations like Ganesh Chaturthi, Holy etc during my visits to India. I used to travel by train from Andheri to South Mumbai, Mr Paul shared his experience with India.

India is very important and is a very big market for us. We have stiff competition in India with other brands, keeping us on our toes. I am very proud to tell you that our biggest factory is in India at Nashik, Maharashtra. We are now finalising our business plan to further expand our Nashik factory to target export markets, including Europe, he told IndiansinKuwait.com

 

SOURCE : IIK

Comments Post Comment

Leave a Comment

Submit