BN Exclusive: Spanish Retailer MANGO opening stores in Nigeria
Posted on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 8:42 AMBy BellaNaija.com
We had been hearing whispers about this for a while but it is exciting to now have confirmation.
Renowned Spanish clothing retailer, MANGO will be opening stores in Nigeria. The much-loved retailer which has collaborated with actresses Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz and designer Zuhair Murad will be opening stores in Lagos and Abuja. The Lagos store will be at the Palms Mall while the site of the Abuja store is yet to be confirmed. Wonder who will come in next? Maybe H&M? We’ll just have to watch and see. While we are on this topic, wonder what some of these Lagos clothing boutique owners will do when the official retailers open their stores. Went to a couple of Lagos stores this week and was shocked to see Coast, Zara and Mango clothing (dresses) from past seasons – some even from over a year ago – selling for an average of 40000 naira (about £167). Most mark-up their prices by about 50% which seems excessive…
Penelope and Monica Cruz for Mango
Scarlett Johansson for Mango
Tags: Mango
Wow, interesting!
This is the only site that has the news though but great!
Good news, hope other stores follow their lead. Mango is in SA so I guess they don’t mind Africa. But what is excessive about a 50% markup. Businesses in Nigeria have to pay excessive rent, provide their own electricity and fund their trip to go buy the clothes. I personally think a 50% mark up is fair!
nice m in love wid mango nice one
great, great!! cant wait!
yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!
The existing boutiques’ll probably just stock more exclusive brands. The need for “exclusivity” demonizes many, many women so the novelty of Mango will probably wear off after one-too-many ThisDay sightings, after which several ladies’ll wait on the next high. That said, I’m not terribly excited about this news. Mango’s “naija mark-up” could very well be high, given the many, many costs associated with running a business. Will it be worth it for them and for us? Not sure. Time will tell. What I’d really like to see is a homegrown brand and a homegrown garment district so clothing is more accessible (price and availability). I find shopping in Lagos rather difficult with my limited budget and I hate that simple tasks like finding tank tops can become very difficult very quickly. Or am I just not looking hard enough? Pray tell.
Im confused, if there is a ban on the importation of clothing and shoes (one of the factors that contributes to the high prices of those imports as they are essentially smuggled in) how can this be happening. Hopefully it is a sign that the ban has been lifted. If however it means that a foreign company has been given a concession it will be disappointing because at least the overpriced boutiques contribute to our economy not Spain’s.
On the flipside, it will be a relief to be able to buy basics in lagos. Trying to find plain tanktops or tee’s in Lagos is a farce.
the mango store here in canada has trendy clothes and there not over price hopefully they will have the same selection of clothing and price
I really don’t care. I guess it’s a good thing….right? But I know I’m definitely not going to be doling out about N40,000 for a piece of shirt. I’d rather buy online and find a way for them to ship it to Naija.
If they get the price right, then real competition can begin…
@Nono – 50% mark up is a no-no! Why??? fact is, the quality remains the same but somehow because i paid more for it – high street becomes ‘sale price designer’ which just doesnt make sense…
that said, if ppl are willing to pay – then good for the seller and buyer.
I agree with Kay, we really need a homegrown high street brand in Nigeria. Everyone cannot b designer jere!
Can we have Zara next?
Note one thing- Mango is only suitable for women with small frame (ie, petite with small hips, small bust rather than our typical African or Spanish full figure woman)- I happen to know because this is the only shop in London that I can get something to fit properly….. anyway, I am sure Mango will have no problems finding customers in Nigeria
i have my doubts.
you can’t compare the two markets, especially when it comes to retail fashion.
Nigerian do not understand business finally Mango is going to run out them out of business for adding their airfair to each pieces of item sold.
The ban on importation doesn’t have to be lifted for Mango to be able to do this…this is Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which the government actively encourages
Not true…I’m quite petite but curvy and I’ve never been able to buy trousers from Mango because they are always too long. In terms of the size, I believe they cater for size 8-18…
not true at all… im 6ft tall and tend to buy trousers from mango cos they are very long
did someone get the mango franchise or mango itself is comin gan gan. don’t know if Im makn sense
where can i go to for info on franchising et al?
Would be nice ……
wait till they come and start selling
when virgin came to naija the plan was to sell return ticket for 45k what happened our naija people told them to increase the price. and since the objective of any bizz is profit maximisation they did and we still buy
Kay girl, i feel you. Normal Primark tank top – 1.50GBP comes to naija in Alade market for N1,500! Crazy innit. So lets wait and see what Mango dem want to do. Although i would take learning from Mother Care here in Lagos – Limited stock, outdated styles and the most rediculous prices ever (just cos they “exclusively” carry the brand). If Mango is really doing this as an FDI, them maybe they would ship from factories in Asia directly to Naij and they may get import duty concessions which may eventually tell on the price. If not it would be a case of Mango ko, Woolworths (remeber them) ni.
uhhhhhhh…….. mango is just there jo..
it’s surprisingly true. we pay a lot more for designer clothes here than the do abroad. and they call us a “poor third-world country…”
Hmm sounds interesting.
At the moment, clothings and shoes are considered contrabands by the Nigerian Customs. Except they make them in Aba. They will face a lot of challenges and like most business if they want to thrive. They will need to bribe to get what they want.
A friend of mine introduced me to http://www.uk2meonline.com
They help you buy from any store in the UK and deliver to you in Nigeria
My friend lives in Abuja and she got hers within 2 weeks.
They are quite nice and cheap
They charge you just 10% of UK advsertised price
So you are saying that the govt has a program that favours foreign businesses and puts local entrepreneurs at a disadvantage. Why doesnt this surprise me, LMAO these are the kind of retarded policies that the Nigerian government is famous for.
I would understand if they made a pledge to bring some of their manufacturing into naij but why should they have to do that when they can exploit people then take all the money back to Spain instead.
Anyway, I trust our corrupt officials, they will forget about Foreign direct mago-mago when they come to collect their monthly “offering”.
basically, wherever in europe i find myself, i go for mango and zara, great quality, great price. but on the otherhand, i am dead sure we will only get last seasons fashion in their store here,just like their store in SA. even at that, we will have to pay more for these cloths that normally would be found in their OUTLETS( where cloths of previous seasons are sold)
Mango opens soon
right sizes
Right Prizes
up to date seasons on racks
fantastic shopping experience
It is the first franchise of its kind in West Africa…it is as good as having a Mango store in Barcelona here in Nigeria, except, of course the sales attendants will not be speaking Spanish
lepa full for 9ja na…
You are so right as per “last season fashion”. I went there, bought a couple of tops and a bangle which came to N13800. On mangoshop.com, there were all on sales and were going for about £25 in total.
Wow….. Mango store finally, yipee!!! They have good clothes and very reasonable prices compared to the boutiques i go to in abj. They would want to cut off your head. Good clothing, reasonable prices, works for me. : D
@ fruity, correction. Abidjan has a H&M. I’m sure many other W African countries with less wahala already have such stores….
Interesting on the embargo on foreign clothes. Yup, FDI would fall outside those limits…
What Naija needs maybe are more experienced designers who can/see the need for such basics and can specialize in that. That would really bring about $$