Chinese Retail Giant Semir Group

Semir Store in Hayat Mall, Riyadh, KSA Semir Store in Dubai Hills, Dubai, UAE

Nicole Zhoe has 15+ years of experience in strategic planning and global business development. During the last five years, she established and led the Semir International team creating the foundation of the group’s international business activity, successfully expanding both Semir and Balabala brands into 12 countries and regions with 70+ international stores.

NICOLE ZHOU

GENERAL MANAGER SEMIR INTERNATIONAL

Founded in 1996 and listed in 2021, Semir Group operates 10 brands, 5 of which are private labels led by ‘Semir’ for adults and ‘balabala’ for kids. The group also operates international brands such as Asics Kids, Puma Kids, Marco Polo and Juicy Couture in China market.

Semir Brand

Established in 1996, Semir is a lifestyle brand for adults, committed to developing innovative, and affordable products. Semir believes in the potential of young adults, who are confident, creative and looking for their own stage to play out their lives. The brand creates and presents comfortable fashion for the fast-paced, diverse lives of the new era of youth, focusing on the latest fashion trends combined with cutting-edge performance fabrics for easy wear. Semir Brand now operates in over 2,700 stores in mainland China and has a rapidly developing international presence with over 20 stores overseas.

Balabala Brand

The spirit of the Balabala brand focuses on dreams, exploration, play and love for all children. The essence of the brand is to be the Children’s fashion brand that knows best about growth. The brand provides the latest fashionquality clothing suitable for all occasions and activities, encouraging infinite dreams and wonderful childhood. Balabala is listed as the No.1 kids’ wear brand in Asia and provides on-trend fashion, shoes and accessories for children aged from 0-14, delivering high-quality products in an exciting shopping environment. Balabala brand now operates in over 4,000 stores in mainland China, and 40+ stores overseas.

Overseas Expansion

Based on its huge domestic success, Semir Group launched its international expansion in 2016, with an initial foray into the Middle East and Asia as the first stage of its global expansion strategy. The group opened its first overseas Balabala store in February 2017 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia followed by Semir in 2018 in the same market. Today, Balabala trades in 12 countries and regions including through its own direct business in Hong Kong, while Semir currently operates in 4 countries and regions.

The Model

Over 75% of the group’s retail trade is through franchise operations in its domestic market and has built up expertise in delivering a successful trading model of mutual profitability. The model has been adapted to various international markets while maintaining the core brand identity and values of a global brand. This has been achieved by creating an expert international franchising team in our overseas office ensuring an international perspective in everything we do, and developing tools and support packages sympathetic to local markets while ensuring consistency and global standards. Developing international products with curated regional localization has been a key to our success. We continue to seek experienced retailers in many global markets to grow with us through franchise relationships. Our flexible approach to market needs ensures we and our partners leverage our combined strengths to deliver strong retail businesses. For more information, please visit: Balabala: https://global.balabala.com/pages/business-opportunities Semir: https://semirshop.com/collections