Development of the order situation

HUGO BOSS is increasingly aligning its distribution activities and its business model to its own retail business, but without neglecting the wholesale channel. Shifting away from the pre-order business that had dominated in the past, sales today increasingly stem from the Group's own retail business or the replenishment business. The continuous integration processes along the value chain, the gradual reduction of complexity and the continuous enhancement of the brand and collection portfolio in line with sales markets are necessary in order to address the customers' changing demands.

Pre-order business accounts for 34% of total sales

HUGO BOSS now offers its customers worldwide new fashion collections four times a year, while increasing the number of monthly themed deliveries. In the past fiscal year, the share in total sales of the traditional pre-order business, that is the sale of goods ordered in advance to wholesale partners, decreased to 34% (2012: 39%). By contrast, HUGO BOSS products that are independent of current trends can today be supplied flexibly to business partners through the replenishment business. In response to this continually changing distribution situation and in order to allow predictable production conditions, HUGO BOSS does not rely on order intake alone but also increasingly feeds information from distribution companies and the Group's own retail stores into its volume planning.