Lakeland seeks franchise partner to launch in India and the Far East

The quirky cookware brand, which launched its first European website in Germany this year, said it hopes to follow in the footsteps of other UK retailers who have successfully launched in Asia.

Lakeland finance and retail director Bob Granger said the retailer would debut in India and the Far East with stores rather than a website but he declined to say when this might be.

He said: “We would look at opening in India and the Far East where certainly lots of UK businesses operate franchise operations. It’s a big world and there are lots of lovely customers who would be delighted to shop with Lakeland.

“We would almost certainly be working with a franchise partner to open stores in India and the Far East because the penetration of the internet is much higher in the UK than anywhere else.”

He added: “It’s a pretty exciting time. If you go back a few years you wouldn’t expect us to be in any of these areas.”

Lakeland already operates nine stores in the Middle East through a franchise partner, which it hopes to double in the next “few years”.

Granger said he was “pretty pleased” with the performance of the German website and would eventually like to expand to other northern European countries.

Lakeland revealed this week that pre-tax profits dipped from £7.2m to £6.2m in 2012 as the kitchenware retailer invested in new stores and refurbishments.

Sales advanced 4% to £151.4m boosted by the popularity of home baking.