Marek Piechocki

LPP SA

LPP SA

Marek Piechocki is one of the architects of LPP success. His strategic management made it possible to expand the company both on the domestic and foreign markets. At the moment LPP brands are present in 19 countries across Europe and the Middle East. Building brands in the retail trade involves building up investor relations, negotiating lease agreements, developing a store network or building new sales channels such as e-commerce. Due to those activities, LPP is the largest clothing organization in Poland and a major player in the international market.

LPP SA is a Polish clothing company, established in 1991 in Gdansk, and comprising of five fashion brands: Reserved, Cropp, House, Mohito and Sinsay. It is one of the fastest-growing clothing companies in Central and Eastern Europe, operating over 1,700 stores worldwide with revenues of over PLN 6 bn (£1.27 bn; €1.3 bn) in 2016. Since 2001, LPP has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and in 2014 it advanced to the WIG20 and MSCI Poland business indexes.
LPP’s long-term ambition is to build a globally recognised flagship brand, and become one of the five largest clothing companies in Europe. The company chooses special destination to create its iconic status as a fashion and business capital, which will help LPP build worldwide brand recognition.

The company is headquartered in Gdansk, and its branch is located in Krakow. In addition, the product office of the Reserved brand operates in Warsaw. In Pruszcz Gdański LPP has created one of the largest and most modern Logistics Centres in the clothing industry in this part of Europe, whose surface area after last year's expansion and modernisation is 66 thousand sqm. LPP also has offices in China (Shanghai), and in Bangladesh (Dhaka). The company creates employment for 20 thousand people.
Marek Piechocki has been successfully developing LPP for the last 26 years. Starting with a two-person company, he successfully launched his brands into new international markets. A key moment in the company's development was the official opening of the LPP office in Shanghai in 1997 – it was rapidly achieved after two years of the company founding. The next key decision was the appearance on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2001. The share price on the day of the debut was 48 PLN, today it is more than 8 500 PLN. Since then, the company's brand names have appeared in new European markets, becoming the largest clothing chain in Poland in 2009 and a major player in the international market. His brands made its debut in the Middle East in 2015, opening first Reserved stores in Qatar and Kuwait, and in September in Saudi Arabia. In May 2017 appeared next flagship store in Berlin with two another stores in major cities in Germany. September 2017 was the time when flagship store has appeared in the best shopping street in Europe – London Oxford street.

Revenues generated in the third quarter of this year amounted to 6 409 550 PLN, gross profit was 271 610 PLN. Last year for the same period revenue reached 6 019 050 PLN, and gross profit 194 078 PLN.

Since the beginning of his career, Marek Piechocki concentrated on developing his own business. As a graduate of the Gdańsk University of Technology in 1988 - 1990 he was employed as an assistant designer at the Jerzy Lubianiec Electrical Engineering Department. In 1991 he was employed in ETA s.c. as Deputy Commercial Director. From 1990 to 1995 he ran his own business P.H. Mistral s.c. in Gdansk. Mistral since 1995 is the LPP SA organization.

In 2016 Reserved opened flagship stores in Europe and in Middle East. In May, the flagship brand was opened in Berlin, and since the end of the year it is also available in Hamburg and Cologne. By the end of 2017, Reserved network in Germany will consist of 19 stores. Additionally, in September, the flagship store has appeared in the best shopping street in Europe − Oxford St in London. This investment is supposed to be a key element of the strategy to build global awareness of Reserved.

LPP invests heavily in the development of its sales network in Poland and abroad. Over the past 7 years, the organization has spent 3.5 billion PLN on the development of the store network. By the end of 2020, it intends to allocate 1.5 billion PLN for this purpose. The funds will be used to maintain and modernize existing stores and for new stores openings. According to investment activities related to the maintenance and development of the retail network, Marek Piechocki works with nearly 300 subcontractors who employ in total 3 500 of employees dedicated to collaboration with the Gdańsk company. Among them are construction companies, design offices, carpentry companies or service companies. Due to the high quality of services, Marek Piechocki values long-term cooperation, therefore with many subcontractors it lasts nearly 20 years Since the first days of cooperation. Some of them started as two-person companies, and today the employ over 100 employees.

For over 26 years Marek Piechocki’s company has been repeatedly awarded by the media and professional organisations, which confirms the contribution of LPP to the development of Polish economy, the effectiveness of its business decisions and the recognition for the clothing brands belonging to LPP Group. For 7 years the RESERVED brand has been the undisputed leader in the