The Marco Bicego brand faces the last quarter of the year with double-digit growth of over 20% over 2021, a forecast of exceeding, always double-digit, pre-Covid business levels and a “nice” problem to be faced with. solve.
«For the first time in our company history, demand exceeds production capacity. This is why we are launching a training course, an Academy in collaboration with Gi Group and the Scuola Arte e Mestieri of Vicenza, to train and hire new workers, with or without previous experience in the sector – explains Marco Bicego, founder and creative director of the brand. Veneto – . The goal is also to return to making the goldsmith profession shine, historically rooted in the Vicenza area. In our headquarters in Trissino, artisans represent 60% (over half are women) of the 108 employees ». Another number that gives the measure of growth concerns the Alta high jewelery collection, launched last March: “It was created to revisit the iconic pieces of each collection in a more precious way and today it already represents about 10% of the turnover at the end of the year. , above all our expectations », adds Bicego.
The brand has staked everything on the contemporary reinterpretation of yellow gold, but the next growth tool is the new digital platform, operational since early October. A bridge to the under 40s, but not only: e-commerce will be active throughout Europe and, by 2023, it will integrate the US e-commerce channel and will be launched in Japan.
Exports represent 85% of turnover, which in 2021 was 45 million, up on 2020 even if still not completely in line with 2019 (48 million). “The United States remains our first market, with 45% of the turnover, but I see great growth opportunities also in Italy, which alone is worth 15%, and then in Germany, Benelux and France”. The increases in the cost of energy and raw materials are not affecting growth, even if, in the second half of the year, there were some adjustments to the price list. “If those who went to produce abroad have had great difficulties in the last three years, we have not suffered any impacts: we are vertical, we control the supply chain, from the gold bar to the distribution of the jewel, and this is our strength” , Bicego concludes.
As for the new Academy, its training course combines classroom lessons, structured training and individual coaching aimed at the inclusion of professionals in the company to enhance specialized production capacity. The initiative is carried out in collaboration with Gi Group, the first Italian multinational of work with seven offices in the Vicenza area, and the professional institute Scuola Arte e Mestieri of Vicenza of the Veneto Productivity Center Foundation.