On Heats Up Sneaker Competition in Milan With First Italian Flagship

MILAN — On’s on a roll and ready to bag the rapidly growing community of fans in Italy as it opens its first flagship in Milan.

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The Swiss running brand, which continues to gain steam and popularity in and outside the running community, is cutting the ribbon Friday of its new megastore on Milan’s central thoroughfare Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, heating up the sportswear competition on the street, which already hosts flagships from the likes of Nike and Adidas, for example.

Although Italy has been an historically relevant market for the brand, which boasts a widespread network of specialty stockists, On is committed to scaling up its direct-to-consumer presence to enhance the customer journey, explained Bianca Pestalozzi, On’s general manager for the Europe, Middle East and Africa, or EMEA, region.

“We’ve seen good growth in the levels of brand awareness for On, maybe more so in Milan than in cities like Rome, but we’re definitely seeing a lot of growth and brand momentum in the market,” she said.

The Milan store bows a month after the opening of the second Paris flagship on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Both cities and countries have huge potential, according to Pestalozzi. “We’ve definitely invested in connecting with [local] communities, with the running community and we plan to continue to do so over the coming years,” she said.

“I think Italy is a little bit unique… in northern parts of Italy the brand is landing with a younger audience, but probably from an ‘all-day performance’ and lifestyle appeal [perspective]. And we definitely want to anchor the brand in the running communities and the performance communities…. that’s a big focus for us in the Italian market,” she explained.

“At the same time, Milan is a key destination — and alongside Paris maybe — the hot spot from a fashion and luxury and lifestyle point of view in Europe,” she continued.

To be sure, after reclaiming the top spot in Lyst’s hottest products list for the second quarter of 2024 with the On x Loewe Cloudtilt 2.0 sneakers, the company is also increasingly leveraging its growing appeal to fashion-savvy consumers.

“With the opening of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II flagship store and then also by building a stronger presence through digital channels, we plan to deliver a really premium and elevated experience to fans, both locals and also tourists traveling to the city,” Pestalozzi explained.

“We want to continue building strong desirability of the brand in that performance-meets-fashion and culture space,” she noted.

The 5,166-square-foot unit was redesigned by Milan-based architectural studio BBPR to maintain the unit’s historical blueprint, which is defined by strong interaction between the indoor space and the outdoors with its floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the street’s arcaded walkway. The space previously housed a Gap store.

“We definitely think about our retail stores and the flagships in particular as an experience, and being able to see the best of the brand,” Pestalozzi said, acknowledging the need to tailor experiences catering to communities in specific locations to fuel “desire for uniqueness at the retail store,” she said.

The Milan flagship carries men’s and women’s sneakers and apparel collections as well as limited-edition launches and collaborations. The in-store experience is poised to be further enhanced through the On member’s app launched in 2023, which will be instrumental in getting access to benefits, early product releases and more.

The ground floor displays running gear, sneakers, and new arrivals, with other sports and activities including tennis, as well as the lifestyle selection taking over the lower floor.

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In sync with its community-building ambitions, the basement floor features a central square, or piazza in Italian, dedicated to community gatherings, conversations and activations intended to lure brand fans and customers into the store via non-transactional activities.

Building on the retail lessons learned elsewhere, including at Paris’ two units on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and in the Marché Saint-Germain, On has fine-tuned its customer’s journey, for example displaying total looks which include apparel, a burgeoning category since last year, Pestalozzi explained.

Although the social media-fueled, short-cycle trends tend to flatten customers’ desires and behavior, Pestalozzi believes that “there’s a lot of local nuances in terms of who people look to for influence, and what’s important culturally, in the different markets. So, in Italy you maybe have more of an eye for design, and the color palettes, and I would say the creative direction in the product,” she said.

In the second quarter of 2024 On’s revenues in the EMEA region increased 21.8 percent to 138.4 million Swiss francs. In the quarter overall sales jumped 27.8 percent from the same period a year ago to of 567.7 million Swiss francs.

“Europe is the most mature region in a way because the markets that we’re in… are those where the brand started, where we started our expansion journey and where we had the very first fans when the brand started back in 2010,” Pestalozzi offered.

In addition to Germany, where brand awareness and penetration have continued to pick up since the brand’s foundation , the U.K. has become a relevant market in the region, hosting two of the six retail outposts the company has in the EMEA region. Albeit smaller in volumes, Austria and Switzerland are also in advanced stages of development.

Central Europe is in a transformation stage, Pestalozzi said, focused on “shifting distribution and making sure that the brand is positioned within performance and within the relevant lifestyle and sneaker channels.”

The Milan opening, following the retail rollout in Paris, suggests instead On’s renewed focus on Southern Europe including Spain, Italy and France, the executive explained. “I would say they’re a little bit the next chapter of On’s expansion within Europe. Because we’re still growing from a lower base in in those markets,” she offered mentioning activations such as the Barcelona Marathon that On sponsored this year.

The Middle East is similarly enjoying good momentum, the executive said, with plans to build a more meaningful and multichannel presence in the coming years.

In the most recent quarter, direct-to-consumer sales made up 37.5 percent of On’s total business, with wholesale accounting for a little less than two thirds of the business.

Pestalozzi said On does not plan to streamline its wholesale footprint in the EMEA region but rather “focus on the right partners that help us reach the communities we’re going after.”

“I think the strategy of On has always been to basically go to market direct-to-consumer to reach those communities through our own channels, but at the same time to partner with these different community champions on the wholesale side to be credible with those consumers,” she said.

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