, and can you give a snapshot of the current state of Mango in the US market regarding store and online presence?  Stephen Grenley: Mango has been present in the United States since 2006. The country is one of our international growth key markets with an ambitious expansion plan to become one of Mango’s top three markets in terms of sales in 2026. We began the expansion plan in 2022 with the opening of the Mango flagship store located at 711 Fifth Avenue in New York. During the first phase, Mango extended its presence in New York City, both in Manhattan and surrounding areas, and increased our presence in Florida, with the opening of two stores in Miami and one in Orlando.  Last year we expanded particularly in the west and south of the US, arriving in the states of Texas, Georgia and California, and closed 2023 with 21 company-owned stores. In 2024 we aim to open a total of 30 new stores. At the beginning of the year, we expanded our presence in California arriving for the first time in San Diego and launching in Pennsylvania with a store in the King of Prussia shopping center, the state’s biggest mall. This April we launched our omnichannel loyalty program “Mango likes you” in the US and will soon disembark in Washington, DC and Massachusetts. IR: What have been the biggest wins so far? SG: Opening our flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue was a dream come true and marked the beginning of a very ambitious and successful expansion plan.  In fact, in less than two years we have achieved some of the main milestones such as more than 20 company-owned stores in the country along the East and West Coast, as well as the Sun Belt. Also, the US entered Mango’s top five most important markets ranking in 2023, a year before planned. IR: What challenges do you expect to encounter in the year ahead in growing the company’s retail reach and brand awareness and how do you plan to address them? SG: The US is one of the most important markets in fashion worldwide thanks to its large customer base and purchasing power. In 2024 we plan to continue growing and consolidating our brand within the current positive tendency of growth. Sales are performing well and we are above the forecast for the country with double-digit growth.  There are numerous expansion opportunities around the country. In Spain, our home market, where the population is 47 million inhabitants, we have more than 380 stores. In the US we currently have around 20 standalone stores, so we have a lot of work ahead of us.  We also see a huge opportunity to increase the offer of our different product lines (Women’s, Men’s, Kids, Teens and Home) in the long run.  Regarding challenges, there are various players in the market and the country is so big and diverse that sometimes it can feel like expanding into a continent. For instance, weather can change a lot between areas. In that sense, we are really improving and learning each year to tailor our product offerings by zone like warm weather locations just in southern parts of the US.  IR: What opportunities for growth do you expect you may come across within this arena? SG: One of the pillars of our growth in the US is the store network expansion with 30 store openings planned for 2024. We believe stores are a special meeting point between the brand and our customers where we offer unique and personalised experiences supported by technology and integrated services.  Also, our online presence allows us to reach the whole country. At Mango, we were pioneers — launching our e-commerce in 2000 and our online sales represent more than 30 per cent of global turnover, a figure above the sector’s average.  This widespread physical presence and large online penetration [provide a] detailed knowledge of our customers which we use to deploy a successful strategy to respond to the needs of our customers at any moment, location or format. IR: How has developing tech, such as AI, played a role and will continue to play a hand in the brand’s expansion strategy? SG: Mango is focused on the construction of a technological ecosystem of experiences, services and products that synchronises and converges capacities and opportunities in the physical and online worlds. We have developed technological tools and systems to maximise our knowledge of customer data and connect them independently of the touch point.  We no longer speak of physical stores but connected stores (the omnichannel connected stores) that have new technologies that although not visible, allow the implementation of continuous improvement initiatives relating to garment availability, the distribution of collections or store footfall, among other things.   We have also developed more than fifteen different machine-learning (MLE) platforms since 2018 that apply artificial intelligence at different points of the value chain, such as pricing and personalisation.  These include Midas, used for pricing policy on mango.com and in retail stores; Gaudí, for recommending products to customers; and Iris, to improve customer service.  In addition, last year we advanced our digitalisation process with the launch of our own internal conversational generative Artificial Intelligence platform, called Lisa. The implementation of generative content and conversational AI will improve everything from collection development to after-sales service.  IR: In your opinion, what sets Mango apart from other brands in the fashion industry?  SG: Our product is the center of what we do and our best presentation card. Mango is very clear about its DNA and what differentiates it: a unique design proposal that translates global fashion trends into its own language with a quality positioning above our competitors. Unlike other brands, 100 per cent of Mango garments are designed in Barcelona thanks to a team of more than 500 people dedicated to the product area. We create coherent and global collections, rather than single garments.  This commitment to quality and detail is also present in our customer experience. For instance, our stores present the New Med design, the Mediterranean-inspired retail concept that showcases the brand’s spirit and freshness. Sustainability and architectural integration are key in this new design, which conceives the Mango store as a Mediterranean home with different rooms with a predominance of warm tones and neutral colours, combined with traditional, handcrafted, sustainable, and natural materials, such as ceramic, tuff, wood, marble, esparto grass and leather. In addition, Mango has one of the richest distribution ecosystems in the fashion industry. We distribute our brand through different but fully integrated channels, combining company stores with franchises, retail with wholesale and a significant online activity through our own e-commerce (Mango.com) and third-party platforms.  Further reading: Meet the Zara of Southeast Asia