The Royer Group
A company project to reinvent itself within the guiding principles of vision and tradition.
I’m committed to sustaining this great human adventure.
The Royer Group is a family story. I’ve known 3 generations. I started out with my father, then I worked with my brother and I’m now fortunate to have my son, my nephew and niece and my wife working with me. This clearly family dimension is not insignificant or incidental. It makes two essential contributions that have a positive effect on all our employees in the way in which we do business: a sense of trust and a relationship built over the long term.
The Royer Group is also a story of vision and conviction, which these essential notions of trust and sustainability help to develop with a certain serenity. Company life is continually marked by economic and sociological changes for which new solutions have to be constantly found. The environment in which we work enables us to accompany these changes effectively and coherently.
One of my forthcoming challenges as Chairman of the Group will concern the governance that we will have to put in place in response to these changes and their impact on the development of our businesses and our structure. We are going to have to work more as a network, with greater autonomy, and those notions of trust and solidarity that are so dear to the Group will once again prove to be major assets in taking up these challenges.
Jacques ROYER Chairman
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE GROUP IN A VIDEO
The Royer Group, 75 years of passion and energy in pictures: jobs and men at the service of a shared success.
KEY FIGURES
Employees worldwide
Of sales in 2023
Of sales to the export market
Million pairs sold per year
Sites in France: Fougères (head office) , Cholet, Sèvres, Arques, Maleville
Foreign subsidiaries
Employees in Asia
Export countries
The Royer Group worldwide
The Royer Group has been established in Asia for nearly 30 years, with 85% of the products it sells being manufactured there. To oversee the Asian offices and take up the challenge of international development, Mickaël Royer, Vice-president, responsible for digital development for the Royer Group, has been appointed to head up Royer Asia in Hong Kong. We meet the grandson of the founder and son of the Chairman, “born in a shoebox”.
What are your ambitions for the Asian market ?
To make all the group-owned brands international. We need to identify the best distributors for each brand in each country. We already have a few partners in Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, and our short-term aim is to find partners in China, where buying power has increased significantly, and develop our market in Japan, which is a strategic country as it’s a trend-setter, and also in Korea.
What are the group’s strengths in taking on this challenge ?
Our presence in Asia for many years has given us an understanding of the codes of a culture that’s very different from ours. In my team of 70 people, apart from one French woman based in Vietnam and one Franco-Vietnamese, all the employees are Chinese or Vietnamese. Most of them come from the production sector and therefore have an excellent knowledge of the market. Also, the group’s French origin and family background are a guarantee of trust in Asia, where most of the companies are family-owned.
What’s the key to building up a distribution network in these countries ?
Apart from the relationships we’ve built up with our suppliers and partners, it’s essential to give it a lot of time and be prepared to travel extensively. Although, in France, we refer to the “Asian market”, each country has its own special features. In some of them you’ll find a lot of local brands, while others prefer the global brand concept... There’s no standard model: you have to adapt to each market and look for the best distributor, who is capable of identifying with the brand, respecting it and conveying its values.
How should digital technology accompany this development in Asia ?
Digital technology is highly influential in Asia, where the Internet is used in both BtoC and BtoB. When I meet a contact in China, he’ll enter Kickers.com on his smartphone as he’s talking to me! For the time being, we’re relying on the websites of our partners, who have an extensive knowledge of their territory: we simply guide them on the content.