boek - Corio-eu.com

Corio is proud to present
you with this book, and
it is with great pleasure
that I myself read these
colourful accounts of the
Dutch retail brands.
NAAR INHOUD/TO CONTENT
All too often, consumers see “our” brands in the retail sector as being un-Dutch. The various names sound great of
course: Rituals, G-Star, Rivièra Maison and 2theloo, but they don’t sound very Dutch. Hema, Albert Heijn, and V&D, on
the other hand, do betray their origins. But it’s perfectly clear that strong Dutch brands have always dared to look beyond
the country’s borders. You can find a lot of evidence of that in this book.
Today’s consumers are increasingly abandoning uniformity. They want to be surprised, want to discover things, demand authenticity,
and want a genuinely sensual experience. As a result, retailers have to compete more and more for consumers’ time and
attention. It’s all about sharing experiences and telling your story. Shoppers clearly like Dutch brands, and as these accounts
make clear, a lot of Dutch brands are working hard on their own storytelling.
To want to innovate, grow, and look beyond the country’s borders is quite simply part of our national character – we’ve always
been a trading nation. This book presents all kinds of excellent examples of quirky and enthusiastic entrepreneurship. Some
entrepreneurs trust in their own intuition or gut feeling, while others work entirely independently, like artists. Some companies,
for example, cleverly decide to position themselves right in the wake of the trendsetters, and therefore have their own “story”
to tell.
Our aim with this book is not to present a full-scale survey of all Dutch retail brands. What we have done is display the
wealth of stories that those brands have to tell. When creating this book, we asked one another whether adding up all these
brands together constitutes the shopping centre of our dreams or the perfect shopping street. Can they add up to the “Favourite
Meeting Place” that we have in mind when we think about our shopping centres? Needless to say, more is necessary to
create that perfect meeting place, as this book will make clear.
What will always stick with me is that wilfulness of the Dutch, which often forms the basis for the success of a large number
of Dutch brands in the retail sector and elsewhere, such as Heineken, Miffy the bunny, Philips, and the legendary Johan Cruijff.
Where does that actually come from? I’m afraid I don’t really have the answer. But I’m sure you will feel the same astonishment
and admiration as I did when I read these stories about Dutch brands.
Jan Willem Weissink
CEO Corio Nederland
11