The FINANCIAL — International Corporation ICR, one of the largest and most stable organisations in the field of retail business in Georgia, has introduced five new brands in Georgia – Corso Italia for its shoes line and Aran, Tomassela, Colombini Casa, and Dialma Brown for the furniture line.
The company’s management believes the year 2015 was a year of growth and progress.
“This year started very successfully for us. We have introduced one more new brand on the Georgian market, in the food direction this time. This is Old Wild West – a number one brand in Italy for burgers and steaks. We opened the first restaurant in the shopping centre East Point in the capital Tbilisi,” Nani Andiashvili, Director of International Corporation ICR, told The FINANCIAL.
“The concept of this restaurant is unique for the Georgian market in terms of its interior, menu and food. This is an ideal place for children, families and friends. The beginning of 2016 gives us a base to forecast optimistic results by the end of the year,” she added.
“Our company is an innovator and leader in the industry. We are the first company to help customers create an individual lifestyle,” Andiashvili said.
Laboratory My Home has recently won leading Georgian business award Golden Brand for its successful activities in 2015.
The company started operations on the Georgian market in 1993 and currently has 700 employees.
Today International Corporation ICR represents European brands of shoes, clothes, accessories, as well as furniture and food and beverage outlets.
The shoes line offers Laboratory Shoes Gallery, Studio Shoes Gallery, Ecco, Geox, Tamaris, Bata, Bambino, Skechers, while the accessories line is represented by Parfois and Moa, followed by the clothes line with Okaïdi-Obaïbi. The company also offers a furniture line (My Home, Laboratory My Home) and food and beverage line (Restaurant Tabla, Café Pomodorissimo, Café La France, Café Laboratory).
“Our work is primarily based on the principles of human rights and corporate social responsibility. ICR stands for ‘idea, concept and result’. This is the basis of our business principles.
Idea – We appreciate innovative and progressive ideas, as we believe that such ideas were and always will be the basis of all of our undertakings and success. We generate and develop ideas within the company on a regular basis. The opinion of every employee is important to us. That is why we created a corporate culture that encourages the open initiation and discussion of new ideas and projects.
Concept – It requires expertise and strategic vision to transform any idea and concept into reality. These are the skills that really stand out in each member of our management team. Our management principles ensure the transparency of business processes, staff development, and thus high standards of products and services provided to our customers.
Result – Every project of our company is result-oriented. Therefore, the company’s pace of work is very dynamic. The result-oriented attitude requires proper planning and teamwork, and every employee of our company is well aware of these requirements. We take all the results achieved through our business activities with great responsibility, as we respect our customers, partners and society.
Q. What are your plans for developing the company further?
International Corporation ICR has been operating on the Georgian market for 25 years already. The organization has been developing more and more and is today positioned as one of the largest and strongest companies in Georgia’s retail sector.
We constantly plan novelties in all directions of our business – shoes, accessories, food and furniture. This is done in a bid to increase the brand portfolio as well as offer new services. For this purpose we greatly value our furniture direction – Laboratory My Home.
In the furniture direction the company started its activities in 2002 under the brand name My Home. Later, in 2014 Laboratory My Home was created under the umbrella of My Home which started offering a wide choice of accessories together with furniture.
In 2016 we undertook rebranding and as of today Laboratory My Home has a showroom spread over 10,000 sq.m of territory and offers customers not only furniture but ideas about how to design their home’s interior.
People who come to our showroom can buy furniture on site as well as being able to order in our Italian showroom where qualified designer-architects will serve them.
As of today Laboratory My Home is represented by two showrooms, one in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi and one in the Black Sea resort town of Batumi.
In both showrooms people of any style and taste can find their favourite furniture or accessories. Our furniture is affordable for different segments of customers. We offer the best combination of high quality and affordable prices.
Q. From which countries do you import the furniture and accessories?
We have partners on almost every continent. Our suppliers’ network is wide and diverse. This helps us to better meet the market demand. We have showrooms of four leading Italian brands.
In Georgia as well as throughout the world Italian design and Italian furniture are very popular.
Q. How can you describe a house which is decorated with accessories and furniture from Laboratory My Home?
A. A house which is decorated with accessories and furniture bought from Laboratory My Home would reflect the individual taste of its owner. We believe that even tiny details are very important in one’s interior. This is why our offers are always designed in order to meet customers’ needs.
Laboratory My Home is the easiest way to create your individual style.
We offer customers furniture, accessories, textiles and designer service.
Q. How competitive is the Georgian market and how profitable is this business?
A. The competition is quite high in the furniture business. We constantly research the market and customers’ needs. We carefully observe changes in customers’ behaviour and in the global industry. In this direction the trends are very dynamic and we rationally meet all the challenges. Without this it would be difficult to keep the leading positions on the market.
We have ambitions to be the leaders and the best option for customers. Recently we have launched the campaign “compare the prices”. We give the possibility to customers to compare the prices of similar products of Laboratory My Home to our competitors’ products. They will see that they are receiving the best quality at an affordable price. The prices are lower with us than with other competitors.