FOR a brand to successfully infiltrate a market, special care must be taken when choosing the malls to retail in. Which is precisely what the Jay Gee Melwani Group has done with the 'very it and very in' shoe label Giuseppe Zanotti.

Once considered a niche brand in Singapore and having conquered the celebrity and socialites crowd with their first store at Palais Renaissance since it opened in March last year, Giuseppe Zanotti is making a bigger bid for market share by opening a second store at the spanking new Ion Orchard.

'I think that both of them target two different customer groups even though there may be a slight overlap,' says Jay Gee Melwani-Reis Group's director Shabnam Melwani-Reis.

'While the store at Palais Renaissance caters to the tai-tais and celebrities who don't really like crowds, the one at Ion Orchard being on the main Orchard Road belt will help us reach out to a more mass audience.'

In addition, to encourage customers to visit both stores, their retail mixes will differ by roughly 20 per cent. For example, following last season's marvellous collaboration with Balmain, Fall/Winter '09 presents Giuseppe Zanotti's collaboration with edgy New York label Thakoon, which will be available exclusively at the new ION boutique.

A special shoe dedicated and exclusive to the new shop will also be launch in October when Giuseppe Zanotti himself comes to Singapore for the official opening of the boutique.

Ms Melwani-Reis adds the company has no plans to open a third Giuseppe Zanotti as of yet and that the company will monitor the business at the new store before making expansion plans. She does, however, reveal that she expects the store at ION to outperform its predecessor.

She says: 'Palais Renaissance tends to be busy on weekdays but quiet on weekends whereas ION is busy during the week and super busy on weekends. Its larger demographic alone should mean it will do better.'

That is not to say though that the Palais Renaissance boutique does not have its merits, insists Ms Melwani-Reis.

She concludes: 'Many of our regulars at Giuseppe Zanotti who have gone to check out the new store still return to the one at Palai Renaissance. From their lunches at PS Cafe to doing their hair at Passion or Casey, these people whose lifestyles revolve around Palais Renaissance form a big part of our customer base,' she concludes.

'With the two malls offering such different brand mixes, I believe that together, the two boutiques will help us attract a larger audience of customers for the brand.'

Giuseppe Zanotti Design is located at #02-04 Ion Orchard Tel: 6509-8577 and #01-09 Palais Renaissance Tel: 6848-0524

This article was first published in The Business Times