MAPIC Outlet Summit

A special session dedicated to the outlet sector will take place on Wednesday, December 1, from 16.30 to 18.00, with a keynote session and roundtables, in partnership with Magdus and moderated by Lisa Wagner, principal at TORG

SPOTLIGHT SPOTLIGHT

The French outlet market Global opportunities for outlets

SINCE the pandemic, the French outlet industry has shown resilience “through resistance and adaptation”, according to Magdus chief executive Caroline Lamy. Challenges have included long closures during the two lockdowns, travel restrictions, a decrease in international tourism and changes in consumer behaviour. “But,” she adds, “despite a decrease in visits, the French outlet centres have registered a higher average spend per visitor thanks to the attractiveness of their retail concept: an open-air model, attractive and secure shopping environments, strong brand offers, four- and even sometimes five-star service and a reduced scale compared to traditional shopping centres. “The location of some schemes close to holiday routes has allowed them to generate new customer flows,” Lamy says. “This has also been possible thanks to the agility and the professionalism of all the outlet players, in terms of marketing campaigns — more focused on local and regional scales — and leasing strategies.” THE US factory outlet sector is typically less biased towards international tourists than Europe, however many schemes are based close to attractions and, pre-COVID, have focused on vacationing visitors. “We have nine centres across the country, which are quite diverse, including those in densely populated urban areas and the more classic resort outlets,” The Outlet Resource Group (TORG) principal, Lisa Wagner, says. “What is consistent is that they have all recovered really strongly. And tra c is up close to 2019 levels, but spending is well above. So people are really arriving with purpose.” She adds: “What I hope is that we have grown the customer base. Obviously we are looking forward to welcoming tourists back but what we have seen is people who were perhaps mall and big-box shoppers coming into the outlets and — as long as the outlets and the stores provide them with a good experience — we would hope to see many of them back. So we hope we have a bigger audience.” Wagner also predicts that Mexico will be the next regional market to be developed and believes that there are plenty of opportunities globally, beyond the US and Europe (in the latter, ground has broken at Tblisi Outlet Village). After meeting at a previous MAPIC, Dubai-based Al Futtaim and TORG have been working on a feasibility study on the opportunities in the Gulf region. A Festivals Outlets concept has been created — “bridging the link with its Festival City mall concept and an outlet element is to be added to Dubai Festival City.”

Ground has broken at Tblisi Outlet Village