Loving Outlet Shopping - Value Retail News

OPERaTIONS
Gva outlet division launches
retail academy at Fh in Poland
GVA Grimley Outlet Services
(GVA OS) recently launched the
Retail Academy in Fashion House
Outlets in Warsaw, Gdansk and Sosnowiec,
Poland, and in Premier Outlet Centre
in Budapest. The program is an outgrowth
of GVA’s philosophy that retail is
a rewarding career and that retail managers
and teams should have the benefit of
appropriate training.
The Retail Academy offers tenants a
series of workshops designed to help
outlet retailers provide customers with an
enhanced shopping experience. Experts
have been carefully selected to lead each
The first stop for today’s outlet
shoppers is often the Web. To make
sure that their second stop is an
outlet center, marketers are either stepping
up the quality of their existing Internet
sites or launching entirely new ones.
McArthurGlen Group recently introduced
a series of seven regional Web sites
designed to attract new customers to its
outlets. Each of the centers will have its
own Web site with content relevant to its
location. The first new site went live last
summer at York Designer Outlet (www.
yorkdesigneroutlet.com). Other sites went
online in the following weeks. All the sites
include a personal shopping section, a
“stylist’s picks” section, and opportunities
to take advantage of the McArthurGlen
“Love Rewards” loyalty programme.
n n n
Fashion house Outlet Centers’ Web
sites (www.fashionhouse.pl), which already
have drawn 2.5 million visitors, since
inception, have undergone a makeover
that promises to deliver an enhanced user
experience. Subpages direct shoppers to
additional promotions in selected shops
at each of three Fashion House centers
(with interactive maps for each center):
Sosnowiec, Warszaw, and Gdansk. The
redesign also offers a virtual press room
and is available in Polish and English.
“There are no borders on the Internet,”
says Katarzyna Czapran, marketing manager
at Fashion House Outlet Center in Gdansk.
20 InternatIOnal Outlet JOurnal Fall 2009
workshop. The first workshop in the series
is titled “Becoming Excellent” and focuses
on delivering excellent customer service.
The workshop places the responsibility
for developing a service culture directly
on the managers.
“Recognizing what good customer service
is, rewarding it when it is practiced,
and coaching the staff to improve when
it is not, are key responsibilities of an
effective manager,” says Anna Jones, head
of retail for GVA OS. “With so much
competition out there, service can make
the difference. If we coach our tenants
to give their customers a delightful shop-
“By keeping up with new technology, we
can reach every place in the world with the
information about Fashion House.”
n n n
iNG Real Estate’s 160,000-sf Dalton Park
in northeast England recently launched a
Web site (www.dalton-park.co.uk) that promises
visitors they will be “the first to know”
about the center’s events and special offers.
The site also includes a section called
“Kid’s Stuff,” where children can download
pictures to colour and print.
Dalton Park says it is the first shopping
center in the region to participate in social
networking, offering Facebook and Twitter
sections on its Web site.
“It’s a great way to find out what
people feel, want and need so that we can
respond effectively,” says Heather Scott,
Dalton Park’s marketing director. c
ping experience, a GVA-operated center
can become renowned for excellence.
This is our vision.”
Training consultant Andrew Morris
delivered the first workshop. Morris has
more than 15 years of retail experience,
from high street to department stores
and premium brands. He has an extensive
background motivating staffs from
around the world.
“Through illustrations and stories, I want
people to become aware of what makes the
difference and become conscious of what is
mediocre service and what creates customer
delight,” Morris explains. c
Outlet centers reel in shoppers via Web pages
Understanding that many shoppers
are also computer-savvy has driven outlet
landlords to develop appealing Web sites
for their centers.