Loving Outlet Shopping - Value Retail News

Chart No. 2
FOC PERFORMaNCE
Where the brands are,
and where they’re from
Probably any avid factory outlet
shopper could say with high
certainty and little consternation
which brands are found most often in
FOCs, either in their own mono-brand
stores or in multi-brand distributors’
stores. But three German researchers
have come up with a definitive list of
the 15 brands with the most penetration
in the most typical European outlet
centers.
The research is included in the in-depth,
150-page Factory Outlet Centre Performance-
European Report 2009 by Sven Buchsteiner,
senior consultant of retail consulting &
research, CB Richard Ellis; Katharina
Waldher, consultancy coordinator-retail
consulting & research, CB Richard Ellis;
and Joachim Will, CEO Ecostra.
Graph No. 1 is based on a total of
56 factory outlet centers and the 2,500
brands found in those FOCs. The
analysis considered only brands found in
at least 10 centers. Although the analysis
concentrates on branded stores, there
are a few shops-in-shop and off-pricers
included.
One interesting point is that sports and
casual brands, such as Nike, Levi’s, Puma,
Adidas and Reebok are represented in
most locations in their own mono-brand
stores. Also, the brands with the most
penetration aren’t actually the ones with
the highest price points.
As graph No. 2 shows, nine of the top
25 brands in outlet centers are from the
U.S. Possibly the American origin of the
FOC industry has led to U.S. companies
having a higher comfort level with the
concept. U.S. chains also appear to have the
strongest international brand awareness.
The strongest French and Italian brands
aren’t yet typical FOC tenants, as most of
their representation is in high streets offering
luxury goods. For this reason, past
season inventory is much smaller than that
of mass market brands, thus the need for
the outlet channel is lower.
Additionally, luxury brands usually
focus on two to four seasonal lines, compared
to as many as 12 lines per year for
casualwear brands such as Esprit, S. Oliver
or Zara. c
15 brands with highest FOC penetration*
*Based on analysis of 56 centers in 16 countries
that have been operating for at least two years
Chart No. 1
Source: CBRE Ecostra 2009
Top brands by countries of origin
Chart No. 2
Source: CBRE Ecostra 2009
Fall 2009 InternatIOnal Outlet JOurnal 9