The Retailer Spring Edition 2021

SPR I NG 202 1

9

Open to new ideas Outlet retail destinations have had to be inventive to position themselves as more than discount or clearance operations. They offer additional distribution channels, test beds and are away of moving stock to increase cash flow, with minimal negative impact on brand value. Throughout the Realm portfolio there are clear examples of retailers, distributors and manufacturers extending their reach into a bricks and mortar outlet as a way of broadening their customer base and testing new markets within new geographical areas. The entrepreneurial culture of outlets allows new initiatives to be given the best chance to succeed. Whether trialling home delivery, WhatsApp consultations or staging a calendar of summer events and promotions, a modern outlet destination is vibrant and constantly seeking new opportunities which can be put into action very quickly. This flexibility requires hard work but certainly pays dividends. Crunching the numbers The leasing model within outlets opens up an abundance of data that has yet to be matched within a full price retail environment. It allows retailers to refine their offer and maximise the opportunity in front of them through the interpretation of KPIs and insight supplied by the landlord. It covers crucial areas for analysis including trading hours, spend per head, conversion, basket size, dwell time and demographics, to name a few.

The rich data also provides operators with the opportunity to analyse specific areas of growth, and to respond accordingly – not from customer exit surveys where responses can be skewed, but from thousands of actual transactions. This takes the risk out of many expansion projects or targeted leasing efforts to attract specific brands, broaden categories, extend dwell time and increase the destination credentials of a scheme. Data underpins most decision making within outlets and feeds into the business models and plans which ultimately deliver the returns landlords are seeking. In manyways, outlet operators combine the financial rigour required of anymodern business with the insight and lightness of touch that can only come from being literate and conversant with what it is to be a retailer. Many have predicted that retail property companies of the future will have their own commercial operations divisions and few would bet against the adoption of other practices that we now see as tried and tested within the outlet sector.

Christine Grace