At the end of 2018, Ecostra, a German research and consulting firm of outlets, and Magdus, a French research firm, jointly released the results of the European 2018 outlets shopping center performance report. The report has been published for ten years in a row and has become a wind vane for the development of outlets in Europe.

This report is based on the researcher's investigation and interview on the performance of international brands in the European outlet channel. The main questions are about the performance of international brands in the European aolaili channel, as well as some other topics, such as the location of the brand to the store, the store expansion plan and the future market development.

This year, 76 brands participated in the survey. They manage or operate more than 120 brands, and there are more than 1200 stores in outlets, Europe. This year, the number one player is Marcingen outlets, and the number two player is last year's champion, the designer outlet Roermond in the Netherlands, built by Arthur grant group. In the third place is the Las Rozas village built by value retail, located in the northern suburb of Madrid, the Spanish capital, which is the first time that the project has won the honor of "exploring flowers".

1. European brands pay more and more attention to ole channel

Among the top 20 projects, Germany accounted for 5 of the 10 best performing outlets in 7 European countries, which is more representative than other countries. In contrast, 12 projects are located in southern Europe, out of the 20 worst performing outlets in Europe.

From the perspective of operators, holy GA is the most powerful in attracting investment, while Arthur grant group is the best in category management and marketing.

In this survey, brand makers are also required to evaluate the performance of OLE operators based on their past experience. Holy GA is the most successful in attracting investment. Its Maiqingen outlets has reached the highest level of performance in Europe, and is the best in attracting brand investment in Europe. In terms of "operation management" and "marketing", the performance of Arthur grant group, the first Olay operator in Europe, is recognized as the best by brand makers.

2. Top 20 European outlets results 2018

Today, the growth of outlets is accelerating, and Germany is still the most important target market. In 2017, brands have slowed down the number of outlets in the ole channel. For example, in 2016, the average number of outlets in each brand is 3.2, but in 2017, it has dropped to 2.7, but this year, they have begun to accelerate their expansion. According to the survey, brands hope to increase the average number of outlets in orlay to 3.7 in the next year. On the other hand, brands also plan to close stores with poor performance to optimize the channel layout in OLE. According to statistics, this year's average number of outlets planned to be closed by each brand is 1.2 (last year's figure was 1.0). In the future, changes in the number of outlets can balance the opening and closing plans of new projects.

According to the survey, Germany is the country most interested in channel distribution, 58.2% of which want to distribute in Germany (last year's figure was 57.1%); France and the United Kingdom account for 25.4% respectively, and it should be noted that the intention of brands to distribute in France has declined significantly compared with last year (last year's figure was 37.1%).

The main driving force for the channel expansion of outlets by brand merchants is that the profit margin of outlets keeps improving, which is superior to the performance of other sales channels. According to the feedback of brand merchants to the survey, if we measure the economic benefits of brand merchants in outlet store from 1 (very good) to 5 (very bad), the average value of the surveyed brands is 1.99, which is significantly higher than the performance of brands in high street stores in inland cities (3.00), and also higher than their e-commerce channels (2.51). According to the survey results of previous years, the gap between aolaidian and other sales channels has been magnified by the market again, which indicates that outlet is becoming more and more profitable channel for brand makers, rather than just the initial inventory clearing and sales function.

3. No. 1 in European performance: Maicengen outlets

In terms of design and architecture, Mechingen outlets, a small town in Swabia, Germany, is not a beautiful place, at least not an essential urban sub area. But Mechingen outlets is not only the oldest ole in Germany, but also the largest ole so far. It has been renovated for many years in terms of architecture and is expanding another 10000 square meters.

What's more, this outlets has a trump card to make full use of: the factory discount store of Hugo Boss, the largest in the world, and a group of factory stores of internationally famous brands. In fact, in addition to the unique brand mix, the success in sales is also a major advantage of the town of Vasbia. Now, brands across Europe have confirmed in the survey that this year, Maicengen outlets is the best performing ole in Europe, replacing last year's champion, designer outlet Roermond of Arthur grant group. For the first time in 10 years, Germany's outlets ranked first.

In terms of the number and level of brands, there are only more than 90 brands of Maiqingen famous outlets, but they are all positioned at the luxury level, Armani and Michael Kors. Bottega Veneta, Burberry, dolce Gabbana, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Prada, Tod's, maxmara, zegana, tory burch, diesel, coach, fossil, Polo Ralph Lauren and other brands are enough to attract attention, let alone the world's largest Hugo Boss factory store. After the expansion in 2017, the overall rentable area is now 55500 square meters.

Wolfgang Bauer, general manager of Mcinergen outlets, said: "we are very excited to receive this award, especially in the period of our expansion, which is a great inspiration for us. In 2019, we will expand the original area by a quarter and introduce more high-end brands and luxury brands. In addition to the brand portfolio, we also want to improve the stay time and store experience of consumers, leaving them with unforgettable digital consumption experience. We must adopt sustainable and innovative management and put customers first to ensure the long-term success of the project. "

Located 30 kilometers south of Stuttgart and only 2 hours' drive from Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich, Mechingen is one of the most successful outlets projects in Europe, attracting more than 4 million tourists from 185 countries every year. The success of this town is inseparable from its history. It has been a famous textile center since the 19th century. In 1923, Hugo Boss established the brand "Hugo Boss". With the development and expansion of the brand, maiqingen became famous.

Not only that, Maiqingen can provide a lot for tourists. This town with a long history, modern and historical architectural style, has a large number of tourist attractions, a century old tradition of grape planting and first-class catering services, so many local events will be held here.