Jose Luis Duran, chief executive of Vitex, has always wanted to continue attracting tourists to 11 outlets of its luxury brands, the Spanish newspaper's website reported. However, he has to admit that it is increasingly difficult to achieve this goal. Annual sales are still growing at a double-digit rate, but the sales model is quite different from that when the company was founded in 1992. Hotel and air ticket marketing make people live a better life. Shopping is no longer the only driving force for consumers to go to such business centers. Now outlets are also seeking to attract more consumers through catering, fashion design by young designers or art exhibitions.

According to the report, Duran said in an interview in Barcelona that their business philosophy is still to create differentiation and experience for tourists, "if we don't carry out this internal revolution, it will disappear from the eyes of consumers".

He refers to the revolution the company has experienced in recent years, mainly in three aspects: Asia, digitalization and diversification. Asia is everywhere in Duran's speech. Asian customers are the fastest growing consumer group in outlets, so Duran is very interested in opening stores in China, consolidating the loyalty of Asian consumers in Europe, and copying the Chinese shopping model, such as using online shopping platforms such as Alibaba.

Duran said that nine of the 11 outlets are in Europe and two are in China. In 2018, they received 42 million visitors and their sales rose to 3.1 billion euros, up 10% over the previous year. Chinese buyers account for 45% of the total, but the largest growing customer base comes from South Korea, Russia, India, Dubai and other Middle East countries, as well as Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries.

Vitex is expanding its outlets in Barcelona, Ireland and China. Duran said it would not open new stores in the US and Europe, and the company is currently focused on expanding the Chinese market.

Jose Francesca Ballis, a professor of marketing at essaid business school, explained that outlets had developed at the turn of the century due to the reduction of aviation costs. However, since 2010, only 30% of the customers of outlets had come only for discounts, so the stores began to put the "complete experience" first in marketing. This kind of reform has made Weitai a leading group, Because it keeps pace with the times, it finds a new customer growth model through shopping tourism.

Duran explained that two years ago, Wintek had only one tourism office in China, and now it has offices in Russia, India and South Korea, with 100 employees in charge of attracting tourists. Investment in digital communications has grown exponentially over the past two years, while the so-called "open platform" experience of diversity has also been emphasized, and the group has started operating apartments. Duran does not rule out the possibility of opening hotels and hiring hotel professional service personnel in the future.

Duran has always stressed the importance of continuous reform, because now the requirements of customers are totally different. For example, the primary focus of Chinese tourists today is rest and safety. Marketing experts said that China has a large number of consumers with strong economic capacity and a preference for shopping and brands, which is worth consolidating for outlets.