Interviews
Unfazed by e-commerce, retailers expand
04 Mar '16
4 min read
The survey findings show that 83 per cent of brands suggest their physical store expansion plans for 2016 will not be affected by the growth of e-commerce. Meanwhile, from a retailer’s perspective only 22 per cent of the brands are concerned about stiff competition from online retailing as a threat to their business. At the same time, retailers are cautiously optimistic on physical sales network expansion. Out of those questioned, 17 per cent have large scale ambitions with many retailers looking to open more than 40 stores (up from 9 per cent in 2015) in 2016. The vast majority (67 per cent) are looking to open up to 20 stores.
“A physical store presence in key locations is still critical to the strength of a brand’s image. Stores still need to create an emotional affinity with shoppers, and customers still feel a need to go into stores, to physically touch a product and enjoy the feel-good factor associated with a particular brand experience. The store is integral to the shopping journey and can be used in a number of different ways, such as to click and collect, research of the product or brand, or to test the product. It isn’t solely about the transactional side,” said Stephen.
A new trend for 2016 saw a fifth of brands, largely from the Americas and EMEA, stating their intention to expand into travel hubs - such as airports and train stations - in 2016 as this will give them access to high footfall in busy locations. However, for APAC-originating retailers, shopping malls remained the most preferred destination by far at close to 90 per cent.
While globally the key concern for brands in lease negotiations was ‘lease length’, APAC-originated retailers were most concerned with turnover rent clauses as the most important characteristic. The region’s retailers were particularly concerned about changing consumer behavior (40 per cent) which is higher than the global average (31 per cent), the report said. (SH)
“A physical store presence in key locations is still critical to the strength of a brand’s image. Stores still need to create an emotional affinity with shoppers, and customers still feel a need to go into stores, to physically touch a product and enjoy the feel-good factor associated with a particular brand experience. The store is integral to the shopping journey and can be used in a number of different ways, such as to click and collect, research of the product or brand, or to test the product. It isn’t solely about the transactional side,” said Stephen.
A new trend for 2016 saw a fifth of brands, largely from the Americas and EMEA, stating their intention to expand into travel hubs - such as airports and train stations - in 2016 as this will give them access to high footfall in busy locations. However, for APAC-originating retailers, shopping malls remained the most preferred destination by far at close to 90 per cent.
While globally the key concern for brands in lease negotiations was ‘lease length’, APAC-originated retailers were most concerned with turnover rent clauses as the most important characteristic. The region’s retailers were particularly concerned about changing consumer behavior (40 per cent) which is higher than the global average (31 per cent), the report said. (SH)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India
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