Value Retail, the developer and operator of the nine Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages has aggressive plans for the Middle East market. With the first quarter of this year showing a strong growth of 84% over 2011, the Middle East market is growing fast.
As Ian Stazicker, head of tourism – Value Retail explains to Travel Daily Middle East: “This growth that we have witnessed is not even peak travel time. We see a lot of potential from this region and would like to touch around a 50-60% growth from this market as we have made strong start.”
The Middle East is certainly not lagging behind in terms of key markets for the Value Retail Group, who have markets like China, Russia, Brazil and South East Asia growing extremely well. Even within the region, Value Retail, the developer and operator of the nine Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages have their three top markets which are Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. “UAE comes a close fifth which is just after Lebanon. This is due to the fact that initially our focus was the UAE. However, now it is the wider GCC region and we are starting to see the benefits,” said Stazicker.
To strengthen its presence in the region, Value Retail, the developer and operator of the Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages announced a key alliance with Etihad Guest. With this partnership, members of the Etihad Guest programme will be entitled to receive two miles for every one euro or GBP spent in any of the luxury outlet boutiques throughout the nine Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages.
“This alliance serves to further enhance our visibility of the Collection to a global audience and offers Etihad Guest members a new opportunity to earn miles. The first step is for customers to earn points while in the second phase, they will be able to redeem their points to get a gift card to spend across the Collection of nine Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages by Value Retail. This is an alternate way to redeem their miles,” added Stazicker.
In addition to strengthening the Middle East presence, Value Retail will open the first village outside Europe in China at the end of 2013. “This will be part of our long term strategy to have a Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages, developed and operated by Value Retail. There is a big demand for our products in the China market. And finally, the launch in China opens up regional tourism in markets like Japan, Korea and Indonesia. It also offers an opportunity for people who do not travel to Europe to access the villages,” explained Stazicker.
The new outlet in China will be located just outside Shanghai and will house around 120-140 boutiques. It will have an international feel catering to the Chinese consumer, who is very experienced and wants to have an experience beyond the normal.
