Moscow is the most popular European city that attracts international retail chains and Tokyo is the world’s hottest city for new retailer expansion, attracting 63 new retail brands, according to the latest report by CBRE, “How Global is the Business of Retail?”.
Space in core areas of Tokyo remain highly sought after despite the mixed signals in the economy and an increase in sales tax of 8 percent introduced in April 2014. Singapore follows Tokyo with 58 new retail brands and Abu Dhabi saw the arrival of 55 new retail brands, ranking the city in third place in the top target markets by new retailer entrants.
London has retained its position as the world’s most international shopping destination with 57.9 percent of international retailers present there. In 2014 12 new brands opened in the city, including American Eagle and Lululemon Athletics. The UK’s capital city continues to be a magnet for international retailers who want to showcase and establish their brand. London was closely followed by Dubai which has 55.7 percent of international retailers present and Shanghai with 53.4 percent.
Andrew Phipps, Head of EMEA Retail Research, commented: “The continued desire for expansion into new cities remains high for international brands and we are seeing a great deal of expansion into Asia and in particular into Tokyo, Singapore and Taipei, whilst, the desire to expand into the Middle East shows no sign of slowing down.
However, more established markets such as London continue to draw international brands as it attracts a phenomenal amount of international visitors and overseas shoppers making it a truly global shopping destination. It remains key for international brands to have a strong presence in London, fundamentally due to its size, transparency and position on the global retail stage.”
Retailer globalisation continued in 2014 as retail brands targeted a wide range of locations across the world. 164 cities were surveyed and half saw at least five new retailers open a store. Asia features heavily on the list of target cities of new retailer entrants with six out of the 15 cities from the region. Moscow and Paris were the only European cities that featured in the top 10 target markets attracting 41 and 40 new entrants respectively. US retailers dominated cross–border expansion and accounted for 26% of expansion into new global markets, whilst Italian retailers were the second most active accounting for 14 percent followed by UK based retailers with 11 percent.
41 new international brands entered the Moscow market in 2014. As a result, Moscow is the most popular European city that attracts international retail chains. Also it is the 7th in the world ranking. As of the beginning of 2015, 154 leading international bands from 334 (46 percent) that activity is regularly tracked by CBRE are presented on the Moscow market. By this indicator, Moscow shares the 5th-6th places with Singapore with only 4 cities ahead: London, Dubai, Shanghai and New York.
During 2015 no more than 15-18 new international players could enter the Moscow market. Substantially, this is a result of negative geopolitical situation in the second part of 2014 that resulted the reviewing development plans of the potential new players. In 2015 interest to the Russian market gradually begin to recover and resulted in the growth of activity of international retail chains in 2016.
Valentin Gavrilov, Director of Research, СBRE in Russia, said: “In 2015 commercial terms for retailers have improved as well as macroeconomic indicators have decreased less than alive. Positive news like increasing of consumer confidence make good conditions for new financially strong and strategically-thinking brands.”
Peter Gold, Head of EMEA Cross Border Retail, CBRE added: “The core elements of globalisation such as technology and demographic changes are continuing to have a dramatic impact on the retail business. As retailers look to drive market share and raise their brand profile, they will continue to expand and look for opportunities beyond their home territories. We are seeing brands open in diverse locations around the world such as Taipei, Doha and Manila which all feature in the top 15 target markets as well as more recognised cities like Paris and Dubai where retailers are opening more stores as these prove successful.”
Mid-Range fashion retailers remained the most active sector accounting for 21 percent of global expansion, followed by Luxury and Business retailers with 20 percent. Expansion into the EMEA region was dominated by Mid-range fashion brands accounting for 26 percent of activity, followed by Specialist clothing retailers with 18 percent.