The key points
- The main outlet villages in Italy during the first week of 2022 sales recorded growing sales over 2019 or 2020
- The open air structure and the strengthened safety regulations push Italian customers
- Few fears for new closures
The sales officially started a week ago and if Massimo Torti, secretary general of Federmoda, speaks of a trend “on average around + 5% compared to 2021, below what were the expectations”, the managers of the outlet villages Italians – from Piedmont to Sicily passing through Lazio and Campania – seem satisfied with the sales made in the first seven days from the start to the discounts. And, after a “black” 2021, which had often kept them closed even on weekends (assimilating them to shopping centers), they started the year with strengthened security measures and a good dose of optimism.
McArthurGlen: balances at 2019 levels and more homogeneous flows
In the five Italian centers of the McArthurGlen Group (Serravalle, Noventa, Barberino, Castel Romano and Marcianise) the first week of sales «went above our expectations, we recorded a good turnout in each of our centers. The first evaluations, albeit still preliminary, are positive, with a higher “average receipt” and an increase in the frequency of visits which offset the component linked to tourism of our visitors and which recorded a slightly growing sales trend compared to to 2019 », the British group with 4.5 billion turnover in 2019, the first to have brought the outlet villages to Italy. The two-year period 2020-21 has profoundly changed the identikit of customers, reducing the share of international tourists and bringing Italians looking for business and leisure back to the villages. With new shopping habits: “We have seen a greater distribution of consumers during the week towards the weekend and this helps to distribute the flows and avoid peaks”. Continuous openings and closures have led the managers to shorten reaction times, also in terms of the safety measures to be adopted: «We have accumulated experience and ability to react quickly to any decision. Our priority has always been to ensure the safety and well-being of our visitors, employees, brand partners and in general the people of the territories in which we operate and all the indicators confirm the positive evaluation of customers with respect to our commitment. Our being open air, in fact, reassures consumers as well as the stringent application of all the new habits to contain the pandemic ».
Neinver, good sport and home and a boom in restaurants
Omar El Jarrah, marketing manager of Neinver, present in Italy with Vicolungo and Castel Guelfo The Style Outlets, also highlights the transformation of customers’ shopping habits. Transformation that can be seen from the change in flows: “Before the pandemic we were characterized by peaks on weekends, bridges and holidays, while now the visits are distributed more evenly over the whole week and also within the entire range opening hours of our centers. Therefore, also in relation to the balances, we believe we can draw a weighed balance only at the end of the period, despite the fact that these first few days give us hope. The start of the 2022 sales “is in line with that of the first days of the 2020 ones, which were not yet impacted by the pandemic,” he says. Among the best-selling products at reduced prices, El Jarrah mentions sports products (both activewear and outdoor) and products for the home “in all its facets: leisure-wear and comfy-wear, household items, kitchen accessories and gastronomy products ». At the start of the sales, the Style Outlets recorded positive performances in catering: “Thanks to the good weather, the restaurants in the centers, in particular those with dehors, were also fully booked: from Farinella and La Piadineria to Castel Guelfo The Style Outlets, for Antonino il Banco di Cannavacciuolo and Saporè in Vicolungo The Style Outlets, to name a few ».
Neinver closes a year that, despite its complexity, has been positive: “Taking into account the situation, we can be satisfied with the 2021 trend. A year that started with still rather heavy restrictions, which gradually eased, until the centers were completely reopened, with flows and sales that immediately registered an important rebound effect. In the second half of the year, the trend stabilized, settling at pre-pandemic levels and giving a glimpse of concrete possibilities for further improvement in 2022 », says the marketing manager.
Brugnato 5Terre Outlet Village is + 10% on 2019
Thirty thousand visitors over the weekend, 60 thousand if the analysis at the beginning of the promotions is “widened”: these are the numbers recorded by the Brugnato 5Terre Outlet Village, between Liguria and Tuscany. “An excellent turnout that led to significant performances in terms of sales, even 10% higher than the start of the 2019 winter sales, the last pre-covid year”, comments Cesare Nonnis Marzano, head of ROS Retail Outlet Shopping projects in Italy. Who adds: “The results of this first week of sales give us hope for a 2022 marked by an effective restart and reward the efforts made to guarantee an offer capable of meeting the satisfaction of customers, safeguarding the at the same time, even in the most difficult periods, the workforce employed within the center ». The village responds to fears of possible new restrictions with strict rules maintained even in periods with minor infections: “The Outlet Village has continued to maintain a fairly rigid protocol, with separate entrances and exits and restrictive indications for capacity and spacing inside some shops. And we will continue on this path, as we have done in recent months, making available to everyone, visitors and workers, a safe and welcoming environment where they can walk, shop and spend their free time peacefully ”, Nonnis Marzano comments.