MILAN — A surge in shoppers from abroad has helped to bolster McArthurGlen’s performance in Italy this year.
Based on the company’s projections, earnings in Italy are up 5 percent with respect to 2009, and up 16 percent if sales from the La Reggia outlet in the Caserta region, which opened earlier this year, are included. La Reggia is the fifth McArthurGlen complex in the country and, since its inauguration in February, has posted earnings 15 percent above expectations.
At the presentation in Milan, Roberto Meneghesso, country manager of the group since mid-September, emphasized that the main goal for 2011 is to enhance and improve shopper experience through facility management and promotional events.
Attendance remained steady at about 12.5 million visitors, with numbers from the La Reggia center bringing that figure to around 15 million. The group registered a significant boost in tourist traffic, particularly from Germany, Austria, France and England, as well as a 254 percent spike in sales from non-EU shoppers from Russia, Serbia, China, Korea, Ukraine, the U.S. and Brazil. The company pointed out that Russians made up 51 percent of foreign shoppers at the outlets this year, which is an 85 percent increase from 2009.
On a European scale, McArthurGlen projects a year-on-year growth of 16 percent in sales and 10 percent in attendance from its 19 outlets on the continent. During the press conference, the company also reiterated its plans to open the first designer outlet in Greece, outside Athens, next year and another near Hamburg in 2012.