Moscow, St Petersburg and Prague top list of Retailer destination

3 Mar, 2008, Prague

Cities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) dominate a top-20 ranking of new-destination cities to be targeted by cross-border retailers over the next five years, with Moscow in No 1 position, followed by St Petersburg and Prague.

Anco Booysen, Head of Research at Cushman & Wakefield Czech Rep. & Slovakia, says:“Prague has the highest regional GDP per capita (purchasing power adjusted) in the CEE region, and the Czech Republic has one of the strongest GDP growth rates in Europe, making it very attractive for retailers. Prague also has the most developed retail market with more than 857,000 sq m located in Shopping Centres, Retail Warehouses and High Streets.”

The only Western European city in the top ten is Amsterdam, which shares 10^th position with Kyiv. The ranking is part of the annual 2007 International Retailers’ Survey, commissioned by Real Estate Publishers (REP) in association with the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), and produced by global real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield.

The survey interviews property executives responsible for international expansion at 250 retail companies from 23 countries across Europe. The survey focuses on retailers’ views on expanding across border, their expansion plans, and the main issues affecting these plans.

Marinus Dijkman, President/CEOof REP says: “Central and Eastern Europe, in particular Russia, is still clearly seen as the land of opportunities for many cross-border retailers. At the same time, we are also seeing retailers with their origins in CEE expanding internationally.”

On a country basis, Russia and the United Arab Emirates are in joint top position, with 9 per cent of retailers planning to expand in these countries over the next five years. Then comes Slovakia (6 per cent of retailers), followed by Bulgaria, Slovenia and Hungary (5 per cent each).

Anco Booysen says: “The Slovak retail market still lags behind those of Poland and the Czech Republic, with the total GLA of around 126 sq m per 1,000 inhabitants during 2007. With a large development pipeline - approximately 160,000 sq m in 2008 and 380,000 sq m in 2009 are to be added, these new schemes will create opportunities for many retailers to enter and establish themselves in the Slovak market.”

“Only 21% of all high street retailers in Bratislava are international with many retailers choosing to open their flagship stores in shopping centers rather than the high street. Currently approximately 47% of Bratislava shopping centre retailers are international. During the next five years this trend is expected to replicate in large regional cities,” says Anco Booysen.

Retailers were also asked their main issues of concern. Top comes performance of the economy, followed by property occupancy costs, multi-channel retailing, workforce availability, consumers’ ethical concerns.

Expansion plans …

Seventy-three per cent of retailers prefer a high street location, 46 per cent favour in-town/city centre shopping centres and 35 per cent locate in out-of-town shopping centres.
The use of multi-channel retailing is increasing, but it is still to make its mark in some parts of Europe, especially Central and Eastern Europe
Following physical stores, telephone ordering from paper catalogues is the next most popular sales method (35 per cent), followed by mail order from paper catalogues (25 per cent) and website purchasing (17 per cent).

TOP 20 CITES TARGETED BY INTERNATIONAL RETAILERS OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS

2007 Ranking	City
1	Moscow
2	St Petersburg
3	Prague
4	Bratislava
5	Ljubljana
6	Sofia
7	Bucharest
8	Budapest
9	Tallinn
10=	Amsterdam
10=	Kyiv
12=	Berlin
12=	Warsaw
14=	Zagreb
14=	Copenhagen
14=	Riga
14=	Vilnius
18	Stockholm
19=	Split
19=	Paris
19=	Geneva

Source: 2007 International Retailers Survey.

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