Clarks Village: Behind The Scenes

All photos courtesy of Clarks Village.

Following our recent blog post on the secrets behind the success of outlet villages, we were contacted by Clarks Village and invited to take a tour of their centre.

We went behind the scenes of this infamous outlet with Centre Manager Chris Davis, to find out more about what goes into making Clarks Village such a thriving outlet destination.

Anna: When I walked into Clarks Village today, I noticed a man with an iPad speaking to customers about which stores they had visited and what they had enjoyed most about their visit. The customers seemed very happy to share their experiences with him.

Chris: Yes, that was Brian. He has worked at Clarks Footwear and then Clarks Village for over forty years, primarily in our facility team. He is in the prime of his life at 80ish! I invited him to join our guest services team to share his local knowledge and he is doing a fantastic job identifying how we can give our customers the best experience here. It also tells them: We’re listening to you.

Anna: I was very impressed – you could see that the customers enjoyed being asked to share their thoughts. The shopping experience is absolutely key, isn’t it? What initiatives do you focus on to make shopping here delightful?

Chris: One of our initiatives is creating exceptional experiences, so we focus on how we can deliver the highest standards to boost the shopping experience. We used to have a carousel in this area of the village, but we have now turned it into a landscaped space where customers can enjoy some downtime with their families and friends. We also use it as an event space – we will have a mini pop-up beach here in the summer and bands often play here. It’s a great way to give customers that little something extra.

Anna: I see you have a really funky food van in this space called Grubs Up. Is that new?

Chris: Yes, it’s a local company from Taunton. They have a number of vans around the centre all providing different types of food and excellent provenance. We like them because they are fun and offer great quality premium food.

Anna: They look very enticing. Getting involved with the local community is crucial for so many outlets. How else do you do this?

Chris: It’s all about engaging with our regular stakeholders and looking at how we can support the region. We get involved with Somerset Day and we work closely with Strode College, Millfield School and other local schools and businesses. Recently, we hosted an event for Wincanton College where the students could learn more about careers in the retail property industry.

Anna: Since you are so close to Glastonbury, do you run any events in conjunction with the town?

Chris: We have a strong green focus at Clarks Village due mainly to our proximity to Glastonbury. We joined in with Glastonbury’s plastic-free week recently: 50% of our brands already use paper bags, but we supported the rest by providing them with paper bags. We also recycled on their behalf and installed art in the village which centered around the plastic-free theme.

Anna: What a great idea. I see you also have some new brands since I last visited.

Chris: Yes, we have been delighted to welcome Jack Wills, Jack Wolfskin and Mint Velvet, and the latest brand joining in August is Haribo. Visitors in our catchment area always keep a close eye on any new store openings. We do exceptionally well with lifestyle and outdoor brands in particular. We have also had a number of brands refit their stores recently.

In addition, we have a pop-up space here, which we offer either on short term lets or for brands to try for up to a year. We find it’s a great way to bring new brands into the scheme: they give us a go, find they can be successful and then they take on a permanent store.

Anna: Clarks Village was acquired by Landsec back in 2017. How has it changed since then?

Chris: Being a part of Landsec has opened so many doors for us: it has given Clarks Village a voice. We share the same passion for creating memories for our customers, as well as providing a fantastic customer journey. Landsec has a talent for building centres that brand partners want to be in.

It’s clear that Chris knows exactly how to create a memorable, shareable outlet experience and the success of Clarks Village is a testament to that.

With the emergence of a greater push for climate-saving initiatives in 2019, it is great to see that the environment is a priority for Clarks Village. As the world now knows, it takes a village (or in this case, an outlet village) to produce real change, and by prioritising green projects it is likely that Clarks Village will inspire other outlet centres to do the same.

As part of their eco-focus, Clarks Village ran a plastic reduction initiative from 26th-30th June. Twenty six of their stores already offer paper bags, bags-for-life or recycled solutions, but during this week paper bags were trialled throughout the centre and Chris has set the objective of being 100% plastic bag free by January 2020.

To tackle the plastic waste produced by coffee cups, Clarks Village installed several recycling receptacles shaped like giant coffee cups around the centre. Every cup put into these receptacles is 100% recycled and the collections themselves are carbon neutral.

Clarks Village has also had a free water refill system installed since Easter to tackle water bottle waste, which has already been used 4,931 times! Every single one of their cafes and restaurants offer free tap water refills to anyone who asks. The environmental team are also recycling the used coffee grounds from the cafes and using it as fertiliser throughout their lovely flower beds.

Does your local outlet centre have any green initiatives? What would you like to see them offer as plastic alternatives?

Stay tuned for more peeks behind the scenes in the retail property industry.

Why Are Outlet Villages So Successful?

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/franganillo/

I was talking to my neighbour last week and we were discussing what we were doing at the weekend. He said: “We’re going to Clark’s Village.”

That statement got me thinking. He and I live 35 minutes from Clark’s Village and 25 minutes from Bath. I don’t think he would have said, “We’re going shopping in Bath,” if he was, because he wouldn’t have deemed it noteworthy enough to disclose. The fact they were visiting Clark’s Village was enough of a significant event that it had to be mentioned.

Given my involvement in the outlet sector, I was delighted to hear that, but ultimately it’s not that surprising. It’s just a shopping trip with his family… or is it?

I had a meeting with an International Director from a quality premium brand yesterday and we were talking about whether or not outlet villages located near big cities cannibalise full price sales. The truth is, most consumers visit their local full price schemes about 30 to 40 times a year, but only visit outlets around 4 to 5 times*. So outlet visits can’t impact sales by more than 10% total.

“Well,” he said, “do people living in Oxford or Banbury only visit Bicester Village 4 to 5 times a year?” Now, as we all know, Bicester Village is rather exceptional, so it is unlikely to fall into the same bracket, but I made the point that even though there may be more visits, they are still considered visits. A trip to Bicester is likely to take at least two hours of shopping, plus a delicious lunch and the travel time there and back again, which all in all sets you back between £100-200 and takes 3-4 hours out of your day. It certainly isn’t a half hour pop to the shops!

Stopping by Oxford’s Westgate for shampoo and printer ink is a lot quicker and cheaper, but it’s not a day out. That’s okay though, because most consumers don’t have the luxury of several hours and several hundred pounds free every day, or even every month. By necessity and budget, we mostly visit the high street, wherever we happen to live. Full price stores have very little to fear from outlets.

I am taking a week off at Easter and thinking about how I’ll spend the week. I have to say, a visit to Clarks Village is on the cards, even though I spend all week immersed in outlets. Why, then, would I want to spend my spare time there? Well, I want my own experience. I want to see which new brands have arrived. I want to buy some sportswear at low outlet prices. I want to visit my favourite shops and see what new goodies they have in store. And I want to do it all with a friend, so we can have a bite together and catch up.

My visit to Clark’s Village is not just a shopping trip. It provides me with:

• Excitement and curiosity (new shops, unexpected offers)

• Necessary purchases (sportswear)

• Emotional highs (purchasing goodies at low prices)

• Social occasions (a day out with a friend)

No wonder outlets are bucking the trend, performing at 8% higher than last year compared to full price who are only at 0.8% higher**: outlets have already evolved, giving us the emotional connection we crave from our shopping experience.

And in this day and age, where consumers are seeking experiences, authenticity and emotional connection over mindless shopping, quality outlets who focus on these elements will succeed even as internet retailing skyrockets. After all, they provide something worth sharing.

*Ken Gunn, MD Pragma Consulting

** Figures from 2017, source Ken Gunn, MD Pragma Consulting

Anna's Take On Retail Meaningfulness

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/marantoni1950/

Here’s the thing: if you make something too readily available, nobody wants it anymore. However, if you restrict availability, it creates the illusion that the object or experience is highly desirable, and people respond by flocking to it in droves. EasyJet uses this psychological trick with their pricing: you can book a flight at an incredible price, but only if you book it early. Wait too long and you’ll miss out on the discount altogether.

Glastonbury Festival has also used limited availability for years, resulting in the fact that if you’re not on the phone at the exact time of ticket launch, you’ll have absolutely no chance of securing a ticket. Even brands are on board, with Lamborghini producing extremely low numbers of each new car and “limited edition” products showing up everywhere from Nintendo to Oscar de le Renta.

I think availability is one of the major contributing factors to the difficulties faced by the fashion retail industry today.

When I started my fashion career in a flagship store on London’s Regent Street, there were just four fashion collections a year. One drop in early September (“Autumn”), one collection in November (“Christmas and Cruise”), another drop in March (“Spring”) and another in May (“Summer”). And boy, was that exciting! Both staff and customers had to wait at least a season for each new collection and when they arrived – BANG, we shopped until we dropped.

Over time, things evolved as Head Office realised that every time there was a new collection, sales went up. So in an attempt to capitalise on this, new fashion stories started to come in once a month rather than just a few times a year. Interesting! As a fashion fan I loved this. I still knew when I’d see something new, but since there was a wait between each collection I could spend time thinking about what I fancied, saving up and then buying something from each new collection.

Well, almost every collection. Buying a whole outfit every month at those prices can be a bit of a stretch, and anyway, one month’s orange and brown jungle print collection suited me far less than another month’s black tailoring. The point is that, even though it was more often than once a season, having to wait a month between collections made shopping exciting and meaningful.

So what happened next? More time passed under this same approach, both with ‘my’ brand and other new fashion brands immigrating to London. The internet had long since arrived with no impact on sales whatsoever, but the physical fashion space got more and more crowded, with brands realising they had to evolve or die as rents spiralled to a premium.

Evolving meant more frequent drops of new collections, more competitive pricing, greater discounting with end of season and midseason sales, and a gift with purchase promotions in order to launch new collections. It was workable for most brands, even if margin was squeezed, even if everyone had to keep on their toes and slide closer to becoming a lifestyle brand in order to stay successful.

However, ultimately, being ‘just a retailer’ was no longer an option, and this had to be recognised. Those who did then lead the way into multi-channel retailing: flagships, free standing stores, concessions, franchising, wholesale, outlet – all potential evolutions for those who had the means to keep up. They needed much more stock, more choice, creative pricing, new territories and better service. If they had those, they could keep up with change, but the requirements of an ever-accelerating retail world pushed many to near breaking point.

Then came internet retail, which many have and still see as the death of fashion retailing as we know it. I don’t. An internet sale is still a sale, so long as brands who use it have a successful bricks and mortar channel alongside a viable internet channel, as well as constant investment in their brand, their people and innovation. Internet retail is different, not bad. For many brands, it has been fantastic.

So if the internet isn’t killing fashion retail, what is?

In my view, it’s consumers having too much choice. Their favourite brands are too accessible, they’re constantly flooded with new products and this means that in essence, the excitement of waiting has gone. I doubt I’m alone in checking out my favourite fashion brands online, thinking I quite like something, but moving on to something else in my life without making a purchase. Likewise, when I visit brands on the high street, I think “That’s nice; I quite like that. It will be reduced in four weeks, so rather than pay full price I’ll wait.” Invariably, I’ve moved onto something else by the time the product is discounted so I don’t make that purchase four weeks later.

Anyone who knows me knows I love to shop, but even eager shoppers need to be seduced. Stores need to show me a) a special item, or b) an incredible price, or they need to convince me c) I actually need something, or d) I should treat myself. This used to be achieved by the innate excitement and anticipation of seasonal collections, but now brands have to do more. The constant cycling of products and price changes has changed my shopping habits from buying something every collection to seeking products and experiences that stand out among the flood. No wonder there is such a cry for authenticity and meaningfulness among Millennials and Gen Zers, whose lives have been defined by this inundation of availability. Of course, this is why artisan markets, farm shops and ‘shop local’ initiatives have become so popular: they have brought back the niche and give some point to it all.

It’s time to evolve once more. Fashion retail must prioritise experience and meaningfulness over numbers, or else it will fall under the burden of its own over-saturation. It is the brands who invest in knowing their customers, who make an art out of their shopping experience, and most importantly put some meaning and feeling back in, who will be there at the next stage of retail.

Has your favourite brand evolved yet?