London Designer Outlet sales soar on reopening, fashion strong

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 9, 2020

Wembley Park’s London Designer Outlet has seen sales rising 22% compared to October since it reopened this month after England’s latest lockdown.

And importantly, its sales are also up compared to the same period last year as shoppers who were unable to visit non-essential physical stores last month seek out deals on gifts and premium fashion labels ahead of Christmas.

Realm, which manages the outlet mall, said it seems to be benefiting from the Government’s decision to allow families to get together over Christmas as shoppers appear to be purchasing new fashion pieces to wear during the few social occasions they’ll have been allowed to attend this year.

LDO saw average spend soar across its accessories & gifts, its menswear and its womenswear categories, by 26%, 27% and 54% respectively, on the Friday and Saturday following reopening compared to October.

And the year-on-year rise? It may be only 0.4%, but that’s impressive in the circumstances, “showing that the pandemic has not put a dampener on people’s Christmas shopping”.

But it’s interesting that fashion shoppers aren’t only buying traditional party looks. In fact, the company said the rise is partly being driven by LDO’s athleisure brands, including big names such as Adidas, Nike and Puma. They enjoyed sales up 42% compared to early December 2019 as some of the stores saw their best performing days in terms of turnover for the year. Meanwhile, reflecting the increased time people are spending at home and taking up new hobbies, sales at LDO’s homeware brands are up 95% year-on-year.

Sue Shepherd, Realm’s LDO General Manager, said that despite having to limit visitor numbers for safety reasons, the company is “delighted with how our first week of trading, post-lockdown has gone, with encouraging numbers of guests finding some significant deals as we enter the festive season. It shows that physical retail is still an appealing experience for so many and it’s why we’re working hard to ensure everyone still has a great time, safely.”