London Designer Outlet toasts fifth anniversary and 6.3% sales growth

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Nov 1, 2018

It has been five years since London Designer Outlet opened its doors in Wembley, and the outlet centre continues to be a bright spot in the UK retail sector while the high street struggles to cope with online competition.

The fashion and lifestyle outlet announced this week its 20th consecutive quarter of sales growth, and a 6.3% increase in year-on-year sales in October. Sales were boosted by strong demand for footwear and athleisure products, particularly Converse and Clarks, with footwear sales up 18% and activewear up 11.3% during October.

The results underscore an impressive performance for the shopping destination, which houses well-known brands including Gap, Nike, Superdry, Guess and The North Face. Annual revenue has jumped by 97% between 2013 and 2018 and annual footfall has risen to 7 million. This is more than double the combined number of people who visit the nearby Wembley Stadium and The SSE Arena each year.

“We have the largest and most densely populated catchment of any UK outlet centre,” Sue Shepherd, centre manager, said. Our average guest age is just 32, the youngest of any UK outlet, showing how we meet the demands of next-generation shoppers and how we are well positioned to meet the needs of the thousands of new office workers and residents coming in to Wembley Park, London’s largest regeneration area."

The outlet centre benefits from a good location just 12 minutes from Central London. According to Quintain, its manager, more than 70% of visitors travel by public transport to LDO.

Next month, the outlet will also launch a home, office or hotel delivery option anywhere in mainland Britain via Dropit, the app-based, store-to-door delivery service. The move is intended to offer a more convenient hands-free shopping experience, helping customers purchase more products at any of its 50 outlet stores.