Singapore ranked 7th most popular destination for luxury retailers

Hong Kong maintained its position as the most popular destination, according to CBRE.

Hong Kong attracted 84% of the global luxury and business fashion brands surveyed while Singapore attracted 69% of the luxury brands covered.

Tokyo and Beijing are also featured in the top 10, confirming that Asia continues to be a key target for luxury brands, with many retailers opening in multiple locations and developing flagship stores to market their brand. Singapore attracted 69% of the global luxury and business fashion brands surveyed.

Letty Lee, Director, Retail Services, CBRE Singapore said “Luxury and business fashion have become a hallmark of Singapore’s retail landscape with key malls having successfully attracted the brands through their unique retail concepts and positioning. The Singapore growth story continues to be a big deciding factor for luxury and fashion retailers, lured by the prospect of a continuous stream of spenders both local and abroad.”

The Integrated Resorts and the surrounding Marina Bay Shoppes which opened last year played a big part in boosting Singapore’s reputation as a luxury and business fashion destination. European jewellery retailer Konplott opened a store in Marina Bay Link Mall last year. Hermes has pre-let 3,000 sf of space at Scotts Square, which is scheduled to open later this year.

CBRE’s annual survey – now in its fourth year – mapped the global footprint of 323 of the world’s top retailers across more than 200 cities across a variety of sectors including Luxury and Fashion brands, supermarkets, coffee and restaurants, specialist clothing, consumer electronics, homeware and department stores. The survey seeks to identify trends in global retail expansion at national and local levels as well as to examine the extent to which retailers have expanded their global operations as the worldwide economy recovers.

Asian cities featured strongly among the Top 20 cities for international retailers, with five in the ranking – Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo. Singapore is number 9 with 38 per cent of the retailers surveyed having a presence in Singapore.

Attracting more than half (56 per cent) of all international retail brands surveyed, Dubai now equals London as the most popular retail city in the world. With 1.2 million square m etres of retail space having come on to the market since 2006, a wealthy consumer base, and very little competition from local retailers Dubai’s stature as a key destination for international retailers has grown quickly. Across all retail sectors Dubai climbed CBRE’s rankings to share the top position as the most targeted retail destination with London. Dubai and London are followed in the top retail city rankings by the established m arkets of New York (44.3 per cent of international retailers), Paris (43.6 per cent), and Hong Kong (40.6 per cent), which clearly still hold considerable global pulling power.

International expansion remains a key strategy for retailers throughout the world, with 40 per cent of new openings occurring outside of the retailer’s home region. Even though the pace of expansion globally has slowed, with the overall store foot print increasing by two per cent in the past year com pared with 4 per cent in 2009 and 12 per cent in 2008, some 21 countries saw five or more new retailer entrants last year.

Asia is a key destination for American and European retailers. The survey found that Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong attracted over a third of European retailers. Singapore is the sixth most popular market for American retailers, attracting 40 per cent of the American retailers in the sample. US retailers are attracted to the high spend per head figures and the ability to access high quality retail provision in the prime areas of major cities.

A further trend has been an influx of US- based retailers in the last 18 months. Traditionally US retailers have been reluctant to adopt the retail franchise model that is commonly used in the Middle East; however, with limited opportunities for growth in their own markets, more retailers have taken the plunge and made inroads into the region, typically using Dubai as a springboard into the region’s other markets.

Click here to view the Top 10 Ranking for Luxury & Business