London Designer Outlet sees best ever Christmas week

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 8, 2020

London Designer Outlet (LDO) in Wembley Park had a strong two-week Christmas period with year-on-year footfall up 2.8% from December 22 to January 4. And those who turned up were spending more than usual. The mall’s like-for-like revenue rose a healthy 7.6% and total revenue was up as much as 11.1%.

Additionally, the week starting December 22 was its best ever seven-day period in revenue terms. The company also saw a 159% year-on-year rise in the number of deliveries by the hands-free Dropit home/hotel/office delivery service. LDO remains the only London location to offer this.

It’s a clear sign of the ongoing strength of the outlet mall sector with LDO offering discounts of up to 70% off for much of the year and up to 85% off during key clearance sale periods.

The mall’s organiser also said that total revenue in sportswear rose by 32% year-on-year over the Christmas period, while footwear and fashion improved their total revenues by 16% and 5.1%, respectively. 

LDO is a strong attraction for tourist shoppers and 24% of its footfall is now accounted for by non-UK shoppers. Of those international visitors, those from outside the EU can claim back their VAT and the mall has seen tax-free transactions up by 10% in the year to date. Overall, tax-free spending by international visitors now accounts for 7% of all retail sales at the centre.