Olivier DAUVERS,
Editor in chief "La Tribune Grande Conso"

Eric de Couvelaere, Group Retail Director with McArthurGlen (7 outlets in England and 7 in the rest of Europe, including one at Troyes), is going to outline his vision of the profession of operator. What is the real job of operators? Is it to manage relationships with the brands, to be property promoters, to manage property or to do retail management? What is your vision of this vast profession that deals in factory outlets and brand centres?

Eric DECOUVELAERE
To answer your question as to whether we are property promoters or retailers, I find I have to go back two years. Contrary to my predecessor, I have only two years’ experience in the outlet trade. I came from Harrod’s of London, and was previously with Printemps and at the time I thought of myself as a retailer. When I signed my employment contract, I realised that the contract referred to property promotion activities. I had the feeling that I was making a major mistake in changing paths and ending my career in retailing. Today, I can say that McArthurGlen, a brand centre operator, is a retailer. In this field, the key word is location.

As our President and founder often says, the key to the success of our brand centres is "Brands, Politics and Culture". Everything starts with the brands. McArthurGlen came to Europe at the request of the brand names. It is because brands such as Polo and NIKE had difficulty is selling off their stock in conditions appropriate to their image and consistent with price that they suggested at the time that we came to Europe. Everything starts with the brands and our success is their success. The ALTAGAMMA association, the equivalent of the Comité Colbert in France for luxury brand names, chaired by Leonardo Ferragamo is an illustration of our collaboration with the brand names. Here again, we are demonstrating our desire to work closely with our partner brands.

Second element, politics. It is important to work with those people who "run the town". McArthurGlen has many projects abroad (in India, Turkey, soon in Greece). Politicians in these countries have the power to accelerate or to veto our projects. We cannot forget the courageous and necessary political decisions in the past involved in setting up the A l’Usine centre at Roubaix in 1985.

Third aspect, culture. The local environment is also of paramount importance. Our job is not to standardise, but to apply best practices. We have to constantly re-invent ourselves. All our projects are conducted in association with a local partner, with whom, it is true, we share our profits, but without whom, we would not be able to do anything.


The network was so big (stretching from the North of Scotland right down to Castel Romano in the south) that it was not possible for us to manage it correctly from a central location. Now we are organised into three regions, which provides more reactivity and proximity. So, finally, from being McArthurGlen, "retailer", we have become McArthurGlen, "promoter". Our approach on site is virtually scientific – analysis is carried out of demography, volume, value, number of inhabitants, purchasing power, land costs, facility of access, traffic flow, parking capacity, etc

Alain Salzman alluded to architecture; promotion also means construction. The example of Ashford in Kent, designed by Lord Rogers, representing a rather modern "tent", matches customer expectations very well, if we are to judge by the figures.

The Italian site at Barberino (close to Bologna and Florence), a sort of village with a river flowing through it, is totally different from the Ashford tent. Closer to home, the Troyes site that we have just extended and where se are deploying considerable architectural efforts. These three examples tend to prove that we are retailers and promoters but in the end we are working with the customers. As we said yesterday, the client always has the last word.

Our customers fall into three categories:

 the consumer who has the last word McArthur Glen receives around 60 million visitors per year, but this figure does not correspond to the number of customers. Our role is to convert these visitors into customers by means of the choice of brands, the width and depth of the market offering and, of course, price. Then and only then comes catering, leisure activities etc. An "old fashioned" centre with good brands may well perform well, but it is certain that a modern centre will work!


 the brand We work with 700 brand names, who are our expert channels, our main customers after the consumer. These 700 brands correspond to 1600 shops, representing a turnover of approximately 1600,000 euros. How do we reach this figure? With the brands, of course, but also thanks to close collaboration between the shops, the brands and the centre operators. Other operators do this work as well, but McArthurGlen particularly insists on this ground work being carried out with the brands so as to develop the business in the best possible conditions.


 the investor We work with three investors on fifteen projects and we have to deliver the results they expect. Commercial premises in Europe may appear to be over-valued, and this is why we must not forget that our projects depend only on the value that they really provide.

We are "property promoters for the retail industry". The proof is our diversification projects. The outlet concept, the brand centre concept must focus on the fundamentals, I am convinced of this.

But that does not prevent us for leveraging our skills in real-estate, in trading and in our relations with the brand names to try to exercise other professions. People from the full price sector are joining the outlet field, well, today we are adopting the opposite approach. We are, in fact, going to undertake ’full price’ projects and we are entering the travel business with an luxury brand operation for Venice airport. After two years experience in this profession, I see us as brand assemblers just as much as gatherers of needs. Our business model is very simple, where the brands have the first word, where society and the environment have a voice, but where the consumer has the last word.

Olivier DAUVERS
What type of local partner are you speaking of?

Eric DECOUVELAERE
It is extremely varied, but in general, it is the local property promoters. They give us local knowledge, they facilitate our work and help us to avoid making mistakes.