Opening

FRANÇOIS BAROIN

Mayor of Troyes

There is a long history of the reduced cost distribution of locally made products. That Troyes is now a European crossroads in large-scale modern distribution, this is thanks to the brand villages and factory outlets selling products at reduced cost for reasons of imperfections or destocking. This is the basis from which an analysis has emerged, more global and more modern, enabling promoters and investors to take the risk of taking on the role of company head and developing this new concept. Today, Troyes is where factory outlets and brand villages have reached full definition, thanks to a net sales area of more than 80,000 m². This concept is emerging in a competitive context and requires fine-tuning, improving and further analysis, with the aim of ensuring the future for the company and the creation of an investment logic that can attract more customers. We must not over-use this reduced price retail concept, and we must develop the energy around this development. This is one of the aims of this European Colloquium.


DOMINIQUE LEMELLE

President of the Troyes and Aube Chamber of Commerce and Industry / President of Magdus

The first two colloquiums that were held here in 2003 and 2005, on the subject of brand villages, were great successes, and established a real eagerness among the European players in the sector to continue with these meetings which have proven their professional value. Magdus, the Observatoire Européen des Centres de Marques, launched in 2004 by the Troyes and Aube CCI, and which is now a reference point as an information tool for this sector, has therefore organised this third encounter, with the same spirit for exchanges of information and a sharing of experiences. This 3rd in the series has a specific focus on the issues facing the distribution of brands in Europe. Its evolution represents strategic issues for the brands and the players in distribution, including the brand villages. We are proud to be able to welcome, as in 2005, the international delegates, with more than one third coming from a dozen different European countries. There will be considerable focus this year on the situation and the developments among our European neighbours, with namely 7 “Country” workshops. But there will also be 2 roundtables, 2 conferences, and 8 other theme-based workshops, all covering a multitude of cross-border issues, including that of Sunday trading, which, as we have seen very recently, has been in very much in the news, and not just in France. This 3rd Magdus European colloquium I believe confirms the European leadership of the Troyes area, and the special role it has in any analysis, and, I hope, in the creation, of a balanced and quality based development of the brand village concept. It responds to a strong desire for information and dialogue among all the private and public players in the sector, in France as well as throughout Europe. This Colloquium is thus above all a place for exchanges, for comparing experiences and points of view, in a forum for constructive and orderly dialogue. It is thus with the aim of providing for the participants the best possible tools in terms of current or future debate, that we have brought together an extremely creative and varied platform of speakers, whose experiences and analyses will offer something for all of us.



 


(*) Mandatory fields