The Bicester Village Shopping Collection at the WTTC Summit 2019
Being a world leader in the shopping tourism sector,The Bicester Village Shopping Collectiononce again shared valuable ideas at the annual summitThe World Tourism and Travel Council (WTTC), held on April 3 and 4 in Seville.This year, the WTTC Summit, one of the most important annual events for the travel and tourism industry, was attended by more than 1,500 delegates, more than 100 speakers, more than 80 government representatives and three heads of state or former heads of state, including the 44th US President Barack Obama.
The representative of The Bicester Village Shopping Collection, Desiree Boye, discussed the concept of retail in the era of digital upheaval, and also addressed the question of how retail should interact with travelers.
The Bicester Village Shopping Collectionrepresents several unique conceptual boutique towns located in Europe and China. These towns are home to more than 1 300 boutiques of leading fashion and lifestyle brands offering savings of up to 60%, and sometimes even higher, all year round. All of them are located in the immediate vicinity of the most visited European cities: London, Dublin, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Bologna, Brussels, Antwerp, Frankfurt, Munich, as well as the cities of China, Suzhou and Shanghai. Boutique towns are known for the selection of collections, high-class service and hospitality, interesting events all year round and incredible savings.
Twenty-five years ago, Value Retail (the management company of The Bicester Village Shopping Collection) developed an innovative business model combining tourism and shopping to create a new concept in the field of tourismGlobal Shopping Tourism. Today The Bicester Village Shopping Collection annually receives about 42 million demanding travelers.
Desiree Boyer, CEO of Value Retail, comments on: "Today retail is entertainment. It's not about owning something, it's about belonging to something. We turned to emotions and turned our boutique towns into a special space. We had to rethink the business model, relying not only on retail experience, but also on hospitality. Our employees take care of the guests, offering the highest level of service, and the boutique towns themselves have been turned into gardens and art spaces. The data speaks for itself. In many boutique towns, guests spend more than five hours, especially those who come from other countries, and this is almost half of the 40 million. For comparison, in an ordinary department store, visitors spend an average of only 42 minutes. Online shopping takes even less time. This proves the workability of our approach.
Elena Foghe, Business Director of The Bicester Village Shopping Collection in Spain, repeated Boye's ideas during her panel discussion on WTTC titledThe Paradox of Popularityand she added that 80% of millennials choose boutique towns precisely because of their atmosphere, which they can share with others through various channels. Foghe spoke about tourism as a "transversal" phenomenon that affects all spheres of society, from culture and cooking to art and economics. "Shopping has become an integral element on which tourists rely in planning their holidays. We see this in the example of two boutique towns La Roca Village and Las Rozas Village, which make Barcelona and Madrid more attractive.
In 2018, 35% of sales of The Bicester Village Shopping Collection in Europe under the tax-free system were made by tourists from China, while Korea is the fastest growing market (76% growth), more Middle East and Southeast Asia.
< span style="font-size: 12px;">Photo: The Bicester Village Shopping Collection
