Bigger brands help London Designer Outlet to enjoy festive boom

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 9, 2023

Wembley Park’s London Designer Outlet has recorded its best December performance since it opened in 2013, with sales at £10.46 million.

And it said Boxing Day sales rose as much as 89% on the year and 2.9% on the same day pre-pandemic (2019), making it the second-best Boxing Day in the outlet’s history. It added that key brands there, including Levi’s, Puma, New Balance and Kurt Geiger “experienced record trading on Boxing Day”.

That's particularly interesting, given that across the UK retail sector as a whole, Boxing Day wasn't particularly strong, with shoppers choosing to spend their money online and preferring to venture out on 27 December instead. Clearly, the appeal of extra discounts at outlet locations was enough to spur many of them to go out the day after Christmas.

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Across the whole of last month, sales were 32% ahead of last Christmas and 2.6% up on 2019. Revenue was boosted by larger and more expensive purchases throughout the month, as well as the addition of new and bigger brands throughout the year.

In fact, the average transaction value (ATV) was up 17% in December versus the same month in 2019, “demonstrating shoppers’ appetite for deals and the relevance of outlets amidst the cost-of-living crisis”.

The December results boosted trading performance across the entire so-called Golden Quarter, which also beat pre-pandemic levels.

LDO also said that trading between Christmas and the New Year was “particularly strong as shoppers took advantage of additional discounts, with sales increasing by 49.5% compared to 2021 and by 3.6% compared to pre-pandemic”.

Matt Slade, Retail Director at the area’s developer, Quintain, said that it was encouraging to see strong sales figures, despite external factors such as the rail strikes.