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The company’s retail figures considerably outperformed the latest national retail figures reported by Statistics SA on 16 January. The report announced a 3.4% increase in trade year-on-year for the month of November 2012.
The V&A Waterfront said the increase in visitors over the festive season had boosted retail trading.
“We have seen a 10% year-on-year increase in footfall to the Waterfront during the month of December, with over 3 million visitors this past month,” said David Green, CEO of the V&A Waterfront. “We invest heavily in keeping a pulse on retail, food and beverage and entertainment trends and offerings which will appeal to our visitors.”
“New retail and food and beverage offerings such as Lush, Super Dry, Emporio Armani and the Market on the Wharf, contributed to the strong increase in visitors, as did the opening of the newly refurbished food court and the ever popular Moyo restaurant, in early December 2012. The V&A Waterfront’s festive season entertainment and events programme also proved to be a strong draw card for visitors,” continues Green.
“Keeping our offering current and on target to meet our customers’ needs is critical for our business success. We conduct market research and implement changes according to demand where possible,” says Green.
In line with predictions from Cape Town tourism authorities, the V&A Waterfront is anticipating strong trade to continue in February.
The Waterfront will be launching the Western Cape’s first Top Shop store towards the end of the first quarter of 2013; for which a space is being developed adjacent to Mango. A number of established favourites will be relocated in order to accommodate the UK based retailer. The aspirational Tommy Hilfiger brand will also be added to the mix of premier brands in the first quarter of the year.
“Our retail strategy to constantly review and refresh our tenant mix and retail offering to ensure that our 23 million visitors per annum, both local and international, have new stores, restaurants and entertainment on offer - underpins the increase in visitor figures and retail trade over the festive season,” says Green. “We manage upcoming tenant changes very carefully, to make sure we have the right offerings and store adjacencies that fit within the overall retail strategy.
Visitors to the V&A Waterfront can expect a number of changes to existing stores over the next six months and beyond. Refurbishment to shop fronts as well as entire stores will rejuvenate the current offering, while some stores will move locations. This comes in a move to adopt international trends of retail clustering. Whilst clustering of some categories has already begun, the strategy will continue to roll-out over the following short, medium and long term.
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