Retail International® Global Shopping Centre Consultants Turkey

RETAIL INTERNATIONAL ~ TURKEY

Retail International® the UK based independent shopping centre and retail consultancy that focuses on projects in The Middle East is extending its geographical spread into Turkey.

Retail International®, from its base in the UK has been operating extensively across the Middle East for many years and Simon Thomson the firm’s owner is well known in the region. He was a founder of The Middle East Council of Shopping Centres, based in Dubai and has been involved with many high profile projects across the region including, most recently in UAE, Lebanon, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain.

Simon is also a regular contributor to international retail journals and speaker at professional conferences.

Turkey enjoys a rapidly expanding economy and was identified as one of the future hotspots for shopping centre development in Europe at the ICSC Retail World Summit held in Istanbul.

At Autumn 2005 there was reckoned to be some 1.7 million sq. metres of retail shopping centre space in Turkey, about half of which is in Istanbul.Over 60 new shopping centres are due for completion before the end of 2008 with potential for another 300 new shopping centres in Turkey over the next 10-15 years.

KANYON MALL, ISTANBUL (above) & KIPA SUPERMARKET (below)

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HARVEY NICHOLS EXPANSION CENTRES ON MIDDLE EAST -

ISTANBUL & DUBAI

September 2005

In July 2004 Harvey Nichols struck an exclusive licence agreement with Al Tayer Group of Dubai to debut in the UAE at the Mall of the Emirates, where it is scheduled to open with a 120,000 sq.ft (11,150 m2) store.

Harvey Nichols has just disclosed details of its next overseas opening, in Istanbul, where it will trade out of 86,115 sq. ft (8,000 m2) as anchor in the Kanyon Shopping Mall, scheduled to open in September 2006.

Simon Thomson, Principal of Retail International® - the retail consultancy that specialises in advising cross border retailers and shopping centre developers in the Middle East and Levant – commented “With three major department stores in the area, Harvey Nichols is underscoring the emergence of the leading cities of the region as serious alternative destinations for retail tourists seeking to avoid London or Paris”. Thomson added that in conjunction with associates in Istanbul his firm are talking to a number of Gulf retailers and developers currently assessing their own expansion plans across the Levant and east Mediterranean rim.

Further Harvey Nichols stores are slated to open in Hong Kong and Dublin in the coming months.

Istanbul

Dubai

Riyadh

Images Source: Harvey Nichols

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Over 100 international retailers are already in Turkey including recent entrants such as Ikea in 2005 and Harvey Nichols in 2006. C&A opened its first store in Turkey in Profilo Shopping Mall, Mecidiyekoy on 5 May 2007 and Gap has announced plans to open in conjunction with a Gulf franchisee during 2007-2008.

Tesco opened its first store, under the Kipa brand, since moving into the country in 1993.
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SHOPPING ACROSS THE EAST-WEST DIVIDE
Extract from ‘Stores + Shops’ EHI-Magazine No. 05_2006

by Mark Faithfull

At present, Turkey boasts 95 shopping malls, 28 of them in Istanbul, while another 46 are to be built by 2010. The most modern Turkish mall to date is the four level 34,200 sqm Metro City at Levent in the centre of Istanbul.
But a rival is already in sight for Turkey's largest shopping centre. The Multi Turk- mall company is planning to construct the country's largest mall: Forum Istanbul, a 150,000 sqm complex with shops, leisure facilities, offices, residential property and an hotel.
Ankara, Izmir, Antalya and Bursa are also attracting real estate investors.
Multi Turk- mall is planning to build "Forum Etik" in the capital, Ankara, while in Izmir, the same developers are working on the 66,000 sqm Forum Bornova.
But the biggest and most spectacular new mall is that of Kanyon in Istanbul, with its boldly impressive architecture, 179 luxury apartments, 26 office floors and virtually 40,000 sqm of retail space. The mall opened in spring 2006 and one of the anchor stores, British fashion house Harvey Nichols, moved in to occupy 7,300 sqm in October. The store trades under licence with Untim, which also has exclusive rights to Tommy Hilfiger, Gas, G-Star and other labels in Turkey.

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RIVER ISLAND TO RETREAT FROM TURKISH MARKET
'Retail Week' 30 January 2009

Retail Week report that River Island is quitting Turkey because of the challenges of doing business in the country.
The fashion chain operates via Kuwaiti franchisee, Alshaya Group, but have decided to close all River Island shops in the country. Turkey reports Retail Week, is seen as a difficult market to operate in because of complex quotas on goods from the Far East. This can mean that fashion retailers have to source separately for their Turkish stores.
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Extract from report by Business Monitor International date December 2009

The new BMI Turkey Retail report predicts that the country's retail sales will grow from around US$222bn in 2007 to US$447bn by 2013. Underlying economic growth, an expanding population (especially in urban areas), rising levels of disposable income and the continued development of organised retail infrastructure are key factors behind the forecast growth in Turkish retail sales. Turkey's nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was US$620.8bn in 2007. Average annual GDP growth of 2.9% is predicted by BMI to 2013. With the population increasing from 70.6mn in 2007 to an estimated 75.6mn by 2013, GDP per capita is forecast to rise by 83% by the end of the forecast period, reaching US$16,092. Our assumption of consumer spending per capita is for an increase from US$3,092 in 2007 to US$7,277 by 2013. Salaries in Turkey remain low, with BMI estimating the 2007 average annual wage at US$5,848. However, Turkey has a large, growing and young population. Each year some 750,000 young people join the workforce and, with an increasing level of urbanisation, many are abandoning the agricultural sector in order to seek better-paid jobs in other areas. Nevertheless, unemployment is a problem, standing at 10.6% in 2007 and potentially peaking at 14.0% in 2010. In 2005, 65.8% of the Turkish population was described by the UN as active, with 41.0% in the critical 20-44 age range. Just over two-thirds of the population was classified by the UN as urban (67.3%). By 2015, the urban population is forecast to have reached almost 72%, with 43.8% in the 20-44 age band. At this point, 69.1% of the population is expected to be active. BMI has calculated that organised retail accounted for an estimated US$81.9bn of overall sales in 2007, rising to a forecast US$220.2bn by 2013. This represents an annual average growth rate of 18.0%, compared with the predicted 12.9% (in dollar terms) annual growth rate for overall retail sales. Retail sales for BMI's universe of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in 2007 amounted to an estimated US$1,021bn, based on the varying national definitions. Total consumer spending for the region, based on BMI's macroeconomic database, amounts to US$1.48bn. Russia, Turkey and Poland together in 2007 accounted for an estimated 82% of regional retail sales, with their combined share expected to reach almost 83% by 2013. For Turkey, the estimated 2007 market share of 21.7% is expected to rise to 25.4% by 2013.

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