The news that Edward Enninful has been named as the first-ever male editor of British Vogue in its 101-year history would not normally make it onto the PropertyEU website.
But there was a very good reason for including the appointment in the latest edition of PropertyEU’s sister publication RetailWatch which comes off the press this week. Enninful’s new appointment, which takes effect on 1 August, is significant in light of the current increased attention among retailers and fashion brands for menswear. And that is a trend that does affect the daily business of retail landlords, asset managers and other retailers who together form the key target audience for our dedicated retail magazine.
One of the key objectives of PropertyEU’s RetailWatch publication is to spot new trends in the rapidly changing world of retail. Our latest edition highlights a phenomenon that has been going on for some time but which appears to be gathering pace. Fashion stores are discovering men and the growth of dedicated menswear labels is outpacing that of womenswear, according to research company Mintel. Indeed, the menswear market is set to expand by 22.5% by 2020, Mintel claims.
Brand loyal
When it comes to fashion, there’s not much that slips the eye of discerning shoppers (M/F) and many will immediately recognise the truth of what Marije Braam-Mesken, now portfolio manager EMEA at CBRE Global Investors, says in the latest edition of RetailWatch.
‘Men are more interested in fashion than before and are more brand loyal. They look for quality and are also more predictable spenders.’
Predictable spenders, along with brand loyalty, are music to retailers’ ears, which is why more players are reinvigorating their men’s departments. Significantly, this is no fly-by-night trend. In fact, it has a name. By all accounts we’re witnessing a Menaissance.
The Menaissance is not the only trend RetailWatch editor Nicky Godding has spotted in the latest edition of the publication. Just when retail landlords were beginning to despair of the phenomenal rise in online sales, e-commerce stores start opening physical stores, she writes in an article revealing how online retailers are heading offline for brand expansion.
Online heads offline
Many of these online to offline retailers like Apple, Amazon and Zalando have helped to sex up the high street, often with technology, and in many cases there’s a certain sort of sizzle that comes from retailers used to selling online, adapting their technology to sell in-store, Godding says. ‘It’s certainly given some traditional retailers food for thought.’
Gender diversity and omni-channel are just two of the trends that the expanded PropertyEU team has spotted recently and which have found their way into one of our new publications. We are now gearing up to drill down more deeply on the real estate transaction and financing front as well. In the coming weeks our new EuroProperty team will start providing breaking news and in-depth analysis on deals, dealmakers and other investment trends on a weekly basis, supplementing our daily newsletter and monthly magazine.
The new RetailWatch website will be launched at the end of April and our new EuroProperty weekly print and digital edition will be launched in mid-May. And for those who would like to discover now how the Menaissance, online-to-offline and other trends are impacting on the retail real estate industry, click on the following link to download your digital copy of the latest edition of RetailWatch.
In the meantime, on behalf of the entire PropertyEU team, I would like to wish all our readers a Happy Easter - and happy reading!
Judi Seebus
Editor in Chief
