Designer Outlet Croatia Builds Footfall With a New Hybrid Retail Destination and Shopper Traffic Counting Solution

LONDON, Feb. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Designer Outlet Croatia, majority-owned by Ingka Centres has enhanced shopper traffic performance by adding an aspirational, 'hybrid' retail destination to the existing IKEA Store in Zagreb supported by the implementation of a traffic counting solution by retail intelligence firm, ShopperTrak, part of Sensormatic Solutions.

The IKEA store in Zagreb opened in August 2014 and attracts 1.5m visitors annually.  Boasting 38,000 sqm of retail space, it is one of the biggest IKEA-owned sites in Europe.  To drive ambient footfall and encourage more store visits to the IKEA Zagreb store, Ingka Centres group (previously known as IKEA Centres) and ROS Retail Outlet Shopping, strategically opened an adjoining designer outlet centre, Designer Outlet Croatia, in June 2018.  Covering 15.000 sqm of retail space, the outlet centre contains 74 stores of discounted luxury clothing brands, including Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Guess, and adidas.  It also offers ample parking space, dining choices for shoppers, and an outdoor marketplace linking the two large retail properties.

ShopperTrak's counting solution, specifically designed for shopping malls, was implemented across the combined IKEA Store and Designer Outlet Croatia sites to consistently measure and understand ongoing traffic trends and the correlation between both properties to better assess how the two estates affected each other's footfall. ShopperTrak's solution was sourced to prove the hybrid retail development is capable of delivering ROI and able to succeed as a complimentary traffic driver, whilst also producing insight to inform decisions on further planned hybrid projects across Ingka Centres wider business in other markets.

ShopperTrak's solution was installed at entrances to the Designer Outlet Croatia, and for all stores within the centre. Traffic counting was also introduced at the entrances and exits of the IKEA Zagreb store, whilst an interior analytics Wi-Fi solution was provided to reveal which individual shoppers were first time or repeat visitors to deliver richer insights into customer behaviours across both sites.

Within seven months since its opening, the strategy of creating a strong regional shopping destination from IKEA Zagreb and Designer Outlet Croatia with synergies, has been proven right.

Branko Mihajlov, Project Manager & Head of Leasing Croatia/Serbia at Ingka Centres, said: "This is the first time we have fully measured traffic across a site and used the resulting data to scientifically prove the commercial success of a project. This data is also essential to help us plan operations and leasing. It's also now very easy to see the most attractive locations in Designer Outlet Croatia, which brands are pulling in the most traffic and helping to increase dwell time, whilst understanding the interactions zone-by-zone across the whole area is proving invaluable."

"Thanks to the insight we have been able to uncover as part of our partnership with ShopperTrak, we also expect that letting any remaining units in the outlet centre will be far easier based on the traffic results of recent months," he concluded.

Thomas Hillebrand, General Manager Europe and Director of Global Accounts at ShopperTrak, explained: "This exciting 'hybrid' retail destination offers retail and leisure entertainment in one self-contained place – making it an attractive proposition to customers, who increasingly want a blended shopping experiences that combine with leisure activities. By creating a one stop shopping destination, Ingka Centres has increased visits to IKEA Store Zagreb and provided a retail destination for shoppers. The results already show that the construction of the outlet centre has been a worthwhile investment in terms of increasing dwell time, footfall and repeat visits."