Bristol has remained in the top 100 of the world’s most targeted markets for international retailers, according to the 2012 edition of How Global is the Business of Retail? by leading global property adviser CBRE. The city is in joint 90th place alongside Cairo in Egypt and Edinburgh.
CBRE’s annual survey – now in its fifth year – mapped the global footprint of 326 of the world’s top retailers across more than 200 cities to identify trends in global retail expansion at national and local levels. The report found that retailers expanded into a wide range of markets in 2011, with 74% of the countries in the survey seeing at least one new retailer enter the market last year. The overall global footprint of retailers grew 2.1%, similar to the previous year, demonstrating that retailers continue to grow their cross-border businesses in spite of a challenging consumer environment.
Bristol attracted 21.9% of all international retail brands surveyed. Richard Moore Head of Retail at CBRE in Bristol said: “In our experience at the new Cabot Circus we have seen a number of these high profile international brands take space, including US based Hollisters. This is good news for the city as it positions Bristol as a key location for retailers.”
When looking at the most targeted countries by global retailers, the UK holds onto first position in the rankings closely followed by the United Arab Emirates (53.1%) and the United States (50.3%). Spain is in fourth position (47.5%) closely followed by China (47.2%), with France and Germany (46.9%) joint sixth in the rankings. Russia (44.5%), Italy (43%) and Saudi Arabia (41.1%) make up the remainder of the top 10.
Further CBRE research into the number of new store openings in the past year reveals that Europe was the most targeted region at city level accounting for 48% of new entries, followed by the Middle East and North Africa with 22%, and Asia with 14%. North America, Pacific, and Latin America attracted 8%, 6% and 1% respectively.