{"id":161571,"date":"2019-05-29T08:44:24","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T08:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/while-the-high-street-flounders-bond-street-prospers-why-is-that\/"},"modified":"2021-08-12T13:56:40","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T13:56:40","slug":"while-the-high-street-flounders-bond-street-prospers-why-is-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/while-the-high-street-flounders-bond-street-prospers-why-is-that\/","title":{"rendered":"While the high street flounders, Bond Street prospers. Why is that?"},"content":{"rendered":"
While the majority of UK cities are struggling to deal with the implosion of their high-streets, London is a juggernaut that keeps people spending. Thanks to tourist dollars and and an increasingly high-spending visitor, Bond Street, arguably London\u2019s premier luxury shopping street, has seen a raft of new openings hoping to tap into London as\u00a0the<\/em>\u00a0global retail destination.<\/strong> From Alexander McQueen to Loewe, this historical street has seen glorious new retail spaces tailored to this exclusive location open to entice more money from shoppers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Office for National Statistics has just released the final International Passenger Survey (IPS) results covering 2018 and it\u2019s still looking good for London.\u00a0While the number of visits to the UK in 2018 fell slightly (-3%) - 2017 was a record - to 37.9 million, the data from the last 10 months shows visitors spending huge amounts and are visiting Bond Stree<\/strong>t, in particular.<\/p>\n Data from Global Blue, a tourism shopping tax refund company headquartered in Nyon, Switzerland, shows that the average spend on Bond Street among international visitors increased by 4% year-on-year from January to October 2018. International shoppers spent a huge average of \u00a31,341 per transaction<\/strong> during this time.<\/p>\n Global Blue has also just opened its first VIP Globe Shopper Lounge on Albemarle Street in Mayfair, just a stone\u2019s throw from Bond Street. According to its figures, the top spenders were visitors from the UAE, Qatar and Hong Kong<\/strong>. UAE shoppers spent \u00a32,074 per transaction, up 19% year-on-year. Qatari shoppers spent \u00a31,964 per transaction (up 7%), while Hong Kong shoppers spent \u00a31,837 per transaction (up 15%).<\/p>\n Interestingly, the biggest increase was seen amongst Indonesian visitors<\/strong>, averaging \u00a31,551 per transaction, up 20% compared to 2017.<\/p>\n Paris is London\u2019s closest luxury shopping competition but the \"Yellow Vests\" or Gilet Jaunes protests have been affecting its attractiveness and is putting off visitors. \"We lost between one and two growth points in 2018 due to the yellow vests<\/strong>,\" said Mathieu Grac, Global Blue's vice president of intelligence strategy.<\/p>\n The weakness of the pound is making shopping in London more attractive<\/strong> and better value for money. The Chinese, in particular, have always chosen Paris over London, but this could be starting to change with new stats show record breaking results for the end of 2018 for London. Visits to the UK from China in this period were up 52% to 94,000 \u2013 the 9th consecutive record quarter for visits. These visitors spent \u00a3160 million in the UK between October and December 2018 \u2013 30% up compared to the same period in 2017. In total there were a record 391,000 visits from China to the UK in 2018, up 16% on 2017.<\/p>\n Overall, UK visitor spend in 2019 is forecast to be \u00a324.9bn<\/strong>, up 7.8%, on a forecast of 38.8m visitors.<\/p>\n While many designer brands are closing stores and trimming their global retail network, others are realising that in order to stay ahead, you need to invest heavily in the world\u2019s finest locations. The days of copy-cat, identikit stores are over<\/strong> and brands know they need to make something unique for its location.<\/p>\n