Docks Bruxsel Initial Pre-Acquisition Assessment

 

About the brand

Docks Bruxsel is a 49,000 m2 shopping and leisure development, located in the suburbs to the north of Brussels. The centre is anchored by Match Supermarket, Zara, H&M and Kiabi and includes 110 shops plus an 8 screen cinema.

Since opening in October 2016 footfall has not reached anticipated levels and a potential US investor needed to quickly understand the likely growth curve and future retail impacts prior to a potential acquisition.

Docks Bruxsel Initial Pre-Acquisition Assessment

The Challenge/Task

  • Estimate future footfall growth as shopping visits mature

  • Prioritise opportunities to grow sales

  • Assess the impact of Mall of Europe (80,000 m2, 10 mins to the north) in 2021

WHAT WE DID

  • Reviewed spending and population counts by drive time band

  • Desktop review of merchandise, price and life stage mix at competing centres

  • Estimated the retail catchment and value of shopper spending for Docks Bruxsel

  • Reviewed trading performance by merchandise, price point and life stage

  • Assessed Trading Gap opportunities to increase sales including better conversion of existing visitors and greater footfall

  • Used a gravity model to predict the impact of Mall of Europe future sales

  • Provided demographic and spending data conforming with client’s US standards

 

The Result

While shopping patterns are still maturing, the future impact of Mall of Europe means that the original footfall projection is unrealistic.

Taking account of the impact of Mall of Europe however, Pragma still estimated an opportunity to grow current footfall by 30% and sales densities by 40%.