Special Project: Tenant-mix analysis in the SEC of Ukrainian million-plus cities

Which chain brands are represented in the largest SEC of the major cities in the country, how much the tenants’ pool coincides in different SEC and what the development strategy are betting the main players in the Ukrainian retail market on.

The Ukrainian Retail Association presents another large-scale research, this time dedicated to detailed analysis of the largest SEC tenants’ pool  in Ukraine.

What for considered

Almost every SEC tries to differ from competitors and rivals. However, even a superficial analysis is enough to say with confidence: it is problematic for commercial real estate objects to stand out at the expense of the tenants’ pool at this stage. Of course, the entry of new global brands to the market, such as H & M, Decathlon, Koton, DeFacto, Under Armor, and so on, can make the SEC unique for some time and attract visitors. But this is only a temporary measure – in a relatively short time period, other centers also find the opportunity to open famous brands’ stores.

Therefore, developers are betting on something else: a unique format, an extended food-court, a large entertainment zone, the innovative technologies’ using and so on. Nevertheless, tenant-mix remains one of the key factors attracting visitors to the SEC.

We set a goal: to analyze how the composition of tenants coincides and differs in divers shopping and entertainment centers in the country. Among other things, it will provide an opportunity to navigate: which strategy is chosen by the largest retailers in Ukraine: who prefers to open one flagship store in the city, and who – open stores into each significant SEC, who bets on one region, and who – immediately covers all million-plus cities.

How was considered

Data from open sources was used in the research, such as SEC sites, retailer sites, publications in the profile press, on the brand official pages in social chains, etc. Of course, it is impossible to cover all shopping and entertainment centers in all cities of the country in one research, so we have set fairly stringent restrictions.

We analyzed SEC only in million-plus cities (Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Odesa and Lviv) with a rental square from ​​20,000 sq. Another condition: in the center tenants must be at least 35% of chain operators. We also did not take into account specialized shopping centers, that is, those in which at least 50% of the rentable square is occupied by one or two brands. In total, 24 SEC centers were included in our sample: 12 from Kyiv, 4 – from Odessa, 3 from Lviv and Kharkiv, and only 2 from the Dnipro.

These restrictions are set to ensure maximum accuracy and completeness of the sample, since in a number of commercial real estate objects the overwhelming share of tenants is made up local trademarks, or stores, generally represented in a single instance. On the one hand, this provides a truly unique composition of tenants, but on the other – such SEC can hardly be considered competitors to market leaders. In addition, we deliberately did not take into account island operators in shopping centers, but we included in the list only retailers who opened high-grade stores or boutiques.

Therefore, one should not argue that our research provides a complete picture of the leading brands’ development strategy in Ukraine, key regions, priority cities, and so on. Since the SEC was analyzed with the above limitations, the research primarily answers the question: how important is large SEC for the key retail chains’ development in the largest cities in the country, and how retailers tend to be present in each of its, or just one store in the city is enough.

What results

It is impossible to present all the collected and analyzed information within one publication. For example, certain brands work in which precisely shopping and entertainment centers, what is the chain and non-chain tenants’ ratio in each SEC, how many brands belonging to the same companies’ group have opened stores in the same center, and so on. But these data are collected and processed, and if you are interested in such information, you can receive it by sending a request to the e-mail i.zaitsev@rau.ua.

An analysis of the selected SEC’ tenant-mix revealed a more than substantial number of different brands. In the fashion category, for example, we counted 603 trademarks, most of which, of course, are presented in a single copy or operate a small number of outlets. Other categories are much less diverse: jewelry and accessories shops – 121 brands, children’s products – 113, cosmetics and perfumes – 63, sports goods – 32, appliances and electronics – 22.

At the same time, there are not so many trademarks that are present in all key SEC in million-plus cities, or at least in most of its. There are in the fashion category – Anabel Arto, Arber, Bershka, Collin’s, Conte, Crocs, Giulia, Guess, Intertop, Jasmine, Kleo, LC Waikiki, Levi’s, LTB, Oodji, O’Stin, Oysho, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, Vovk, Walker and Zara. There are in Jewelry & Accessories – Pandora, Golden Age, Luxoptica, Secunda and Monpancie. There are in cosmetics and perfumery – Brocard, Yves Rocher and Lush. There are in the “appliances and electronics” segment – Comfy, Moyo, Foxtrot, Hello and TehnoEzh. There is among children’s products: Budinok Іgrashok. There are from sports equipment sellers – New Balance, Puma and Adidas.

Further, the results of our research are presented in graphical form. We have grouped the slides not into categories, but into cities to make it easier to understand the information provided. In some cases, the results are more than curious: sometimes local brands are ahead recognized national leaders in representation in the largest SEC of cities.

We hope our new analytics will be useful for you!

Kyiv

Odesa

Lviv

Kharkiv

Dnipro

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Special project: Analysis of retail real estate in Ukraine