Tanger CEO: Luxury brands provide 'great value' to consumer
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers has grown its occupancy to 97.2 percent as of June, with even more shoppers expected to hit the outlets this month for back-to-school shopping. Tanger Outlets (SKT) CEO Stephen Yalof joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the state of the consumer and the economic outlook for the outlet shopping industry as part of the weekly series "Retail Evolution: The New Era."
Yalof said, "Outlet centers are a value shopping experience for people that are looking to buy brands at the best possible price. And in this environment right now, that's what the customer is looking for."
With regard to luxury brands, Yalof added, "Our customer is an aspirational customer ... they're looking to buy into these brands that they may have never had an opportunity to buy into before ... we see part of the outlet narrative not only providing great value to shopper, but giving the retailer access to a whole new customer that they never saw before."
Video Transcript
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STEPHEN YALOF: Outlet centers are value shopping experiences for people that are looking to buy brands at the best possible price. And in this environment right now, that's what the customer is looking for. How do they get the brands that they want, named brands-- international, national, designer, fashion, footwear, cosmetics-- how did they get those products at the best price?
Outlet centers are on sale every day. And the customer, they've discovered that and they're coming back to shop there. I think it's a great opportunity for people who have a budget or people who are being hit by the, you know, economic headwinds that we're all seeing right now-- gas prices rising, et cetera-- that they can get to one of our shopping centers and actually get value product for name brand value product for their entire family.
Our customer's an aspirational customer. They're looking for brands and they're looking to buy into these brands that they may never had an opportunity to buy into before. You know, Madison Avenue, some folks just might be turned off by the price point on Madison Avenue and never walk into one of the luxury stores that show up there.
But in an outlet center, I think people feel a little bit more that the stores are all a little bit more approachable. So the approachability of those stores will get a new customer who may never interacted with a particular brand before to come in. And when they come in, it's up to that sales staff to provide to them an entry-level price point that they can afford, allow them to buy into a particular brand, and now that brand owns that customer.
So you know, we see part of the outlet narrative not only providing great value to the shopper, but giving the retailer great access to a whole new customer that they never saw before that they can trade up through their ecosystem and make them the customer of the future.
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