SHANGHAI When employees of a Chinese company piled out of 48 buses last December at the Serravalle Designer Outlet – a member of the MacArthurGlen Group of branded retail outlets – they were greeted by a familiar sight. The billboard at the entrance sported not only words of welcome, but also their firm’s logo.
Throughout the day, they never lost their way in the shopping village near Milan, and around the 180 boutiques carrying hundreds of high-end brands, aided by signages in Chinese. While browsing, Chinese-speaking staff helped them if they had any questions or requests.
Such customer touches have helped raise the popularity of McArthurGlen, which has branches in eight European cities – the UK, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands – with the Asian market. In the first three months of this year, Chinese travellers proved to be the second biggest spenders by country of origin after Russia, increasing by 116 per cent over 2011. Following closely were shoppers from Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.
Given enough notice, Chloe Ayivi-Fandalor, McArthurGlen travel marketing executive, told Mix they can arrange for similar branding opportunities, as they did for the Chinese group, translation services as well as ensuring enough parking slots, especially for a large contingent. Asian food is not a problem, she said, as there are a variety of cuisines, including this, offered by the restaurants operating onsite.
For more about McArthurGlen, visit www.mcarthurglen.com
Margie T Logarta
