SES shopping centers announces 2.4% growth in international sales for 2012 (AU)

In the 2012 financial year, SES Spar European Shopping Centers, Austria’s largest shopping center operator, was able to further consolidate its leading position. Sales of €1.55 billion were achieved with the retailers at SES’ fifteen Austrian shopping centers, which represented growth of 4.4% over the preceding year. Moreover, once again the company expanded by more than the Austria retail segment average (source: Statistik Austria ) and thus surpassed the growth attained in 2011.

Internationally, SES was also able to close 2012 with great success. In total, the shop partners of the SES centers in all five countries where the company is represented attained sales of €2.53 billion. This constituted growth of 2.4% over 2011.

Marcus Wild, the SES Spar European Shopping Centers CEO, named the top quality ambience in the centers and the best possible shop mix as being two of the main reasons for this successful development.

For example, in 2012 SES opened a retail park in Nußdorf-Debant/Eastern Tyrol and the ‘Kronenhaus’ urban shopping center in Bludenz, Vorarlberg. As a result, SES now operates 26 shopping centers with a GLA of 717,000 m² in Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

As a trendsetter, during the past year, SES managed to contract PRIMARK for Austria and the brand’s first domestic store was launched in the Innsbruck SILLPARK during last September. Since the opening, the new anchor tenant and a range of other new shops have created an exceptional increase in visitor footfall throughout the entire center.

Marcus Wild, the SES’ CEO commented: “We are more than satisfied with the course of business during the past year. In view of the current economic climate, the increase in retailer sales of 4.4% in Austria constitutes an excellent statistic. It illustrates the competitiveness of our centers and their exceptional popularity among consumers. This positive development is also the result of the innovations derived from new shop partners and the perfect teamwork with our existing tenants.”

For 2013, Marcus Wild has already announced a continuation of this expansion policy: “In particular, we will be focusing on urban locations and the extensive enlargement of our current centers.”

Highlights of the year

Best retailer satisfaction ratings for five SES centers

A shopping center survey carried out by ecostra/Standort+Markt during last year confirmed the high degree of satisfaction among shop operators at the SES centers. Five of the eight best- rated centers belong to SES and apart from the MESSEPARK Dornbirn, the EUROPARK Salzburg also received a top 1.3 rating from its retailers. The ZIMBAPARK Bludenz-Bürs, the Q19 Vienna-Döbling and the FISCHAPARK in Wiener Neustadt were ranked fourth, seventh and eighth respectively. 1,480 shops in 100 shopping centers were questioned for the “Shopping Center Performance Report Austria 2012” published in April 2012, which had sales performance as one of its key criterion.

Further increases in the sales of shopping center vouchers

During 2012, the SES centers in Austria alone achieved an increase in the sales revenues from shopping center vouchers of 7%.

In October 2011, the long-term success of shopping center vouchers prompted SES to launch a new gift voucher type, which was the first in the country to be valid on an inter-center basis. In the meantime, the voucher has become well established among customers in Austria under the name “Zehner” and in Slovenia as the “Desetak”. In 2012, vouchers with a value in excess of EUR 30 million were sold at the SES center information desks in Austria and Slovenia. In the 2012 SES voucher sales rankings, EUROPARK Salzburg again led the way, followed by the ATRIO in Villach in second spot and the VARENA Center in Vöcklabruck, which only opened in 2010, in third.

The LOLLIPOP children’s adventure world own brand

SES offers childcare in virtually all its shopping centers and since 2010 with LOLLIPOP the Group has had its own children’s adventure world brand. In the intervening period, this has been introduced successfully at four Austrian center locations (ATRIO, MURPARK, VARENA and Q19).

Source: SES



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