The current and future face of UK retail revealed

The definitive 2007 & 2017 Retail Ranking from Experian

London’s West End faces a tough battle to remain top of the shops over the next ten years as other London retail developments threaten its supremacy; Liverpool is expected to enter the retail super league, Cardiff enters the top ten and the new Stratford development is expected to advance the East End of London into the top 30 UK retail locations by 2017.

The findings follow the publication of the latest retail centre ranking by Experian. This is the first time the ranking has been published since 2004; the new report provides comprehensive analysis and comment on the best performing retail centres in Britain, and unveils the future landscape with a detailed forecast for the top 100 retail locations in 2017.

Experian’s Retail Ranking is the most comprehensive and up-to-date source of information on retail centres in the UK, and the sole source of information on all changes to tenant mix, centre size and shopping centre developments. The ranking and forecasts are based on Experian’s gravity model, which draws on our position as one of the UK’s leading providers of retail data, analysis, economic forecasting and consultancy and is built using proprietary information from FootFall, Goad and Mosaic.

Major retail centres have been assessed on a number of key performance indicators, such as the amount of comparison goods expenditure the centre is likely to attract, size of the centre by floorspace and the number of major multiples, comparison stores and quality independent retailers. Negative factors, such as the amount vacant floorspace, are also taken into account.

• London’s West End remains the UK’s most attractive shopping destination in 2007 but faces much tougher competition from emerging London centres over the next ten years.
• The forecast 2017 ranking sees Liverpool catapult nine places to sixth place overall; other significant gainers in 2017 include Cardiff, which gains a place in the top ten, and Bristol, which re-enters the top 20 in 2017.
• Other major gainers in 2017 include Sheffield, Oxford, Preston, Stratford, Portsmouth, Crawley, Wolverhampton, Warrington, Bradford, Bracknell and High Wycombe.
Stratford’s Westfield development propels the East End of London into the UK’s top 30 retail locations.
• In 2007, rising stars since 2004 (when the last Retail Ranking report was published) include Croydon and the Metro Centre. Both now feature in the UK’s top 20 retail destinations. 

'Experian’s retail ranking provides unique insight into the current and future face of the retail landscape,' says Jonathan de Mello, Experian’s director of retail consultancy. 'The visionary and unique research will prove invaluable to retailers, developers and investors looking to determine their future retail location strategies and investment priorities over the next decade. With so much new retail development planned over the next decade, it is vital that retailers, investors and developers conduct detailed and careful research before investing in a location.'

The third edition of Experian's Retail Market Spotlight, a quarterly newsletter produced in partnership by Experian and Churston Heard, focuses on the retail ranking results.

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