The group which manages the world-famous Oxford Street retail precinct hopes to boost its annual sales by £1 billion two years after the Crossrail is completed in 2020.
The New West End Company is looking to reposition its brand by focusing on exclusive experiences for customers and has appointed agency Wasserman to help widen its sponsorship and partnership strategy.
The iconic London high street already generates £5 billion per year in sales and New West End Company hopes to hit an annual target of £6 billion by 2020 – two years after Crossrail’s Queen Elizabeth line is expected to completed.
With the Crossrail providing direct commutes for counties such as Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex, New West End Company hopes the three-mile shopping precinct experience a 30 per cent increase in visits.
In addition, 2000 new retail jobs are expected to be created, and the nearby Bird Street will transform into a new shopping precinct thanks to private donations and £200,000 from Transport for London‘s Future Street‘s Incubator Scheme.
New West End Company marking manager Luciana Magliocco told Marketing Week that London’s West End precinct as a whole rakes in annual sales of £8.5 billion, and this could increase to £11 billion by 2020.
“We want to grow Oxford Street by making it a hotbed for world firsts. Whether that‘s the Shakespeare theatre at Selfridges, Dyson opening its first-ever physical store here or John Lewis‘ Smart Home only being in its Oxford Street store, we believe the key to growth is to give people things they can‘t get anywhere else,” she said.
“Businesses have a real growth to open their flagship stores here and we are confident that will only continue.”
“Oxford Street will become the first shopping stop from Heathrow, so there is a great opportunity to attract tourists. There is a strong strategy in place and we‘re confident we‘ll see increases in footfall, investment and flagship stores over the coming years.”
