The global shopping centre

Tuesday’s thronged opening of Westfield Stratford City showed that the right stores in the right locations will continue to seduce shoppers.

But the right locations seem to be in diminishing supply at present and, while Stratford generated consumer excitement and plenty of headlines, perhaps another lower profile store opening this week was just as indicative of the future of retail.

Online fashion specialist Asos’s Australian store was the etailer’s latest dedicated country site. And it was an opening that won’t simply move domestic sales from one place to another, as Stratford will do at least in part, but represents another step on an international journey.

Unlike Stratford, there were no property costs or the need to come up with a flagship interior in London. Asos could launch in Oz at the flick of a switch, largely leveraging existing resources.

Asos’s ambition of becoming a global fashion destination is facilitated by the convergence of taste among a style-conscious, digital-savvy generation and it’s going like a train. When the retailer last updated in July, international sales growth was 160%.

Stratford seems like a textbook example of what a great shopping centre should be but, for Asos and its peers, the internet is becoming a truly global shopping centre.

The wild East

It’s not just Asos that’s excited about international opportunity. Kingfisher this week revealed plans to expand in Russia, but does that indicate that Russia could be an opportunity for other UK retailers?

Although some have traded there for a while, many have misgivings about going there because of the difficulties others have experienced, evidenced by the sight last year of rival shareholder factions duffing each other up in the foyer of hypermarket group Lenta. There remains more of a whiff of the wild East about Russia.