Due to increased interest recently in the factory outlet segment of the industry, the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and Goldman Sachs (GS) have expanded their consumer tracking of factory outlet shoppers.
The weekly tracking survey suggests that about one-fifth of all consumers shop at an enclosed mall over a given week, while about 8 percent of consumers shop at a factory outlet.
The ICSC-GS study found that about 60 percent of factory outlet shoppers are in fact “cross shoppers” at enclosed malls and that factory outlet shopping patterns are surprisingly steady throughout the holiday season.
“These early indications suggest that factory-outlet sales may exhibit a very different seasonal pattern than mall sales, and factory outlets are not a substitute, but a complement, to enclosed malls,” said Michael P. Niemira, vice president of research and chief economist for ICSC.
