Member Article

The O2 simplifies brand architecture with ‘Outlet Shopping at The O2’

The O2 has announced a revision of its outlet shopping brand identity, simplifying ‘Icon Outlet at The O2’, which is owned and operated by AEG and Crosstree Real Estate Partners, to ‘Outlet Shopping at The O2’. The change in name closely aligns the outlet shopping brand with the wider destination offering at The O2, simplifying the proposition for customers by bringing together the distinctive assets found at the world-famous venue.

Following five stellar years of success for The O2’s retail offering, the bringing of outlet shopping directly into The O2’s brand ‘family’ is the latest move in the destination’s efforts to consolidate its position as the world’s most popular live entertainment, leisure and retail destination. Regarded as one of London’s top outlet shopping hotspots, Outlet Shopping at The O2 (formerly Icon Outlet at The O2), has enjoyed consistently strong performance results since its opening in 2018, with the outlet currently up +17% on like-for-like year to date net sales vs 2022*, with categories such as confectionery, sports, and beauty up +41%, +33% and +25% respectively.

The recent brand alignment recognises the intrinsic role outlet shopping plays in The O2’s comprehensive offering, helping to reduce the ‘either/or’ choices customers have to make with dining, entertainment, socialising and shopping all available under one iconic roof. Joining fellow namesakes The O2 arena and Up at The O2, the revitalised brand cements the position of Outlet Shopping at the iconic destination, whilst streamlining the brand architecture for customers.

Outlet Shopping at The O2 will have a new, simplified logo, taking inspiration from The O2’s iconic tent, creating a distinctive asset for use in marketing commincations and accoss the venue with all signage and way-finding updated as part of the project.

Robbie Balfour, Marketing & Brand Director at The O2, commented: “This is an exciting moment for us as the transition to Outlet Shopping at The O2 symbolises the next phase of our journey as a destination, and as a brand. Outlet shopping has played a key role in the success of The O2’s unique proposition as a full day out destination, and the revitalised name acknowledges how it has contributed to, and evolved alongside, The O2’s all-encompassing offer. Crucially, this streamlined brand architecture not only better enables outlet shopping to leverage the iconic, and well-known brand of The O2, but also simplifies things for our customers. Whilst the physical experience and customer journey won’t change, from a marketing perspective we will be delivering a more seamless blend between retail, leisure, and F&B.”

Janine Constantin-Russell, Managing Director of the Entertainment District & Outlet Shopping at The O2, added: “The O2 is a destination which never sits still but rather it continues to develop and evolve, accelerated in recent years with the addition of outlet shopping. Following an incredibly strong five years for retail, with international and independent brands securing locations here at The O2, as well as an abundance of successful brand activations and experience-led services, we feel that now is the right time to bring the outlet shopping brand closer to the The O2 family. Outlet Shopping at The O2 reflects a natural evolution of varied offering at The O2, bolstered by the steadfast success of our retail teams, tenants, and overall customer satisfaction, and we are pleased to welcome in this next era of outlet shopping as it reaches its fifth year at the destination.”

Since its opening in 2018, Outlet Shopping at The O2 has welcomed some of the best brands in bricks-and-mortar retail, boasting a premium-led offering with the likes of Calvin Klein, Levi’s Ted Baker, Tommy Hilfiger, and the newly opened French Connection, alongside a dedicated sports and athleisure mix, with anchor stores including adidas, ASICS, and Nike. The outlet shopping destination also delivers a broad beauty and accessories line-up, with names such as Clarins, Claires, The Body Shop, The Cosmetics Company Store, as well as a pop-up and sample sale unit which has been utilised by household-name brands including Reiss, and Hackett London.

Outlet Shopping at The O2 sits beside the venue’s Entertainment District, which has over 30 bars and restaurants including JD Wetherspoon’s The Stargazer, and a plethora of leisure, including TOCA Social, BOOM BATTLE BAR, Oxygen Freejumping, and iFLY Indoor Skydiving, as well as The O2 arena, which has a jam-packed diary of programming for this year, with Madonna, Jack Whitehall, UFC, Shania Twain, S Club and Blink-182 all still to come.

KLM and CBRE represent Outlet Shopping at The O2.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Nick Thornton .