MAPIC Interview: Ingka Centres Global Expansion & Development Director Sebastian Hylving
Ingka Centres is at MAPIC this year with an increasingly diverse portfolio of assets, from its relatively recently acquired European centres in Paris, Munich and Brighton to its huge Chinese centres and its more eclectic San Francisco mixed use asset.
Looking back to 2008, when Ingka began its shopping centre development journey, Ingka Centres Global Expansion & Development Director Sebastian Hylving recalls that when it considered how it might develop space in China the company scoured Europe, the US and other Asian markets for inspiration. Now it is as likely to be the other way round, given the pace of change and innovation in China.
“You only have to look at electric vehicles to see how fast they develop innovation,” he said. “One of the biggest things we saw when we arrived in China was the huge proportion of F&B in centres, perhaps 40% to 50% when in Europe it was more like 4% to 5%. And we couldn’t figure out how we could make that work financially.”
Sebastian Hylving, Ingka Centres Global Expansion & Development Director
However, seeing the operators turn tables quickly, move into delivery and how the landlords diversified the offers demonstrated how execution made such propositions viable, he reflects. As a consequence, while Ingka Centres continues to develop new space it is also going through a “period of transformation” as it evaluates its existing asserts. And inspiration now comes from across all its markets.
“For us the key metrics are, of course sales, but also visits, because that tells us that we are doing something right. At Churchill Square in Brighton [on the UK’s south coast], visits are up 35% since we took over,” he said. “We have opened an IKEA, which has helped drive those figures, but I also think IKEA acts like a ripple effect. The other retailers start to look at how they can invest in their own stores.”
India is also a market in which Ingka Centres is developing two large mixed-use centres at a time when many global retailers are finally taking more tangible steps in a country that has promised much but often underdelivered.
However, Hylving also stresses that while it is important to take inspiration from across its assets, it is equally crucial not to simply take a cookie cutter approach.
“Every location is unique and you have to be selective,” he added. “In any new market we always do home visits and people are remarkably open and honest when we ask them questions. You have to open your mind, because it is easy to go in quite closed culturally.”
In a similar vein, while Ingka Centres is at MAPIC to showcase the opportunities within its growing portfolio, the company also wants to learn from the retailers and brands that attend, Hylving said.
“We feel this year MAPIC is taking a step and bringing in many new retailers and brands. You only have to look at, for example, Miniso, which has thousands of shops despite only opening its first a few years ago. It’s remarkable,” he said. “So we are here to learn and to co-create with our partners.”
