Mar
20
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Case Study Demand for quality warehouse space is still the talk of the day on the Moscow market, which is still far from the point of saturation. Being aware of attractiveness of this segment, many developers started building warehouses, though very few succeeded. The agricultural firm Belaya Dacha exemplifies a successful start-up in this business who managed to create a professional team and deliver a quality project. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar
20
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Case Study Ocean, located at 49 Chkalov St., is the first modern shopping and entertainment center for the citizens of Zhukovsky, a city located near Moscow. The 7,000-sqm complex houses reasonably priced stores which threw their doors open to their first customers in December 2005. The total amount invested in the project, including construction, expenditures on acquiring the land and facility reconstruction as well as design and processing approvals and permits, was $6.5 million, with the developer spending his own funds as well as securing a loan (50/50 ratio). The facility is slated to recoup investment within five years maximum. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar
20
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Case Study The Gorod (Eng. – city) shopping and entertainment complex on Ryazansky Prospect, one of Russia’s largest federal highways, opened in May 2006, following the Moscow mayor’s signing of the respective decree in October 2005. The developer constructed the complex on a plot previously belonging to the Karacharovsky Machine Factory. Moreover, Auchan, one of the most sought-after grocery anchor stores over the past few years, has opened its eighth hypermarket in the Moscow Region in Gorod, while, as a future strategic partner with the owners of the shopping and entertainment center, Auchan has also bought part of the premises for the store on the first floor as its own property. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar
20
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Marketing The spectre of rapid market saturation has forced proprietors of Russian shopping centers to rethink methods for holding onto tenants. Experts habitually appeal to Western experience, – giants of the American trade have always had an arsenal of programs for forming customer loyalty. Although the idea that customer loyalty raises a shopping center’s capital seems a lot like an invention of marketing experts to us, in the future, with the saturation of trading projects, centers that have managed to attract customer loyalty will clearly be the ones keeping their tenants as well. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar
20
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Marketing Developers working in the office real estate segment are faced with the inevitable question of how to position new projects. Should they create a new brand for each or create a project network and unite their various properties under a single umbrella? The question might not always seem worth the bother, especially under today’s demand conditions. It seems that in any event, the property will find tenants no matter what you do. Reaping the fruits of good positioning may not be possible until after market saturation. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar
20
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Marketing Marketing specialists often complain that Russian business has been spoiled by the oil dollar and company owners do not think they need to pay much attention to marketing. All too often marketing is just associated with prestige and status and the practical benefits are overlooked. The first real Russian estate development show rooms have now opened their doors although it would seem that here too that the focus is on prestige and luxury. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar
20
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Marketing Although the right layout, correct choice of tenants and convenient location are essential conditions for a shopping center to develop successfully, they are not the only factors. It is as vitally important to take care to entertain customers; otherwise, they will turn to more lively competitors. As such, promotional events and other entertainment spectacles are quickly becoming a central factor for rating shopping centers. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar
20
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Marketing In practical terms, the marketing budget of a development company must comprise 2% of a project’s overall budget. However, this figure has very seldom exceeded 0.5% in Russia, as conditions on the commercial real estate market have allowed for the successful promotion of projects without the services of marketing specialists. Nevertheless, the situation is quickly changing as competition thickens among quality projects. As a result, new projects increasingly require a professional marketing strategy in order to successfully reach worldwide standards. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar
20
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Marketing The marketing of a product, a project or a company demands functional, intellectual and, of course, financial investment. Excessive saving on marketing could freeze sales and, literally, kill business. However, uncontrolled marketing expenditures unavoidably lead a company to a fiasco, inasmuch as an increase in the marketing budget only stimulates a company’s profits to a certain level. Read the rest of this entry »