Outlet is a large shopping mall, where goods of the fashionable and famous brands at affordable prices are presented. Outlets can be located in the city and coexist with shopping centers and in the suburbs. Large outlet areas are usually built outside of big cities.
Outlet centers, which sell high-class goods with great discounts, are steadily gaining market around the world. The fashion industry requires constant updates, fast changing collections, and this leads to the formation of the leftovers. Outlets that are the sites of permanent sales help manufacturers to quickly implement the excess products and residuals of the seasonal collections, controlling the process and ensuring quality in clearance products.
The first outlets appeared in the USA in 1933 (according to others in 1936). Morris B. Anderson, founder of Anderson-Little, which produces men’s wear, opened a shop selling clothes directly with the factory in the state of Massachusetts, where one could purchase things with great discounts. It was the first prototype of a factory outlet.
After the Second World War, the format of large shopping centers is becoming a very popular in America. Such large-scale shopping malls had discount stores, where goods with discounts were realized. Gradually, with the increase of production of goods, sites for discount trade expanded and became an actual idea of creating specialized centers that would be dedicated only to sales. After America to large-scale discount trade outlets joined in and Europe. Manufacturers of branded products in the outlet centers have been able to get rid of excess goods, while buyers got an opportunity to purchase a quality product at an attractive price.
There are two types of such marketplaces: outlets attached to the factories (factory outlet), and outlet mall. The outlet can present goods of only one brand, and accordingly, of many brands. Outlets-multibrands may be as isolated shopping malls and as large outlet areas, consisting of numerous shops, such areas are called outlet villages. Outlet centers assure consumers protection against counterfeiting, as the management company takes from the manufacturer a list of retailers and distributors with whom they work.