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The web site retailp.com was launched in 2000, by Pierre Combet of Grand Vision, to provide an independent source of information for retailers, investors and developers, who are also its main sources of information. It currently provides a detailed low down on the retail situations in twelve European markets and has done so for Poland since 2001. Eurobuild talked to its Eastern Europe director about how he views developments in this part of the world

Could you first of all tell us something about your background before your involvement in retailp.com?

I worked in my native Australia until 1992 when I went to the UK and started working for Vision Express. I was then offered the chance to start up the business in Poland and I accepted, so I came here in late 1995, and continued working for Vision Express for seven years. My role was as Business Development Manager to start off with and then eventually Property Director. When Vision Express changed ownership from a UK to a French-based company, Grand Vision (whose trading name is Grand Optical), in 1999, Pierre Combet was the International Property Director there and as I was the Property Director in Poland, I was directly responsible to him regarding what was happening on the market.

Could you give a brief outline of your role at retail.p.com?

My role is to update and check the information on the web site for Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary though as I live in Poland, that's the main focus of my work.

So how is your research conducted?

I arrange meetings with investors and developers of shopping centres and talk to them about their current projects and those coming up. That way we update information as we go along. Our subscribers can therefore see what changes are occurring: who's arriving onto the market and who's leaving, what the trends are and so on.

Who are the subscribers?

There are an equal number of investors, developers and retailers. The number of subscribers around early October, was about 460 internationally.

Do you have plans for expanding the number of countries you cover?

Yes but it's important to find reliable people to work with, so at the moment my colleague Pierre Combet is talking to various candidates about the Russian market, for instance. All the existing partners in each country are known by Pierre Combet or have worked with him, so they understand him and he understands us, so just grabbing any old person isn't on. We're not interested in agents being partners because they have their own departments which analyse the market, so we tend to look for individuals or individual companies, who have experience in that country.

How is your research different to that of agents'?

The difference is that we don't really go in for statistical information, because statistics always vary, so we just give a basic overview, in terms of unemployment figures and so on. The information we're interested in is what's happening in and out of shopping centres and the high street, such as who the new retailers are in this or that shopping centre, who's moved out and who's taken over any extra space and so on. The other difference is that we do high streets as well. We analyse them four times a year and although other companies do so as well, it's usually released in a printed format and once that's done, it can go out of date a couple of weeks' later.

Your web site contains some quite forthright predictions of where the retail market is heading. For example that the first-generation of hypermarket shopping centres are on their way out.

I think so. Though there'll certainly be some left. Some of the hypermarket operators will always build a hypermarket with a small gallery to compliment it but I think the consumer is more interested in spending a day out and not necessarily just going shopping. They are keener on spending time which includes entertainment and eating in food courts as well, while perhaps the weather outside isn't too good.

Is this trend following a pattern that began in the West?

It's certainly is but at a much quicker pace. Shopping centres across Western Europe have developed quite phenomenally in terms of department stores, entertainment and food courts etc. Poland is no different and the Polish consumer is no different. We can talk about them having less spending power but that will change and I think that when Poland joins the EU, things will slowly improve: maybe over the next two-five years.

Over the past year, we've seen an increase in the number of foreign retailers coming to Poland. It hasn't been a stampede exactly, more a recognisable trickle. Do you see any signs that this might accelerate?

When Poland joins the EU, I wouldn't say that the floodgates will open, but the trickle will become more of a stream. There are retailers that I have spoken to, who are interested in coming to Poland and Eastern Europe, but with a view to finding a local partner first and then maybe setting up a chain from there.

Where do see retailp.com's development from here?

The whole idea is to expand the retailp website into other countries but in countries like Poland, though there will be fewer shopping centres opening than over the last three years, there will still be trends in each one, so our idea is to follow those and analyse them. For example, in such and such a retail centre, certain retailers will be leaving or going in and we'll be asking what types of shop they are. Are they service or fashion retailers? But we will also be looking at how high streets are faring and while some outlets might close there, for others they could be a goldmine. Fashion outlets might just become small chains of boutiques, for example, but restaurants will open left, right and centre.