Anjee Solanki (2023-06-05). “Century 21: Legendary

Both networks offer clothing, footwear, every kind of accessories, home appliances. The retailer offers clothing, footwear, accessories, jewelry, personal hygiene products, toys, deco products with an off-price discount of 65%. Its revenue was 6 billion dollars according 2017 results. The company has more than 8 000 suppliers from various countries all over the world. Another off-price retailer giant in the US, Burlington, owns, as of 2018, more than 600 retail department stores. The off-price network Nordstrom Rack, which sells mostly clothes, footwear, jewelry and cosmetics, operates 240 stores as of 2018. The retailer sells goods by the Nordstrom “mothership” network at a 50-60% discount, and also other brands’ clothes, footwear and accessories with a discount of up to 70%. The company notes that it supplies products to their off-price stores on a daily basis.

The global turnover of the segment as of the year 2017 is more than 60 billion dollars (approx. Annual net sales of the corporation in 2018 was valued at almost 39 billion dollars. From 2013-2017 inclusive, annual revenue of the company grew by an average of 2 billion dollars (building on 2013’s revenue of 26 billion dollars), and its number of hypermarkets grew by 27% (or 855 stores). The global leader of the sector is still TJX Companies, owning as of 2019 more than 4 300 off-price hyper malls (the total area is more than 110 million square feet), split between its six retail networks (TJ Maxx, TK Maxx, Marshalls, Winners, HomeGoods, Homesense), in different countries of the world (U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria and The Netherlands).

During WW1 and WW2 the U.S.A. European suppliers of textile and sewing machinery – and, as such, domestic manufacturing began to increase. In 1956, U.S. businessman Alfred Marshall put together a think tank of entrepreneurs and suggested the launch of a start-up with the concept of “brands at lower prices”. As their businesses grew, they expanded by moving to department stores or indeed building their own stores. Small business entrepreneurs would buy products out at wholesale prices and arranged their own retail sales in vacant factory workshops and other rooms that were cheap enough to rent. In the 50s, a huge amount of clothing, footwear and other sewn products were manufactured locally, and by the end of the season factories were prepared to announce substantial cut-offs and sell the unsold remnants on their own.

As of 2018, there are more than 700 stores in different towns of the U.S.A. One more subdivision of TJX Companies that works in the off-price segment in the US, is Sierra Trading Post. It appeared on the market as a catalog seller in 1986, and in 2012 was purchased by TJX Companies for 200 mln dollars. The Company’s website has existed since 1998. Already in 2004, it was included in the Top-400 retailers, and in 2005 – 2007, 2010, City of Abbotsford selling a portion of Mill Lake park for condos 2011 – in the Top-500. It specialises in online sales, trading via catalogues, and according to 2018 statistics it operates 30 retail stores to maintain public recognition. The company offers about 3 000 brands in total.

An annual Off-Price Show takes place in the Philippines, for example, which reminds of the U.S. In China there is only one dominant off-price retailer – DX Quality Outlet, which manages pop-up stores along with a web store. “factory sales” that date back to the mid 20th century. Mass expansion as in the US, or gradual systematic development as in Russia, has not yet begun. Pop ups have also recently become popular.

It sold all of its network, consisting of nearly 400 Zayre stores, and the label itself to the competitive discounter network Ames Department Stores Inc. for 431,4 million, and by 1990 all Zayre stores were closed or converted into ones under the Ames brand. Meanwhile, in 1976 Marshalls was acquired by Melville Corp. By then the network had 36 stores in operation. With its new owner, growth surged : by the year 1995 it owned 496 stores in the US and Hawaii.