Outlet centres are almost always located well outside the towns whose shoppers they serve. The distance is a design requirement rather than a consequence of cheap land alone.
Distance protects the full-price network
A brand selling discounted goods next to its own full-price store would lose sales it could otherwise make at full margin.
Putting the discount an hour's drive away means only shoppers who deliberately set out for it will encounter those prices.
The separation preserves the ordinary price for everyone else, which is the main asset a brand is protecting.
Travel effort segments the customer base
Shoppers willing to spend a half-day travelling for a discount are, by definition, the most price-sensitive part of the market.
Those less sensitive to price will not make the trip and continue buying at full price near home.
The journey therefore performs the segmentation a brand needs without any explicit rule about who may buy at which price.
Tourist coach traffic works on the same principle from the other direction, bringing visitors who would never have entered the brand's home-market stores at all.
Land and rent economics reinforce it
Outlet retail runs on lower margins per item and needs large floor areas and extensive parking, which is unaffordable in a prime shopping district.
Out-of-town sites supply space cheaply, and rents are often structured as a share of turnover rather than a fixed sum.
That arrangement lets brands accept lower prices while keeping occupancy costs proportionate to what they actually sell.
It also gives the centre operator a direct interest in footfall, which is why marketing, events and transport links are handled centrally rather than store by store.
The trip changes shopping behaviour
Having travelled a distance, a visitor is reluctant to leave empty-handed, which raises conversion and basket size substantially.
Centres are laid out as long circuits with limited shortcuts, so leaving requires passing more stores than entering did.
Food, leisure and coach parking extend the visit further, and time on site correlates closely with spending.
Not everything sold there is old stock
Genuine excess from full-price stores forms part of the assortment, but much outlet merchandise is produced specifically for the channel at a lower specification.
Both sit on the same rails at similar prices, and the reference figures shown may relate to the main range rather than to the item itself.
Judging construction directly, rather than trusting the comparison price on the ticket, is the only reliable way to tell which is which.