Record-low retail space availability. Rising tariffs. Higher costs of living. On paper, the US looks like one of the hardest markets in the world for an international retailer to enter right now. Yet brands keep coming. British lifestyle retailer Boden and Spanish fashion chain Bershka have both opened new US stores in 2026, and Irish fashion giant Primark is pushing ahead with its own expansion, with a 46th US store set to open in Minnesota later this year.
Ecrebo CEO David Buckingham addressed exactly this question in a recent feature for Retail Gazette: why does the US continue to attract international retailers despite the obstacles, and what does it actually take to succeed there?
The Size of the US Market Is Only the Starting Point
The immediate draw, according to Buckingham, is the sheer size of the market — a scale of consumer spending that few other single markets can match. But he’s clear that size alone doesn’t explain why specific brands are making the move now, or why some succeed where others struggle. Each retailer entering the US is solving a different strategic problem, shaped by where it already stands with American consumers.
Deepening Relationships With an Existing Customer Base
For a brand like Boden, which has already built a loyal following among US shoppers online, a physical store isn’t a cold start. It’s a way to deepen a relationship that already exists — giving customers who know the brand digitally a new, tangible way to engage with it.
Turning Digital Insight Into Physical Presence
Bershka’s expansion reflects a different logic. Having already sold to US customers online, the brand can use what it’s learned about American shopping behavior to inform where it opens stores and how it presents itself in person. The store becomes a way to make an already-established digital brand visible in the real world.
Reaching Customers Digital Marketing Can’t
Buckingham also points to a customer acquisition dynamic that’s easy to underestimate. Digital acquisition costs keep climbing, and competition for search and social visibility is fierce. A well-located physical store solves a different problem entirely — it can introduce a brand to shoppers who would never have searched for it online in the first place.
The Real Obstacles to Entering the US Retail Market
None of this makes the US an easy market. Retailers expanding into the country are contending with several pressures at once:
- Intense competition from both established domestic chains and other international entrants targeting the same customers and locations.
- Pricing and margin pressure, particularly for brands still building recognition in a market where they have no existing pricing power.
- Tariffs and supply chain costs that add complexity many international retailers haven’t had to manage at home.
- Record-low retail space availability, making prime locations harder and more expensive to secure than they’ve been in years.
These pressures are why “the US is a big market” has never been a strategy on its own — and why some well-funded expansions still fail to gain traction.
What Separates Successful US Expansions From the Rest
Buckingham’s central point is that success in the US depends far more on the retailer than on the market itself. He’s cautiously optimistic about brands that arrive with three things already in place: an existing customer base, a clear point of differentiation, and a disciplined expansion plan.
Boden and Bershka aren’t entering blind. Both already hold data on how US consumers interact with their brand — a foundation that gives their expansion a head start most new entrants don’t have. That existing insight, combined with a clear reason for shoppers to choose the brand over the many alternatives available in the US, is what tends to separate expansions that stick from those that stall.
For any retailer weighing a US launch, the takeaway is straightforward: capital and ambition aren’t enough on their own. What matters is a defined value proposition, backed by real customer data, rolled out through a phased and disciplined plan rather than an aggressive, market-size-driven land grab.
Read the Full Feature
David Buckingham’s complete comments — including further detail on customer acquisition costs and how retailers should think about differentiation in a crowded market — are available in the original feature on Retail Gazette.