The Market – commentary by Samantha RobinsonTo get through these tough times you have no choice but to be close to your customer. This applies to shopping centres just as much as any consumer brand. Retail developers have to put the customer firmly into the equation.
Shopping centres must behave like successful retailers, identify target customers, establish who they are get to know and understand them and build a relationship with them. – in other words, strive for conversations. Getting to know your customers is a process which must never stop.
New channels of customer communication are not just for the early adopters. Twitter and other social networking sites boast mainstream audiences and are powerful ways of getting closer to your customer by having genuine one-to-one chats with them. Advocacy will be the way forward for 2009 as well as a growth in peer-to-peer reviews and on-line customer communities.
Shopping centres have to have a strong concept, a reason for existing in the eyes of the customer.
They need to be run as businesses, building a brand, and not just to be seen as an income stream. They need to turn their retailers and customers into advocates. The personality of the centre ensures that it becomes a place in which the target customer feels a sense of ownership.
Respond quickly to the recession. According to recent research, women are currently much more nervous about it and as a result are cutting their spending more than men. Swift action needs to be taken in order to maintain loyalty.
Consumer research houses are increasingly reporting on “canny customers” who are wearing a new badge of honour, hunting down the best deal and spending time shopping to achieve it.
There is also a lot of talk about the new age of austerity, marked by the end of conspicuous consumption and the beginng of conspicuous abstention (making a statement through not spending). These emerging trends are presenting us all with unprecedented challenges.
Yes, shopping centres will cut their budgets, margins will become tighter and any customer intiatives will have to be justified even more so than before, but it is crucial not to batten down the hatches, cut all communications and hope for the best.
Developing and maximising all possible links to target customers and existing relationships will be crucial.
With competition becoming increasingly fierce, including the escalating threat from the internet, shopping centres will have to offer the savvy factor and something different that will exceed their expectations.