Research we recently carried out with Savills concerning in-store browsing, click and collect and sales, shows that nearly nine out of 10 retail sales still ‘touch’ the physical store and every sign suggests that this will remain the case for some time to come. The same research found that the number of physical store sales could increase by another 11% in the next five years.
We know that as today’s shoppers switch back and forth between physical and virtual channels to explore, share ideas or buy, they are still visiting stores for something that they cannot get online, such as the chance to try on items or browse with friends and family.
Our mission as a shopping centre landlord is to meet our customers’ desire for these kind of experiences from the moment they decide to visit one of our centres and to ensure that this expectation is met when they arrive. The coming together of leisure and retail across the industry is a key response to this need to deliver more than simply shopping and includes the developments under way at our own centres, such as intu Lakeside’s leisure extension that is set to introduce Nickelodeon’s first shopping centre attraction to the UK.
Certainly all retailers will continue to maximise their online presence but, increasingly, this forms part of holistic strategies that reflect the blurring boundaries between physical and virtual worlds.
We can see this in the number of brands moving from pure-play to bricks-and-mortar or coming into shopping centres from traditionally very different retail environments, such as DFS and SEAT who both opened new small-format stores at intu centres this year.
And it means shoppers’ expectations will only rise as all sorts of different brands use retail space to drive customer engagement and showcase their products in innovative ways that expand the boundaries of the physical store.
With the right kind of investment that adapts to these changing customer expectations, every sign shows this insatiable demand for the physical shopping trip is indeed likely to continue and even strengthen in future years.
Julian Wilkinson, asset management director, intu
