The Kingdom Centre in Glenrothes pays particular attention to its young shoppers, even dedicating a page of their website to the under-16s.

Part of the page allows the kids to pass their own comments on the scheme, with ideas ranging from what types of events they would like to see on the mall to the type of retailers they would like to see within the tenant line-up.

Anna Pringle, marketing manager at the centre, says: "We feel it's important to cater for the children because they will hopefully be our future shoppers and they have an influence over their parents in what they buy. So we want them to come into the centre and spend their pocket money. The teenagers give their suggestions of the type of shops they would like to see and we pass that on to our letting agents.

"We mainly get a lot of comments returned to us suggesting different events they would like to see in the centre, and occasionally we'll run specific competitions.

"Because we're the town centre we have a lot of family shoppers and we want to cater for all of them. We put free events on for children every school holiday and we work closely with all the local schools as well.

"We've just run a Christmas card competition where the school and the individual child each won a prize. For the Christmas switch-on we run a competition to find a prince and princess who get special treatment on the day.

"We just try to get that feel-good factor and we go above and beyond to get that customer loyalty."

The Kingsley Club is a safe child scheme run in conjunction with Fife Constabulary. The Kingdom Centre educates the children on what they should do in the centre to stay safe, such as staying with the person they came with and what to do if they do get lost. The child then ticks the relative boxes to say they understand.

The club has been running for a year and a half and currently has approximately 300 members, who each get various benefits, such as a goody bag and prizes for a certain number of visits.

"When they come into the centre they get a wristband with a reference number and if a child is lost and a member of staff finds them they can get hold of the mobile number of whoever they came in with," explains Pringle. "But the idea is to educate the parents and the children to make sure it doesn't happen in the first place."

AL Marketing's Melanie Lillie agrees that children of all ages are far more sophisticated these days in their choice of entertainment. "Just as adult consumers are more demanding, so too are children," she says. "Clowns and jugglers will no longer satisfy as kids of all ages are looking to do more exciting things. For example, at the Trafford Centre there is a whole raft of activities geared to the very young, right through to teenagers, such as Lazer Quest, The Rock - a climbing wall - dodgems and all sorts of things. Then you have retailers like Carluccios which doesn't just do promotional activities for adults but also recognises that children love cooking, so there are biscuit decorating or children's cookery classes. We also take the trouble in our regular research to talk to mothers with children."

Lillie says AL Marketing is also considering taking its research a step further by speaking directly to the older children about what they would like to see.

Like the Kingdom Centre, the Trafford Centre dedicates a page on its website to children's activities, advertising forthcoming events and details about the Barney Bear Club. Barney Bear, who has a little car he drives around the centre, is one of the scheme's best loved characters.

In addition, during the school holidays, the centre will show more children's films at the cinema, and will also put on craft and entertainment activities every day.

Clare Andrew, marketing director at Modus Properties, places children at the top of her list of people to please. "To be honest, kids are probably your best customers," she says. "You have to make sure you cater for your families as a priority because it's pester power. If the children aren't happy, the parents won't stay and dwell because they can't do what they want to do. So we have to make sure the children are happy first, and then everyone else is happy after that. As a mum, if my little boy isn't content I have to go somewhere else."

Andrew says children's activities must be bright, colourful and cheerful, for example, a balloon or a lolly pop to take away. She also points to sampling as a great activity for keeping the kids amused and good for getting the truth about a product.

"In society everybody is getting more demanding and people have less time now because everyone is so busy," she says. "So if they go out for the day they have to make sure the whole family is occupied.

"We have to make sure we have something different or unique so that visiting the centre doesn't get boring. If we can capture that and regularly get a different activity or event then people don't have the same experience every time."

Like the Kingdom Centre, Andrew puts a huge emphasis on speaking to teenagers about what they want to see in the malls. "They always want lots of gadgets and gizmos and lots of fashion at the cheapest prices," she says, adding that Modus places a lot of emphasis on its research. "We have to try and attract different families, so we have fictitious families that we make up and we work out the age groups, what they like to do, what they read, what their hobbies are and work from there really, going out and doing research in reality. What's always interesting is if you compare the two they are usually pretty similar.

"When catering for families you have to have something for mum, dad, grandma and teenagers, and definitely the little ones, to make sure they're occupied."

With a consumer base that is largely family orientated, Bluewater works hard to ensure that when families visit the centre their trips are stress free, safe and enjoyable.

Centre manager Andrew Parkinson says: "We believe that if we can keep the family happy with the breadth of our offer and activities it heightens their desire to return, extends their dwell time and ultimately helps increase sales."

Bluewater caters for families with children through its retail offer, the services it provides and the activities it puts on for its visitors. Activities include Bluewater's parklands and The Wild Explorer Trail, in association with Howletts Zoo, which takes visitors to the centre on a circular walk around the lakes, uncovering information on Kent wildlife and on breeds from around the globe.

Bluewater is unique in that it is set within 51 acres of landscaped parkland, including seven lakes, one of which is a boating lake. Families can also hire bicycles to explore the parkland.

At the end of last year the Treejumpers Sky Park opened, adding a great addition to the family entertainment offer. The park is a set of massive high wire structures that take people into the sky with a range of different exciting challenges that include aerial treks, a zip wire allowing the user to fly through the air and a climbing wall.

The centre also runs school competitions and works with the community. Last June they held a 'Tour de Bluewater', which involved asking local schools to design and decorate a bike around a specified theme to celebrate the Tour de France racing though Kent.

"We had 26 local schools participate and we displayed the entries at the centre for a two-week period so that the children and their families could come and see them," explains Parkinson. "Also, we host tours for local schools to visit the centre and are looking to put together a schools programme that can fit into the National Curriculum. The school trips are a good way for us to engage with children."

In addition, Bluewater has a wide selection of retailers geared towards families with children, including the Early Learning Centre, The Disney Store and Mystical Fairies.

New rides arriving across the UK

Photo-Me International has announced that three brand new licensed children's rides based on popular BBC children's programmes. 'Underground Ernie', 'Iggle Piggle's Boat' and 'Lunar Jim' are to make their global debut in shopping centres throughout the UK.

Photo-Me believes frequent rotation of rides in a shopping centre environment, where the same children make repeat visits to the centre on a regular basis, is essential to maximise ride revenue.

Underground Ernie is a ride dedicated to the hit animation cartoon series currently showing on CBeebies and features Ernie the Supervisor seated in Jubilee, the mischievous train. The Underground Ernie ride has an optional video screen, vibrant colour scheme and fun sound effect buttons. Iggle Piggle's Boat, which comes complete with two seats, a vibrant colour scheme and fun sound effect buttons, is based on the In The Night Garden pre-school animation cartoon series. Budding astronauts can ride alongside Lunar Jim and explore the moon landscape in the Lunar Crawler.

Contacts

The Kingdom Centre: 01592 758693

AL Marketing: 01707 275050

Modus Properties: 0161 8330955

Bluewater: 0870 7770252

Photo-Me: 01372 453399

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