Centres slash marketing budgets
Published: 03 November, 2010
The average marketing budget for UK shopping centres has reduced by 24 per cent between 2008 and 2011, according to Savills research
The agent found that 54 per cent of centres have cut their annual marketing budget forcing landlords, many of whom contribute substantially to these costs, to adapt marketing strategies to minimise the impact of the cuts.
Claire Johnson, marketing manager in the Savills retail management team, said: “The marketing budget for a scheme is an obvious area to makes cuts in order to reduce outgoings. However, it is a catch 22 situation as schemes still need to perform and attract consumers.
Savills notes that many marketing strategies have refocused to prioritise quality over quantity. Print or radio advertising is tactical and targeted, while the general approach to events has changed with just two or three large promotional events being held in a year rather than six or seven smaller ones.
For example Hempstead Valley shopping centre in Gillingham, Kent, hosted the Hempstead Valley Festival of Transport in September this year. The event consumed 3.46 per cent of the overall annual budget yet increased the footfall by 7.7 per cent with most retailers including Claire’s Accessories, Wallis, Dorothy Perkins and Marks & Spencer seeing increase in year-on-year sales for that weekend.
With shopping centre marketing budgets not expected to increase until 2012/2013 the pressure continues to utilise marketing budgets by creating high impact and low cost strategies in order to retain consumer momentum. Savills expects that even when these budgets do begin to show signs of an increase, a more economical approach to marketing will have become the norm.
