From the moment a shopper arrives in the car park to the point at which purchases are finally made, there are a series of opportunities for a shopping centre to gain additional revenue by considering the shopping journey that is being made. Those familiar with standing close to the entrance of a mall may have noticed the number of people lurking just beyond the entrance. Some of these will be smokers, the incidence of non-smoking malls being increasingly common, but a fair number will be using their mobile phones. For whatever reason, many centres seem to act as fairly effective mobile phone signal screens and today's shoppers need to be able to communicate in-mall, either to keep track of the various parties involved in a shopping trip or to confer with a loved one on the right purchase.

Arquiva, previously known as ntl:Broadcast works with shopping centres to provide a network within a mall that enables mobile phone users on specific networks to make and receive calls. Up to five mobile operators pay Arquiva, which then designs, installs and runs an in-mall network. From a shopping centre management perspective the deal is straightforward. A license is signed, typically for 10-years, allowing Arquiva to run its system and money is paid, dependent on the number of operators using the system.

The revenues derived will also depend on the size and footfall of the site, but can average as much as £10,000 per year, per mobile operator. Arquiva says that a multi-operator in-building system costs anywhere between £50,000 and £250,000 to deploy, depending on the size and complexity of the mall.

Up to £50,000 per year for doing nothing? Nice if you can get it. Put another way, how long and how much does it cost to persuade a tenant to part with the equivalent amount of money? Arquiva has installed its systems in malls such as Bluewater, MetroCentre and Lakeside.

Being careful to avoid the smokers, time to head into the shopping centre. Well not quite. There is still the possibility of making money from shoppers before they begin browsing the shops. Money can, for example, be made by advertising to those clutching a cigarette outside the entrance. Alfresco offers shopping centre-owners the possibility of creating outdoor smoking zones, helping to keep the area around entrances tidy (White Rose has already adopted the system) while at the same time making money from the panels that accompany the unit, which can be used to carry advertisements. Worth remembering perhaps that according to research carried out by Blueprint Business, 30 per cent of visitors to the average shopping centre are smokers. Pandering to their habit must therefore be part of the agenda.

Also generally found on mall exteriors rather than indoors are ice rinks, which are increasingly popular.

Great Barford-based Fun Ice specialises in the erection of temporary ice rinks and has worked with shopping centres around the UK. Managing director Graham McKenna says that the typical cost of putting a rink in place is just over £1,200 and that a modest amount of profit on this sum will normally be realised as each skater is charged for using a rink. This is perhaps not the major point however. Ice rinks, according to the shopping centres that have tried them, act as shopper magnets, increasing shopper numbers and dwell time.

Baseline Promotions has also recently been working installing a large rink close to the newly-opened Chapelfield shopping centre in Norwich which, if the blurb is to be believed, was expected to attract around 20,000 potential skaters in the run-up to Christmas and beyond. Given the competition to attract shoppers to a destination these days, anything that can be done to provide an edge must be worth its weight in frozen water.

So finally, into the mall. What can be done indoors to make the building, tenants notwithstanding, work harder for its living? By their very nature, shopping centres should be about entertainment and walk into many malls at a weekend and you'll frequently be faced by armies of face painters, stilt walkers and local radio stations all endeavouring to make a visit that bit more engaging. A company that specialises in this kind of thing is Shoppertainment that organises in-mall events at shopping centres throughout the UK.

A fine distinction needs to be drawn perhaps between mall income generators in their own right and those intended to drive footfall, ultimately generating income for retailers and making the centre a more desirable location for a tenant. The presumption must be that in so doing, rental growth in a mall can also be a feature.

Meadowhall has been heavily involved in driving footfall almost since it opened and one of the events that it organised last year, which will enjoy another outing during 2006, is a motor show. This took place in the coach park next to the centre and as well as the usual selection of overpowered cars, the curious were able to inspect the mythic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, also on display. Mall guides and plasma screens telling visitors to the show about the centre's retail offer were positioned throughout the show and the whole exercise boosted footfall and revenues across the centre as a whole.

There are of course a large number of other things that creatively-minded centre management can organise. The limitation is how much time you are prepared to spend on setting things up. Malls are definitely more than the sum of their parts and centre management should always be aware that they are highly marketable.

Contacts

Shoppertainment: http://www.shoppertainment.ltd.uk

Fun Ice: http://www.funice.com

Baseline Promotions: http://www.baseline-promotions.co.uk

Arqiva: http://www.arqiva.com

Alfresco: 0113 274 7051

Meadowhall: http://www.meadowhall.co.uk

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend