We don’t often think of industries as having a life expectancy. Once they are created, we assume they’ll be here forever. Yet if you look closely at the evolution of any industry over decades, or in some cases centuries, you will witness changes so great that it makes the notion of eternal life seem ludicrous.
The shopping centre industry isn’t immune to such transformations. On the contrary, after half a century of serving consumers, it is showing all the signs of a sector going through a mid-life crisis.
Since their inception in the Fifties, shopping centres have brought consumers choice, convenience, access to goods from foreign lands and a gathering place—’the third place’.
However, commerce is changing fast, leaving these centres and those who promote them to figure out what their true purpose is, where their strengths lie and how they can remain relevant in a marketplace that has fallen under the spell—some might say rule—of the Internet.
Shopping centre developers and marketing professionals have gained experience over the years and they have put great effort into understanding where, when and how consumers shop. It seems that recently, that research has led to plenty of questions, but no definitive answer on which everyone can agree.
While some still view convenience, the idea of finding everything you need under one roof, as a shopping centre’s most compelling trait, others cite ’the third place’ as a centre’s true reason for (still) being.
The role of shopping centre marketers is also hotly debated.
Should marketing take up greater responsibilities on the centre floor, or should these duties be centralised to achieve greater operational and financial efficiency across a portfolio?
For US-based General Growth Properties, the corporate mood is of the latter, with some employees confirming rumours of the company’s decision to eliminate centre-based marketing management positions nationwide—a bold move for a portfolio of some 200 properties.
As the proliferation of green, socially conscious and community focussed programmes suggest, shopping centres in Europe and around the globe are seeking to rejuvenate their soul and find a greater purpose, beyond pure retail commerce.
This quest may give the industry the best chances of getting through its crisis to enjoy a long, meaningful and prosperous life.