Story by Myriam Beaugé

Shopping centres harness the power of the Web to make Christmas campaigns more dynamic and enhance sales productivity

Christmas is a highly sensory experience for consumers. The smell of freshly baked gingerbread, the sounds of strolling carolers, the brightly decked halls—these all play an important role in getting consumers in the mood to trim the tree, spend quality time with family and friends, and shop. But while the enjoyment of these traditions takes place in the brick-and-mortar world, consumers are relying on the Internet more often than ever before to complete many of their Christmas shopping tasks. Consequently, the Internet has earned a permanent place in a shopping centre’s Christmas marketing plan.
In the UK, the value of goods bought on the Internet this past holiday season reached £7 billion (€10.3 billion) for the 10 weeks leading up to Christmas, jumping 50 percent over the same period in 2005. That’s according to a survey that The Independent conducted on behalf of IMRG, an industry body for global e-retailing. IMRG represents a collaborative community focused on maximising the commercial potential of electronic shopping—from online, telephone and mobile commerce, to digital TV, home shopping and interactive kiosk applications.
ECircle, a leading provider of software and services for digital direct marketing throughout Europe, also conducted some research, interviewing 3,000 UK consumers to analyse the behaviour of Internet users at Christmas.
It found that 90 percent of respondents had planned to buy their Christmas gifts at retailers, of which more than 60 percent were online or mail-order businesses. Fifty-three percent intended to buy at least one present online and, of those who researched gifts in advance, nearly two-thirds would look on the Internet.
That’s music to the ears of marketers at outfits like Kelkoo, one of Europe’s leading shopping search engines.
The survey that Nielsen/Netratings conducted for Kelkoo with more than 1,500 Internet users last year also found that the Internet was playing a larger role in the Christmas shopping process, with 41 percent of respondents saying they intended to spend more than five hours a week researching and buying online in the run-up to Christmas, compared to 26 percent who would do the same on the high street.
In the United States, online sales between 1st November and 26th December increased by 26 percent last year, when compared to the same period in 2005, reaching $23.1 billion (€17.3 billion or £11.8 billion), according to a comScore survey. The recorded increase for the week of 18th to 22nd December was 38 percent.
Findings such as these provide a context for the Christmas marketing trends that Kelly Reed has observed first-hand.
"More UK shopping centres are putting greater emphasis on their Websites to work as part of their marketing strategy and complement their offline media programme," said Reed, regional marketing manager at Donaldsons UK.
"A fully integrated [online] and offline creative campaign is proving to be a strategic recipe for success and deliver great results with increased visitor usage, improved consumer interaction and [the enhancement of] a centre’s data capture programme to drive its e-marketing campaign."
This new reality, Reed believes, means that marketers are now expected to be more Web-savvy as part of their growing role within the retail environment.
They must understand the importance of adopting a strategic approach to Web development, rather than seeing a Website as an after-thought to a centre’s marketing campaign planning.
It’s the approach that Telford Shopping Centre (Telford), a Donaldsons property in Shropshire, took to develop its Christmas campaign last year.
Telford’s marketing strategy called for a combination of media to maximise reach—TV, radio, press, outdoor, door-to-door, magazines and online. The centre’s Website (www.TelfordShopping.co.uk) played a significant role in delivering the centre’s seasonal promotional message to consumers.
Bright and colourful, in line with the centre’s brand identity, the site was easy to navigate and strongly linked to Telford’s Christmas TV commercial, which was also featured on the site to heighten awareness.
Online competitions proved to be a big draw for shoppers, with more than 2,500 entries. Up for grabs were a £200 (€294) Debenhams Christmas hamper and a £100 (€147) Telford giftcard.
Shoppers had to correctly state how many stores Telford offered, and they were directed to the centre’s Website for the clue and an online competition form.
An e-newsletter went out to 2,000 addresses with gift ideas and competition info, while Open magazine, the shopping centre’s quarterly publication, promoted the online activity heavily as well.
Hits to Telford’s Website increased month on month during the Christmas trading period, , from 8,165 to 12,501.
Meanwhile, page views increased from 48,801 to 67,701—the site’s most popular pages were Home, Prize Draw, The Shops, Store Directory and Browse Map.
The Website was (and still is) updated daily and Telford says tenants, including Debenhams, have realised the benefits of instant messaging and offers online.
In the US, upscale fashion retailer Neiman Marcus enhanced its Website last Christmas to virtually hold shoppers’ hand as they prepared for the holiday season.
The NeimanMarcus.com site gave visitors a step-by-step plan with daily tasks like Make the List, Plan the Menu, Dek the Halls, Give the Best and Mark the Occasion.
The site was also a vehicle to peddle a holiday contest in which shoppers could win the retailer’s 10 best gift ideas, as well as a promotional scheme that rewarded anyone who spent $250 (€187 or £127) with a free Neiman Marcus branded bag.
Of course, the holiday mini-site had a direct link to the retailer’s online shopping portal where customers would find all of the featured seasonal items for sale.
Like Neiman Marcus, the Glendale Galleria in California embraced the Web last Christmas with a series of services that put a high-tech twist on traditional marketing programmes.
The centre stationed five laptop computers near its grotto so children could e-mail Santa their holiday wish list.
From 21st November through 19th December, Santa could be seen typing frantically on his computer keyboard every Tuesday morning as he answered text messages, or conducting online chats with children and customers every Thursday morning.
Some visiting children also used a grotto computer to design a holiday screen saver, which they then played with at the Galleria or e-mailed to themselves at home.
And there were other high-tech services too.
Santa Hot Line cell phones available at the grotto enabled children to call and pick up a pre-recorded holiday greeting message from Santa before leaving him their wish list.
Adults also used the cell phones to receive a pre-recorded message from Santa featuring Glendale Galleria’s Top 10 holiday gift ideas.
Meanwhile, the centre’s High-Tech Holiday Helpers were wired to make the shopping season a little less hectic for customers.
Stationed at all main entrances, the helpers were equipped with cell phones and headsets, with immediate access to customer service, Santa, every store in the centre, the maintenance department and the valet service.
Every weekend, from late November to Christmas Eve, the helpers assisted shoppers with giftcard orders, checked on Santa grotto and restaurant wait times, called the valet service to notify attendants when customers were ready for their car, helped shoppers find stores or gifts, and even carried out packages.
With such a big focus on the Web and other tech services, Glendale Galleria figured it should offer some relief to shoppers’ overworked email-writing and text-messaging fingers.
On Black Friday (24th November), or the day after American Thanksgiving, the Galleria offered free hand massages at four of its entrances, courtesy of Relaxation Station. The first 100 customers to take advantage of the service also received a free Crabtree & Evelyn manicure set.
Back in the UK, at Kingfisher Shopping Centre (Kingfisher) in Redditch, the Internet was central to delivering a Christmas service with an entertainment angle.
The centre offered shoppers an alternative to the tradition of Christmas-card writing, inviting them to visit Kingfisher to record a personal seasonal message in a Chatter Pod. Once the messages were recorded, centre marketers e-mailed customers a link to their personal video—it was posted on the Kingfisher Website (view the site by visiting www.KingfisherShopping.com)—to send on to loved ones. The most interesting messages were entered into a competition to win a digital video camera, with shoppers voting for their favourite one.
Eight-year old Joseph McAuliffe won the prize and his video, along with other entries, are still posted on the site.
According to Anna Pringle, Kingfisher’s marketing manager, the scheme was a real media relations coup.
The Chatter Pod made it onto the BBC News’s 6 o’clock edition and the centre posted a video of the national media segment on its Website for all shoppers to view.
The Glades in Bromley also used the Web to run an entertaining contest in which shoppers had to identify the mystery voice that was played online (at TheGlades.uk.com) and onsite throughout the shopping centre over the festive period.
It took a lot of concentration, and perhaps a little luck, for six shoppers to correctly identify the mystery voice as belonging to Jeff Hordley, the Panto baddy in the Churchill’s Theatres performance of Mother Goose and an actor well known for his role as a dodgy Caine Dingle in ITV’s Emmerdale Farm.
Hordley had recorded his voice especially for the competition, in which thousands of shoppers participated.
A surprised Kim Fisher received the top prize of £500 (€735) in Glades gift vouchers when the winners were announced in early January.
"It’s nice to receive the vouchers this side of Christmas as everyone is skint at this time of year," Fisher said. "I’m looking forward to treating myself and the family."
The other five winners each received £100 (€147) in Glades vouchers.
Programmes such as these may seem daunting to marketers who don’t feel completely at home yet in cyberspace. But that is no reason to shove strategic Web plans aside.
"The majority of UK centres outsource their Website development, many to their advertising agencies," Reed said. "Most centres are opting for Websites that are built to be content managed in-house, which enables the online message to be changed 24/7 and appeals to the demanding requirements of retailers and shoppers."
According to Reed, complex online campaigns, including SMS-linked initiatives, are most often outsourced to professional agencies that employ people with vast experience in handling what can often be a complicated Web-management process that requires proper planning, execution and evaluation.
Shopping centres may also need help in making shoppers’ online experience more exciting through the use of the latest technology, adding sound and video to ordinary Websites to run contests, support media campaigns and promote special events.
However, online programmes don’t always have to be complicated to be effective.
"I think there is still [some value in] building and maintaining a shopping centre Website that is predominantly functional, or service focussed, whilst keeping the online campaign fresh and regularly updated with the latest shopping news, views and offers to [encourage] repeat visits and improve online consumer loyalty," Reed said.
For Christmas programmes, the basics covered online, either through a Website or via an e-newsletter, could include Santa grotto information, seasonal services (e.g. gift-wrapping, parcel and coat check, personal shopping), special events and gift-with-purchase promotions.
Thecentre:mk’s customers saved a little time last year thanks to an online initiative. Shoppers could log on the Milton Keynes centre’s Website (www.TheCentreMK.co.uk) to book tickets for the Santa grotto.
The user-friendly service was promoted via thecentre:mk’s What’s On! e-newsletter, with a direct link to the Website, and anyone who forwarded the e-newsletter to friends got a prize.
Across the pond, Canada’s FanBox Inc., a company dedicated exclusively to the creation and management of affinity groups to help organizations increase customer loyalty, created VIpass.ca, a site that allows registered members to manage their gift exchanges with family and friends online.
Members can even purchase VIpass gift certificates to give to loved ones, who then exchange them for gift certificates from more than 50 vendors that are part of the VIpass network—from Gap to Rogers Wireless to Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.
Shopping centres can offer a similar service on their own Websites and maintain a mini-site to not only encourage store sales, but also boost gift certificate sales.
It’s a great way to promote retailers, foster goodwill and increase footfall as well as sales during key gifting seasons such as Christmas, Hannukah and Chinese New Year.
A gift exchange hub would also be an ideal vehicle to encourage gift certificate sales to corporations.
Companies could manage their Christmas gift exchanges on the shopping centre’s Website and purchase gift certificates for their employees and business partners. To enhance the promotional value, centres could offer to personalise the gift certificates for their corporate clients.
And the web offers many more Christmas marketing opportunities for shopping centres—from online workshops for do-it-yourself shoppers to guides on how to enjoy the holidays the responsible way, as Earth911.org did last year when it posted tips on recycling Christmas trees and setting up a community tree disposal service.
Yes, Christmas is decidedly a time when consumers look forward to indulging all of their senses with pleasurable experiences.
For some, it still means seeking out the brick-and-mortar joys of traditional Christmas shopping. Yet an increasing number of consumers are finding themselves online for the Holidays, with savvy marketers cosying up to them in cyberspace.