Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2014 | Page 44

Shopping centres fight back
With e-commerce coming on strong,
shopping centres learn new moves to cope
Will on-line shopping spell doom for shopping centres around the world?
According to recent estimates, as much as 90 percent of retail sales growth in
Britain, France and Germany between 2012 and 2016 is expected to be online,
leaving the off-line players to fight for scraps. Are the shopping centres at the
end of their rope?

D

espite the warnings from e-crazed
consultants, shopping centres are
still the place to be. Nevertheless, the
great public is fickle and old favourite needs
to keep reinventing itself in order to survive.
Recently, Nielsen reported that U.S.
consumers still do most of their shopping
at actual, physical stores. In the long run,
however, shopping centres must morph into
42 Nordicum

social centres, employment hubs and places
for entertainment.

Wanted: Social Edge
In its recent Brick by Brick: The State of the
Shopping Center report, Nielsen examines
the trends affecting the size and shape of the
shopping center industry, as well as some of
the shifting consumer factors affecting the

strategic direction of this retail sector. As
the U.S. population has diversified, the lines
have blurred between shopping, entertainment, and community – and herein lies new
opportunity for shopping centres.
This blending of experiences makes it
possible for retail to strengthen social ties
within communities looking for communal
experiences. Lifestyle centres, for example,
blend traditional retail tenants with upscale
leisure uses that offer shoppers a place to
buy as well as an experience. Moreover, a
lifestyle centre is “a place to gather”, which
is something that people have been keen on
since the days of hunting mammoths.
Nielsen observes that this trend is most
visible at the regional level, where operators