Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2015 | Page 40

Photo: Kesko Oyj / Matti Immonen

Combining cutting-edge construction with commercial pull, shopping centre Veturi was Finland’s representative in the
competition for the Nordic Shopping Center Award last year.

Change the Game
Shopping centres are becoming multipurpose experience hubs
in order to win back the consumers
With the pressure from e-trade, shopping centres are working hard to reinvent themselves. One way to succeed is to
become ‘destinations’ in their own right. Around the world, many new shopping centres are incorporating a heavy dose
of entertainment, restaurants and cafés to their mix to make their centres recreational in addition to strictly commercial;
the idea is to drive frequency of visits and length-of-stay. In the USA, there’s talk of ‘retail entertainment centres’ (RECs),
‘retail-tainment’, ‘shoppertainment’ or ‘mall-tainment’ – which certainly means that consultants are awful at twisting
words, but, more significantly, heralds the beginning of a whole new era for shopping centres.

O

ne of the most outspoken protagonists
of this new age is Joe Pine, the author
of The Experience Economy. According to Pine, what we’re doing today is we’re
moving to an experience economy where
what consumers want are experiences –
memorable experiences which engage them
in an inherently personal way.
Appearing in October at Aulanko
Property Investment Convention in Hämeenlinna, Finland, Pine showcased his perspectives on the changing face of retail. He argued
that in order to succeed one must move away
from commoditisation and get to the core
38 Nordicum

of experience, because of the personal and
unique nature of the experiences themselves:
they can’t be duplicated or reduced to the
lowest common denominator.

Anchored on Authenticity
Pine is especially keen on authenticity. In
order to get “real from the genuine” there
must be something special about the place
itself. The magic of a place is a sum of two
things: venue and event. This simply means
that people love to go where the action is
and the surroundings are pleasant enough.

When Pine talks about heritage, he doesn’t
mean that you have to have a medieval castle as your base of operations to have a rich
history or a good story – he points to the
success of Starbucks as an example of this.
Critics say that the problem with selling experience is that people get used to it:
there is always somewhere newer to go. But
the shopping centres aren’t about to throw in
the towel: according to International Council of Shopping Centers, in place of customary tenants, a new breed of tenants – grocery
stores, fitness centres and even post offices
– is emerging in the USA. In Finland, on the