Cultural enjoyment, leisure activities or a wide range of gastronomic services. In these ways, domestic shopping centers try to increase consumer loyalty. The so-called also has a significant influence on these efforts generation Zwhich is looking for additional services in the centers.
Although this group often goes to e-shops when shopping, this does not significantly affect the number of visitors to shopping galleries. They are not trying to fight online stores at all costs, on the contrary, they are looking for the best possible connection between online and offline shopping.
Czechs do not show loyalty to domestic shopping centers
According to this year’s study by GfK, 90% of Czechs have at least one shopping center within an acceptable distance. That is also why the construction of new ones has slowed down in recent years. Existing shopping complexes, on the other hand, are trying to make their offer as attractive as possible, further expand their services and modernize the environment.
It is also related to the loyalty of consumers to shopping centers, loyalty to only one is rather an exception among Czechs. If they have the opportunity, they look for the best from their point of view in various shopping galleries – from preferred business units to the offer of gastro facilities to leisure activities.
“Customer experience and building loyalty, which is rather weaker among Czech customers, is coming to the fore of the owners and managers of shopping centers.” he said František Trunec from GfK.
Added value to purchases
The efforts to offer customers added value to the purchases themselves are confirmed by the representatives of the shopping centers. “Every year we organize a number of exhibitions, concerts and festivals, whether weekend or long-term. Our most prominent event is the summer festival Vaňkovka Fest, which lasts more than a month. In this regard, it is unique among Brno shopping centers, which is also reflected in the significant number of visitors.”
stated Jan Borůvka, director of the Vaňkovka Gallery in Brno.
However, shopping centers also try to gain customer loyalty through various forms of modernization. “In the centers we can now see reconstructions from the concepts of the first generations and, for example, a significant change in the function of the food court. Previously, they were a service for customers who came for shopping. It should be a magnet for them today. Department stores are also building more relaxation zones and cafes, in short, the leisure and entertainment element is being strengthened,” he communicated Jan Kubíček, Chairman of the Czech Committee of the International Association of Shopping Centers (ICSC).
Generation Z: on the wave of food courts and leisure activities
The so-called generation Z, which is currently entering the economic market, also has a significant influence on this effort of shopping centers. These are young people born after 1995, whose lives are almost completely connected with the Internet. They don’t remember the world without it. “If it can be said about this group that they look for something in shopping centers more than others, then it is mainly food courts and leisure zones, led by a cinema,” Trunec pointed out.
According to him, this age group, which spends a significant part of its life in the online environment, ranks among the sizeable segments, especially in large inner-city centers, with approximately one-fifth of the total customer population. “Shopping centers expand the portfolio of services and, among other things, build facilities for those customers who are used to being online all the time. The centers are increasingly using the connection with the online sales channel, and customers can also find dispensaries and dispensaries of popular e-shops in them.” he added.
E-shops and physical stores need each other
However, according to experts, shopping centers do not need to worry that online stores would pose a significant threat to them in the future.
“In the past, of course, there were erroneous predictions that e-shops would take over the majority of the market, which could mean existential inconvenience for a number of centers. However, according to analyzes in the USA and according to our own data, it looks more like a market correction. In the same way that brick-and-mortar stores increasingly need e-shops to function, Internet merchants also need a physical store presence for their growth. Shopping centers appear to many of them to be the ideal place for these purposes.” said Jan Kubíček.
The director of Galerie Vaňkovka also comments on the issue in a similar way, according to which offline and online shopping should not compete with each other, but rather find the best possible mutual synergy. He himself mentions fashion, where the customer can try everything on in the store, as an example of the most effective variant of physical shopping.
“At the same time, we have the experience that many stores are perceived by our visitors not only as mediators of immediate purchases. They also use them as showrooms, where they have the opportunity to so-called touch the goods, but also as outlets for purchases made via the Internet. For that reason as well, we are not concerned that there will be a massive outflow of business purely into the virtual space in the near future,” concluded Jan Borůvka.
They commented on the issue
- František Trunec from GfK, which deals with market research
- Jan Borůvka, director of Galerie Vaňkovka Brno
- Jan Kubíček, Chairman of the Czech Committee of the International Association of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Photo source: Pixabay.com
Source: www.luxurymag.cz
