Shopping centres are proving well-suited to the digital age
And yet beneath the gloom, retailers are rethinking how they build their
businesses, to the benefit of shopping centres. Weak spending and higher rates
(property taxes levied on businesses) are leading many firms to give up their
high-street shops. But they are opening bigger, jazzier outlets. “Before you
needed 250 or so stores to reach most of the population,” says Andrew Shepherd
of BNP Paribas, a bank. “Now big retailers want perhaps 75.” Shops must become
“brand ambassadors”, complementing websites. That means keeping the whole range
in stock, having good customer service and being sufficiently appealing that
people will travel a long way to visit them.
