From shopping to life center

Victor Shopping Center Award winner Andreas Felder, Rembrand AG, Corine Maissen, Wincasa, Remo Tanner, Migros, Markus Brunner, Wincasa, presenter Christa Rigozzi, Thierry Halff, Maus & Frères, and SCSC President Jan Tanner (from left to right).Negative headlines made the rounds after the Shopping Center Forum 2016, which took place on May 12 at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Zurich Airport. The reason was the three percent drop in sales last year, as reported by the GfK study "Shopping Center Market Switzerland". Of the 195 centers surveyed in Switzerland, two-thirds reported a decline in sales for 2015, 17 percent reported stagnation and only 17 percent managed growth. Overall, shopping centers suffered more from inflation, shopping tourism, digitization and the abolition of the minimum euro exchange rate in 2015 than the retail trade as a whole, which recorded a decline of 2.3%.Vacancies not a taboo subjectDespite the bad news, or perhaps because of it, Thomas Hochreutener, Director of Retail at GfK Switzerland, who presented the 350-page study at the Forum, sees positive approaches. He has long preached against an excessive expansion of retail space and in favor of renewed approaches. Now he is registering signs of change. Vacancies in shopping centers are no longer a taboo subject. On the contrary - examples such as Brack's pop-up store in Spreitenbach's Shoppi Tivoli or the one in Sihlcity ("Victor Award 2016"*) show how creative use can be made of vacant spaces. According to Hochreutener, the fact that an online retailer like Brack occupies a sales area could perhaps set a precedent. Similar to the Try Store, which appeared in new locations in 2015, namely in Bern's Westside and Shoppyland Schönbühl and - for the fourth time - in the Glatt shopping center. There is also potential in gastronomy. A study by ECE Projektmanagement shows that 40 percent of German visitors choose their shopping center primarily on the basis of the available gastronomy offerings. In the shopping malls at Swiss train stations, the share of sales accounted for by food and beverages is 22 percent, compared with around five percent at the other Swiss shopping centers. The Swiss train station malls also achieve an average turnover per square meter of sales area of around CHF 19,235 (Basel) to CHF 32,409 (Zurich), while this is CHF 9,127 (La Praille, Carouge) to CHF 13,967 (Glattzentrum) for the other centers.Mobility and consumptionFor forum speaker Sonia Lavadinho, a specialist in urban anthropology, it's clear that shopping centers need to transform themselves into life centers. Lavadinho analyzes how people spend money while they are out and about. She conducts research at the EPF Lausanne and is CEO of Bfluid in Geneva.-----------------*About the Victor Award 2016Five marketing projects were honored with the Victor Award 2016. The winner of the Victor Lifetime Award 2016 is Thierry Halff from the family-owned company Maus & Frères, the third force in Swiss retail trade (Manor, Jumbo, Athlecticum, etc.). In the category of large and very large shopping centers, gold was awarded to the Sihlcity pop-up store project for innovative start-ups, a successful campaign for the occupation of a temporarily empty space. Silver was awarded to Shoppyland Schönbühl for its 40th anniversary campaign, including the launch of the new Shoppy duck brand sign, an animated, versatile figure. Bronze goes to Pilatusmarkt Kriens for the free Christmas circus with artists from Circus Stey, which significantly increased footfall. The winner in the category of small and medium-sized shopping centers is Neumarkt St. Gallen with its repositioning project, which was realized with the Rembrand agency. The same agency, together with Rheinpark St. Margrethen, received the special prize for marketing efficiency for the coordinated communication for a whole series of shopping centers in eastern Switzerland.--------------------The intro video for this year's Shopping Center Forum:

Author: Ruedi Ulmann