A time of transformation

Nevertheless, the owners and managers of shopping centres cannot afford to rest on their laurels. The market has been changing so fast and so radically that to do business in it requires constant involvement as well as creativity. Those we’ve talked to from the market stress how important it is for shopping centres to become meeting places. As a result there is an ever greater need to construct larger and larger entertainment areas with innovative restaurants and food courts, introducing omni-channel sales and improving service quality. There is no universal recipe for an ideal shopping centre. You need to follow your customers and react to their changing shopping habits – as everyone has been telling us. However, you also need to take into account the risk that accompanies such a strategy. Rafał Pruba, the director of the leasing department at ECE Projektmanagement Polska, believes that responding to changes quickly will become more and more important at the cost of the stability and predictability of the retail business. Retail chains are coming up with new store formats that combine various sales channels and in the future they could operate on a completely different basis while also remaining in shopping centres. Also, if tenants do their homework properly when it comes to omni-channel sales, they need to invest in modern IT systems that not only support their online businesses but also their traditional stores. Whoever thinks that the retail market is boring is surely mistaken. We are witnessing some fascinating changes in the nature of both shopping centres and tenants.

I wish you a pleasant read

Aneta Cichla