The customer rules the retail roost

Now we can see the results of some of these changes and take a closer look at them. And JLL’s recent ‘Tomorrow’s Retail’ report gives us an excellent summary of what is taking place. In this supplement, much expert analysis is given on how the customer experience has become one of the most crucial factors in the acquisition and retention of shoppers. Many aspects of the customer experience require the close attention of the landlord and the tenant, as is explained to us by the co-authors of JLL’s report in the article entitled ‘The Digital Shopper’.

On these pages Monika Pyszkowska, the director of international centre management at ECE Projektmanagement, also tells us how the German developer and manager has been putting into practice its strategy of establishing ‘third places’ in its shopping centres, i.e. areas that offer alternatives to other leisure options. ECE has both the know-how and the tools for introducing such amenities. As the company emphasises, it is focusing on developing new services for customers, matching the product range of its centres to their needs, and on providing them with a special atmosphere as they shop.

We also take a closer look at what the owners of convenience shopping centres are doing – particularly in the interview with Newbridge, an active investor in the small retail centre market. The stories behind several interesting new projects are also outlined in this supplement, including Immofinanz’s retail park development in Siedlce, as well as Neinver’s Futura Park Ursus in Warsaw, which together with an existing centre will form an unusual kind of combination for shoppers.