Food offerings increase shopping transactions

Consumers who eat during a trip to a shopping centre spend 12 percent more per visit, according to findings from Coniq, Europe’s CRM and Loyalty provider.

Research has found that shoppers who take advantage of the food and beverage offerings at shopping centres spend an extra 35 minutes in the centre on top of the time taken to eat, and they also visit 25 percent more stores and spend 12 percent more per visit.

In addition, Coniq adds that food is also a great platform to get to know customers better, as brand engagement with food and beverage brands is particularly high, with 80 percent of customers saying that they would sign up to a loyalty scheme if one was offered by a restaurant that they enjoyed going to.

Ben Chesser chief executive and founder at Coniq added: “By capitalising on food as a key strand of a CRM strategy, malls can understand the demographics of a catchment, the frequency of spend and the relationship between specific brands, using this data to drive spend and strike the right tenant mix.

“Although more and more of our interactions take place digitally today, shopping centres continue to serve as social meccas where people meet. In fact, it seems that the amount of time spent on digital screens might just increase our need for physical interaction.”

The latest data comes from research taken from over 700,000 transactions in 15 centres across nine European countries to highlight the growing importance of lifestyle offerings, such as food, drink and cinemas in shopping centres.