'Supermalls' to become focus for physical retail growth

London - The appeal of the shopping mall maybe declining in the US, but overseas in the UK the rise of the supermall is set to outperform physical retail growth.

The market for UK Supermalls is expected to grow 7.2 percent over the next five years, surpassing growth in physical locations forecasted to reach 5 percent across non-food sectors according to research from GlobalData.

Clothing and footwear is set to remain the largest sector in the supermall, as well as the largest contributor to growth, but smaller sectors within the retail channel, such as health & beauty and jewellery have been highlighted by the data and analytics company as the fastest growing areas, increasing by 14.5 percent and 13.8 percent respectively.

The rise of Supermalls to dominate physical retail growth in UK

The all-around appeal of supermalls, which are defined as shopping centres over 1,000,000 square feet, is set to help drive the market to reach 12.3 billion pounds by 2022. This surge in interest is partly driven by the wide range of food services offered as well as the leisure options paired with consumer desire to splash on out retail experiences.

“Our UK Supermalls report shows that younger shoppers have the highest penetration of all age groups, with 69.2 percent of 16-24-year-olds visiting a supermall in the past 12 months affirming the importance of shopping in physical stores for the younger generation," said Sofie Willmott, Senior Retail Analyst at GlobalData.

In addition, fashion retailers such as Primark, H&M and JD Sports have been credited with developing large format destination stores in supermalls which offer extended product ranges and are likely to usurp traditional retailer anchors such as Debenhams, John Lewis and Next over the coming years.

“Department stores have traditionally been the anchor retailers and have brought credibility to supermalls however as fashion players such as H&M, Zara and Missguided invest in exciting, up-scaled stores demonstrating their brand credentials and offering a broad range, it is questionable whether these longstanding stalwarts are still a requirement," added Willmott.

Supermalls, however, must ensure they offer the best in class multichannel experience to consumers in order to ensure shoppers have a reason to visit physical stores rather than shopping online. “Supermalls are more attractive to consumers than other physical locations due to the additional services available."

"However as online sales continue to rise and physical shopping missions reduce in frequency, supermalls must ensure they remain relevant and can offer the same seamless experience that online shopping provides," warned Willmott. "The promotion of convenient services like CollectPlus lounges and ‘hands-free’ shopping will enhance the customer experience and increase spend per visit.”

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