Visits to community shopping centres on the rise

British community shopping centres are playing an increasingly important role in the overall retail experience, as 78 percent of shoppers visit one at least once a week, according to new research from Savills and Ellandi.

The Retail Revolutions: The Rise of the Community Shopping Centre, reveals that 78 percent of shoppers visit one at least weekly, while 92 percent at least monthly, as consumers take advantage of their convenient retail mix and accessibility.

The Midlands, North West and North East regions have the most frequent visitation of community shopping centres, with 80 percent of consumers visiting once a week or more, states the report. By contrast, just 15 percent of shoppers nationally visit large shopping centres weekly and 44 percent visit one less than twice a year.

Tom Whittington, retail research director at Savills, said: “While destination schemes provide high profile, less frequent retail experiences, most shopping trips take place much closer to home. The difference in visit frequency is closely linked to the nature of the retail journey different types of scheme support.

“Local centres generally offer a high proportion of groceries and staple goods while destination schemes provide a greater number of fashion and comparison goods, with a more comprehensive leisure offer. However, there is clearly more to the relationship with community shopping centres than convenience, as revealed by the surprisingly long dwell times and range of goods purchased.”

The report also highlights that 44 percent of trips to community shopping centres last longer than one hour nationally, rising to 51 percent in Greater London and 66 percent in Northern Ireland. Across all areas, just 30 percent of trips are less than half an hour long. The typically short travel times also underline the fact that such centres serve a very local population, with 79 percent of shoppers undertaking journeys of less than 20 minutes, and 46 percent journeys of less than 10 minutes.

Savills also notes that community shopping centres have high conversion rates with 78 percent of shoppers spending money when they visit, with the average basket spend across all age groups being 36.60 pounds per visit, rising to 78 pounds for trips longer than two hours. Shoppers also tend to spend more on non-grocery goods on average 34 pounds, more than the average of 26 pounds for food-grocery purchases.