Shopping centre operators have to engage with shoppers and build 'an experience' into their visits. That is the message former Millennium Dome boss PY Gerbeau and London Business School's (LBS) Professor Chris Voss delivered at the launch of LBS's latest research report, The Experience Profit Cycle.
'A destination is not a one-purpose visit,' said Gerbeau. 'It's where you engage in multiple activities.'
Voss pointed out that shopping centre operators should think of their product as a kind of Wimbledon championships. 'You don't just go for the tennis, you go for the total experience,' he said.
'Selfridges sees itself as theatre. Bluewater is a day out. They are somewhere you want to go.'
Gerbeau said that the shopping centre's role in the 'experience economy' is in its infancy. 'The winners will be the ones who create a range of activities,' he said.
Among companies that Gerbeau and Voss cited was Canadian company Intrawest, which has successfully turned resorts such as Whistler from skiing destinations to family holiday destinations, and Tussaud Group's Warwick Castle, which has replaced guides with actors in order to bring visitors back again and again.
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