Bricks and mortar is certainly not dead at AMP Capital owned-Macquarie Centre in Sydney’s northern suburbs.
Despite the raft of doom and gloom predictions about the future of bricks and mortar retailers, the centre has seen strong footfall throughout 2017 according to centre manager Kristina Carlsson, with the annual traffic figure increasing on last year.
“The industry is certainly facing some major challenges, but those of us on the ground here in the centre are optimistic about the future,” said Carlsson.
“You can’t beat face to face interaction from someone that takes the time to understand your needs and our retailers understand the importance of this personal connection.”
Carlsson said retailers have been positive about their Christmas trading thus far.
“Christmas is always the busiest time of year at Macquarie Centre and this year is no exception,” she said. “Our retailers have been preparing for our extended trading hours, and creating fantastic offers for our Boxing Day and post-Christmas sales, which are always hugely popular and drive strong foot traffic into the centre.”
Centre services including personal styling, valet parking and Macquarie Centre gift cards have been popular, according to Carlsson who added the centre’s dining and entertainment options – including the likes of Event Cinemas, Time Zone, Strike Bowling, Macquarie Ice Rink, Burger Project, Chef’s Gallery, Hattrick, Nene Chicken and Motto Motto, – were integral elements of attracting customers.
“Christmas is an opportunity for shopping centres and retailers to provide customers with an experience that they absolutely cannot replicate online.”
The Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and Roy Morgan Research have predicted Australians will spend over $50 billion during the Christmas trading period from November 15 to December 24, 2017.
Data firm GlobalData said e-commerce giant Amazon’s recent launch in Australia could boost Boxing Day online sales by 45 per cent.
“It will be fascinating to see how well Amazon Australia, competes for its share of Boxing Day sales in this its first year of operation,” said Arnie Cho, payments division senior analyst at GlobalData.
“We estimate that over 40 per cent of this year’s Boxing Day online sales will be transacted through cards, which remain the preferred payment mode for e-commerce transactions in Australia.’’
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