Festive cheer absent from European shopping centres
Retailers are working hard to maintain sales volumes at the expense of profit margins, according to the International Council of Shopping Centres.
Results of the organisation’s monthly Pan European Shopping Centre Executive Opinion Survey show that despite a late surge in seasonal shopping which boosted footfall, there was little festive cheer in the European shopping centre industry in December.
Shopping centre executives reported that many shoppers played a game of ‘cat and mouse’ in the month and delayed their festive shopping until the last week before Christmas. The ICSC said that this was a reflection of the growing shrewdness of consumers who now expect ‘January sales’ to begin before the shops shut for Christmas.
Despite the much-debated issue of the impact of e-commerce on bricks and mortar retailing, the shopping centre executives surveyed said they that they did not feel threatened by the rapid growth in online retail.
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