Intu student nights exceed expectations
The Intu chain of shopping centres has said its recent Student Night shopping events have exceeded expectations with 110,000 students attending.
The ‘for one night only’ events featured a wide range of student discounts and deals as well as a party atmosphere with live bands and DJs.
Many centres reported growth in student footfall including Intu Trafford Centre which saw a 45% increase on the previous year. Some 14,500 students came through its doors, compared with 9,000 in 2013, with two thirds of visitors pre-registering for the event. Intu Metrocentre in Gateshead and Intu Eldon Square in Newcastle also reported a 50% increase in pre-registered visitors in comparison to last year.
Looking at individual retailers, some reported sales per hour equivalent to the first day of the winter sales. At Intu Trafford Centre, Sole Trader reported a 75% increase on sales over the previous year, while at Intu Victoria Centre, Nottingham, queues for Superdry, Urban Outfitters and OFFICE stretched along the mall for much of the evening.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Kat Lockwood, marketing assistant for Superdry, said: “Our working relationship with Intu has always been incredibly positive. We have a great partnership, the teams couldn’t be more accommodating and the success of the student events reflects this.”
Roger Binks, customer experience director of Intu, added: “It’s exciting to see our annual Student Night events producing such impressive footfall and increased sales figures year on year. Our national coverage and customer focused business model really enables us to offer retailers added value; whether that’s by driving footfall through events with a difference, our marketing programmes and our access to 1.5 million visitors on Intu.co.uk.”
The events were held at 16 different Intu locations across England, Scotland and Wales. Each centre organised a variety of activities including DJs, live bands, Diet Coke ‘Pop up hunks’, celebrity appearances from TOWIE’s Joey Essex and the boys from Geordie Shore.
