Additionally, a comprehensive service offering allows visitors to save time by addressing their essential daily needs in a single location.
Convenience and Time-Saving
At Gemini Park shopping centers, the range of services expands every year. Recently, there has been a noticeable upward trend in tenant mixes, particularly in sectors like mobile accessories and tourism. Retail functions are increasingly complemented by socially relevant services such as postal points, currency exchange offices, parcel lockers, banking services, and utilities like energy and gas providers. These services are gaining popularity and enhancing customer convenience and efficiency.
Modern shopping centers have also become hubs for meetings, entertainment, and increasingly, engagement with local initiatives or important regional institutions. Their multifunctionality and diverse offerings, tailored to the needs of the local community, distinguish them on the retail map of cities, giving them a significant advantage. A comprehensive shopping experience that meets most of a customer’s daily expectations is becoming a highly valued feature.
Another emerging trend is the introduction of seasonal or time-limited services, such as coat check facilities during autumn and winter, gift-wrapping stations, or pop-up stands with accessories tailored to the calendar year, aligned with holidays and socially significant events.
Moreover, tenants are increasingly incorporating service points within their stores. For instance, sports shops now offer bike and ski servicing, clothing stores provide tailoring adjustments, drugstores offer cosmetic services, and gyms include personal training sessions. Courier services are also gaining traction: customers can send and receive parcels at Martes stores, while Kolporter collaborates with courier networks. These initiatives aim to meet the needs of time-strapped visitors who appreciate having their expectations understood. From the perspective of shopping center managers, this trend is highly positive. A cohesive and complementary offering builds customer loyalty and satisfaction.
Complementary Offerings
From our observations, a shopping center cannot fully fulfill its comprehensive role without offering most of the above-mentioned services. Pharmacies, banks, and opticians have become standard features in most centers. To ensure continued growth, we must further enhance the offering. Public, non-commercial services, such as city office customer service points, are highly valued and increasingly expected.
Even an analysis of website navigation statistics provides valuable insights into which services customers need and search for in shopping centers. For years, these services have held an increasingly significant position in the commercialization process. Alongside retail, dining, and entertainment options, they often determine a customer’s choice of one shopping center over another.
The commentary was written by Anna Malcharek, Managing Director of Gemini Holding, for the omnichannelnews.pl portal.
