Shopping centres are community focal points – but what does that mean? “Authentic places with experiences at the core…” An intellectual piece that challenges the definition.

Stockland has a long and proud history of creating places that cater to the needs of its customers and communities and we’re really proud to continue building on this long-standing success in the retail space.

We recognise that the retail industry is always evolving. It has become clear, for instance, that town centres are no longer entirely transactional. The future of retail is about creating spaces that resonate with the customer and become the beating heart of a community.

We continue to listen to our customers and adapt our centres to their changing needs and expectations. This has been voiced in recent years as a demand for quality destinations that combine experiences, services and public spaces together.

We have chosen to embrace this change in customer behaviours and are challenging not only what is traditionally offered at a town centre, but also the reason to visit and stay.

Our marketing team has taken a more customer-centric approach that explores local customer insights to create opportunities that connect with the community. This allows us to design immersive experiences that engage, entertain and educate across our centres coast-to-coast.

Bringing a special mix of nostalgia and novelty to the retail experience, Arcade Alley is our first roadshow that transforms the centre into a uniquely fun destination, paying homage to the past and future of technology.

Arcade Alley workshops

Arcade Alley is designed to target an age of technology, bringing back classic games as a counterpoint to our digital lives. It encourages visitors to participate, promoting social and physical awareness that can be shared between everyone. This focus on timeless entertainment is extremely valuable in connecting customers to more than just a shopping experience.

The roadshow is comprised of a series of gaming workshops and masterclasses, coding workshops, character meet and greets, a gaming lounge and immersive experiences such as virtual reality games – as well as a number of retro arcade games on offer – taking many customers down memory lane.

Our second roadshow launched recently, is Shake The Rainbow – an activation that celebrates creativity in colour and encourages customers to release their inner artist. The explosion of life, colour and light aims to demonstrate that creativity, innovation and imagination does not only come from art itself, but can also be expressed in food, clothes, experiences and movement.

Shake The Rainbow ‘Colour Hub’

Split into two areas, the first ‘Colour Hub’ places a special emphasis on engaging the basic senses of touch, sound, sight and smell. It’s the place to get that perfect ‘grammable’ moment and for customers to immerse each of their senses with a multi-coloured textured ‘Touch’ wall, an interactive light and music ‘Sound’ wall, a scratch and sniff ‘Smell’ wall, an inspirational word ‘Sight’ wall, a multi-coloured sweets bench finished off with themed coloured booths to sit and interact.

The second is a more hands-on ‘Creation Station’ that offers a series of workshops, in partnership with retailers such as Donut King and Priceline. Customers are invited to participate in interactive activities designed to bring out the creativity within, including 3Doodler Workshops, Acrylic Painting Masterclasses, Sweet Treat Heaven and Mini Makeovers.

Shake The Rainbow hands-on Creation Station

With both activations, we wanted to shift customers’ perceptions to see our centres as more than an incredible shopping destination – to venture beyond traditional convenience and variety, and rather focus on curating compelling experiences that are exclusive to our centres and communities.

To further connect with our customers, we try to personalise activations when we can. With Shake The Rainbow, we were able to organise it over Diwali, and had a special artwork station where customers could create their own sand-art stencil that formed part of a large community Rangoli art piece featured in the centre.

We have seen strong results from both activations to-date, with strong patronage and trade throughout the activation period, as well as high engagement with our social pages and website.

These results are encouraging and lend support to our belief that authentic places with experiences at the core engage customers emotionally and drive greater connections with more sustainable returns.