According to Savills the average marketing budget for UK shopping centres has reduced by 24% between 2008 and 2011* as a result of challenging market conditions. The international real estate advisor conducted an independent survey* and found that 54% of recipients have decreased annual marketing budget forcing landlords, many of whom contribute substantially to these costs, to adapt marketing strategies without loss of impact.

Claire Johnson, marketing manager within Savills retail management team, comments: “The marketing budget for a scheme is an obvious area to makes cuts in order to reduce outgoings. However, it is a catch 22 situation as schemes still need to perform and attract consumers. We have therefore had to work closely with our clients to devise more creative marketing strategies that utilise the reduced funds at the same time as generating maximum impact. It really is imperative that research is undertaken to pinpoint the interests and draws target consumers not only to retain footfall and turnover momentum, but also to augment them.”

Savills notes that many marketing strategies have refocused to prioritise quality over quantity. Print or radio advertising is tactical and targeted, while the general approach to events has changed with just two or three large promotional events being held in a year rather than six or seven smaller ones. In addition, Savills has identified that most retailers will generally hold promotions and run adverts and incentives themselves around major seasonal occasions such as Valentines Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas, which means that schemes may not necessarily also need to hold events. They can instead support tenants by focussing on interim periods when there is a potential lull in trading and footfall by holding large-scale targeted events such as fashion shows, competitions and festivals.

A prime example of this is at Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre in Gillingham, Kent, which hosted the Hempstead Valley Festival of Transport in September this year. The event consumed 3.46% of the overall annual budget yet increased the footfall by 7.7% with most retailers including Claire’s Accessories, Wallis, Dorothy Perkins and Marks & Spencer seeing increase in year on year sales for that weekend.

Savills also notes that social media is rapidly establishing itself as a popular channel of advertising for shopping centres. Claire continues: "The social media appeal for shopping centres has predominantly been led by tenants with most retailers having an established web presence. The likes of Facebook, Twitter and Netmums are easy and accessible mediums by which to inform customers of forthcoming events, promotions and retailer or centre incentives. In addition, it is the online arena that creates a more effective method of monitoring consumer demographics, interests and spending patterns, as well as creating a stronger database."

With shopping centre marketing budgets not expected to increase until 2012/2013 the pressure continues to utilise marketing budgets by creating high impact and low cost strategies in order to retain consumer momentum. Savills expects that even when these budgets do begin to show signs of an increase, a more economical approach to marketing will have been established.

* Savills conducted a survey across 85 UK shopping centres.