City centres prove the most attractive Christmas shopping destinations
New research shows city centres* are fighting back and have
become the most attractive Christmas shopping destinations, leaving
many of the UK's purpose built shopping centres out in the
cold.
With only 29 shopping days left until Christmas, the UK's
retailers are gearing up for the millions of customers they hope
will flow through their doors and spend, spend, spend. But while
many people travel out of town to specially designed and
constructed shopping centres, new analysis has revealed that
shopping districts in large towns and city centres have become a
far more attractive place to make those Christmas purchases.
The research created by leading market intelligence specialist
GMAP Consulting#, has produced a top 30 ranking of the UK's most
attractive retail 'super centres', based on its Retail Centres
Database$.
London's West End tops the chart, with its combination of high
street retailers, designer boutiques and department stores.
Scotland also excels with Glasgow and Edinburgh city centres at
second and third place respectively. No shopping centres appear
within the top 30 with the first, Manchester's Trafford Centre,
ranked at only 42**.
Martin Clarke, Principle Consultant at GMAP Consulting
comments:
"Our attractiveness ranking has revealed that while shopping
centres have been much lauded over during last few years as ideal
retail destinations, there seems to be a resurgence of interest in
everywhere from city centres to local high streets. Shopping
centres may be purpose built to provide a unique retail experience,
but with city regeneration programmes and a move by retailers to
locate on high streets, consumers are now spoilt for
choice!".
"This kind of intelligence can be extremely powerful in helping
retailers to decide on where to locate new stores, and to help them
manage their existing store networks."
* The top 30 retail super centres ranked by attractiveness
Rank
|
Super Centre
|
Location Type
|
Centre Attractiveness Rating
|
---|---|---|---|
1
|
West End +
|
Primary Centre
|
27414
|
2
|
Glasgow
|
City Centre
|
9107
|
3
|
Edinburgh
|
City Centre
|
7911
|
4
|
Manchester
|
City Centre
|
6831
|
5
|
Leeds
|
City Centre
|
6337
|
6
|
Birmingham +
|
City Centre
|
6304
|
7
|
Cardiff
|
City Centre
|
5551
|
8
|
Liverpool
|
City Centre
|
5106
|
9
|
Norwich
|
City Centre
|
5084
|
10
|
Aberdeen
|
City Centre
|
4997
|
11
|
Nottingham
|
City Centre
|
4810
|
12
|
Bristol
|
City Centre
|
4729
|
13
|
Newcastle upon Tyne
|
City Centre
|
4709
|
14
|
Southampton +
|
Large Town
|
4674
|
15
|
Reading
|
City Centre
|
4529
|
16
|
Brighton
|
City Centre
|
4492
|
17
|
Cambridge
|
City Centre
|
4264
|
18
|
Kingston upon Thames
|
Primary Centre
|
4248
|
19
|
Sheffield
|
City Centre
|
4172
|
20
|
Croydon
|
Primary Centre
|
4058
|
21
|
Guildford
|
Large Town
|
4041
|
22
|
Chester
|
City Centre
|
4015
|
23
|
Hull
|
Large Town
|
3956
|
24
|
Leicester
|
City Centre
|
3945
|
25
|
York
|
City Centre
|
3861
|
26
|
Cheltenham
|
Large Town
|
3805
|
27
|
Dundee
|
Large Town
|
3740
|
28
|
Watford
|
Large Town
|
3720
|
29
|
Bath
|
Large Town
|
3699
|
30
|
Belfast N (NI)
|
City Centre
|
3643
|
+ Locations marked indicate aggregated centres comprising more
than one specific location i.e. Birmingham includes Mailbox and
Bullring areas
$ The research has been built using the 'UK Retail Centres
Database' from GMAP Consulting. The Retail Centres Database
provides a comprehensive review and ranking of over 4,000 centres
of retail activity. Each centre has been defined using retail store
data alongside locational information to identify discrete clusters
of retail activity. By also understanding the types, number, mix,
and turnover of individual retailers within a centre GMAP have been
able to evaluate each centre in terms of its overall brand strength
and attractiveness to consumers. This measure allows retailers to
understand the draw of a centre and to compare centres and
benchmark different locations. The Centre Attractiveness Ratings
are ranked to provide an easy centre lookup to identify vibrant
retail centres against declining ones. The database is updated
quarterly.
# GMAP Consulting is a leading supplier of market intelligence and
predictive modelling solutions. It enables businesses in the
pharmaceutical, automotive, retail, financial services and
forecourt industries to understand their markets, customers,
competitors and channel to market.
This helps them maximise channels to market, reducing risks and
identifying areas of threat and opportunity. GMAP's solutions are
based on a series of proprietary market modelling, analysis and
planning algorithms, combined with key market information and
GMAP's market-specific business modelling software solution,
MICROVISION. MICROVISION provides a desktop view for reporting,
querying and mapping network and market
analysis.
** The top 5 shopping centres ranked by attractiveness
Rank
|
Shopping Centre
|
Location
|
Centre Attractiveness Rating
|
---|---|---|---|
42
|
Trafford Centre
|
Manchester
|
3,206
|
51
|
Merry Hill Centre
|
Brierly Hill
|
3,061
|
55
|
Meadowhall
|
Sheffield
|
3,019
|
56
|
Bluewater
|
Dartford
|
3,014
|
67
|
Metro Centre
|
Gateshead
|
2,864
|