Building Vital Profitable Retail Communities

The RETAIL Road to Recovery!Bricks and mortar retail is back!! It never really left the building!

The RETAIL Road to Recovery!

Bricks and mortar retail is back!! It never really left the building!

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LEVERAGE

METHOD MISTAKES

INSPIRE

APPLYTRANSITION

EVALUATE

REFLECT

Over optimistic

Listen to / partner with the

wrong people

Unrealistic expectations

Compromising on standards

Under estimate the value of

relationships

Under rate the true value of community

building

HIGH PROFITSLOW VACANCIES

HIGH ROIHIGH BORROWING

CAPACITYHUGE PORTFOLIO

GROWTH

LOW PROFITSHIGH VACANCIES

LOW ROILIMITED

BORROWING CAPACITY

It’s the landlord’s problem…or the tenant’s problem, the bank’s fault, the government taxes, the location. Customers are shopping online, the toilets are dirty or too far away, can’t get good staff... the cyclone, the GFC.

Should I go on?

One of the things in the industry is that as times have got tighter landlords have focused more on the business and less on the customer experience.

All sectors of the shopping centre community all over Australia are looking for new ways to attract customers back into their centres and make more profit, and yet the three biggest problems shopping centre communities have are:

they don’t work together;

they lay blame on everyone but themselves... and

they also massively underestimate the real value of community buy in.

THE PROBLEMS

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Customers feel valued

Retail sales increase

Quality tenants are chasing the landlord for space

Licensed Shopping Centre Manager, Desley Cowley has developed strategies that, when followed, consistently lead to profitable tenants and increased occupancy; increased customer numbers into the centre; and increased community access.

Her R.E.T.A.I.L. Road to Recovery follows a proven 6 step methodology that will inspire the shopping centre community to engage and help each other and tap into the extra energy and effectiveness that materializes when they combine their efforts.

ROI

REDUCEDHIGH VACANCY RATES

OVERHEADS

INCREASED

Major retailers are complaining,customer numbers are declining,specialty stores are struggling.

Base rental income reduced, percentage rent payable is minimal or unachievable.

Contribution to outgoings for vacancies must be met by lessor.

The Problems

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The solution is to create an environment where the magic of synergy truly comes into play and all parties actually like each other and want to work together.

The ultimate result is a positive turnaround in the shopping centre's performance.

‘I’m tired of hearing these big businesses complaining about the negatives, but not really doing anything about it. They can compete against online shopping and they can turn their businesses around but they need the right plan. I’ve got a proven methodology to take them forward.’

‘It’s my vision to be the catalyst for change in the way we do retail... one shopping centre community at a time.’

Desley Cowley

THE SOLUTION

Current performance Ultimate result

THE BENEFITS

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IDENTIFY ANDLEVERAGE CENTRES

CREATE

ATTRACT HIGH PERFORMING RETAILERS

A COMMUNITY INTERFACE

Resulting in increased rental income AND increased contribution to overheads.

Differentiation between you and competitor shopping centres.

Increase community engagement activities with careful planning.

UNIQUE I.D

The Benefits

The Retail Road to Recovery Program will provide landlords and developers with the blueprint to turn the tables on online traders and bring customers back.

grow and attract more high performing retailers

leverage the centre’s unique identity and

create a community hub.

The program is designed to:

THE METHOD

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CREATE A COMMUNITY INTERFACE

STEP 3 STEP 2

LEVERAGE YOUR UNIQUE IDENTITY

METHOD

STAR

T

Be sure to revisit this process on a regular basis

GROW/ATTRACT

STEP 1

High performing retailers

Embrace the centres characters

Build strong relationships

Using the acronym R.E.T.A.I.L. the six steps move the retail community through the three phases of theory, reflection and practice, initially through a series of ‘discovery’ group workshops and one on one meetings with the property owner/developer, centre management, retailers, suppliers, customers, local community and sporting groups.

The Method

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6

REFLECT

EVALUATE

TRANSITION

APPLYINSPIRE

LEVERAGE

• Marketing campaign• Community hub • Build relationships

• Leasing • Lease more shops• Higher rents• Less incentives

• Practise/Test new model • Establish relationships

• Develop detailed action plans

• Evaluate current performance, • Identify Unique Identity

PRODUCT PROCESS

STAR

T

Be sure to revisit this process on a regular basis

PRACTISE

THEORYO

RGANISE THINKINGTHE PROCESS

Community buy-in is the real and genuine secret sauce in the formula. The time taken to build community ownership in the early months, even years will ultimately pay real dividends.

We all know about a local shopping centre that seemingly has nothing going for it but everyone is going to it…because of that sense of ownership. Those well established 30 year+ shopping centres that have the highest performing supermarkets in the region.

The Process

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Reflect – identify unique identity

THE 6 STEP METHODOLOGY

Desley spends the time during this phase to really let all stakeholders share how they really feel about where they are at now, where they had hoped to be, where they want to be and why they haven’t got there, financially, personally and professionally.

Evaluate – current performance and make recommendations

Data is collected and collated to evaluate current performance and identify the gaps in knowledge, skills, customer offer and most importantly attitude.

A draft course of action to take them from where they are now to where they want to be is prepared, amended if required, approved and agreed upon by all parties.

Transition – one step at a time

Detailed action plans are created to provide a step by step blueprint to engage all parties.

There may be some people in the mix that just don’t get the concept and who either don’t want to be or can’t be a part of the process.

In the ideal world Desley will work with them during this phase to help them move on to where they belong... or where they want to be.

Landlords do themselves, or their property valuations no favours by ‘going legal’ on an unsuitable or underperforming retailer.

By working together to deliver the best possible outcome for all parties, goodwill becomes contagious.

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THE 6 STEP METHODOLOGY

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Apply – practise test new model/establish relationships. Baby steps keep everyone on board and engaged in the process.

It’s really important that everyone is speaking positively about the shopping centre community.

Retailers learn to understand they are often their own worst enemies and actually contribute to the lack of appeal of the shopping centre community by complaining so bitterly about everything.

By realistically working with the landlord, acknowledging his/her/it’s need to also make a profit the synergy that results from working together will slowly weave it’s magic.

Inspire – marketing campaign, community hub, build relationships

Not every activity or centre event has to be perfectly structured and professionally executed to be successful.

The whole idea of being part of a community is to welcome all levels of community into the space, encourage, motivate and inspire them to step up and do more and then wait for the bright lights to shine.

For every ten community events that are supported, perhaps only two or three will meet the desired standard and level of success….but you won’t find them if you don’t open your hearts and the space to allcomers.

Desley says it’s exciting and fun to contribute to community and personal development.

A

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THE 6 STEP METHODOLOGY

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Leverage – centres unique identity lease more shops, higher rents, less incentives

Every shopping centre in the land seems to have the same, or similar national retailers and/or franchisees. Even in these environments it’s possible to dig deep and find a unique identity for a shopping centre community.The true value is often found though in the, sometimes more challenging independent small business owners.These people ARE more challenging BECAUSE they are entrepreneurs and if you acknowledge and respect their quirkiness in the community you can truly leverage off this.The results for the landlord ultimately lead to increased capital value. The notion that helping others will help yourself is not just airy fairy nonsense. When everyone in a shopping centre community truly grasps the concept of goodwill the transformation can be described as miraculous.

OVERHEADEXPENSES

REDUCED

FILL VACANCIES

CAPITAL VALUE

INCREASED

Resulting in increased rental income AND increased contribution to overheads.

Negotiate nett leases to ensure centres operating costs are being met by tenant.

Increase ROI results in increased property capital value and borrowing capability to buy more property.

The Ultimate Benefit

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About Desley Cowley

Desley is a licensed shopping centre manager, speaker, trainer and facilitator who specialises in building sustainable shopping centre communities. She works with owners and developers to turn underperforming retail assets into vital and profitable community hubs.

Desley’s been managing shopping centres for more than 26 years for private and institutional investor owners and has been directly responsible for the profitability of over $300m in retail assets and has contributed to the success of more than 400 retailers across 4 states.

As an example, when she implemented these principles at one underperforming shopping centre, results turned around from the centre being 2.5% to 3% BELOW the industry benchmarks over the prior two years to 2.5% to 3% ABOVE industry benchmarks moving forward. In a centre with an annual turnover of more than $50m this level of achievement can equate to literally millions of dollars in increased retail sales for the centre.

Desley is known for turning underperforming retail assets into vital and profitable community hubs that get better results through commitment to community and better use of shared retail spaces.

You can connect with Desley on LinkedIn and check out some of her blogs: www.linkedin.com/company/spruiker-hire

15 minutes FREE chat with Desley about your community woes Phone 0419 817 973 or email desley.cowley@spruikerhire.com

OFFER

Desley Cowley

What we doShopping Centre Management and PlanningRetailer TrainingNational Talent DirectoryLicensed Real Estate Agent (lic no 3232669)

Contact DetailsDesley CowleyE: desley.cowley@spruikerhire.comP: 0419 817 973PO Box 8169, Allenstown. Q 4700 www.spruikerhire.com

Building Vital Profitable Retail Communities