New research has revealed that confirmed the importance of community shopping centres in the retail sector, with 78 per cent of shoppers visiting one at least once a week.
According to The Retail Revolutions: The Rise of the Community Shopping Centre report by Savills and Ellandi, consumers are increasingly taking advantage of the convenient retail mix and accessibility of community shopping centres.
The research also indicates that 92 per cent of shoppers visit community retail areas at least once a month.
This is in stark contrast to figures in the same report that suggests only 15 per cent of shoppers nationally visit large shopping centres weekly, and 44 per cent visit one less than twice a year.
However, the Midlands, North West and North East regions of the UK have the most frequent visitation of community shopping centres, with 80 per cent of consumers visiting once a week or more.
The research also suggests that community shopping centres have higher conversion rates, with 78 per cent of shoppers spending money when they visit and the average basket spend across being £36.60 per visit.
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“While destination schemes provide high profile, less frequent retail experiences, most shopping trips take place much closer to home,” Savills retails research director Tom Whittington said.
“The difference in visit frequency is closely linked to the nature of the retail journey different types of scheme support.
“Local centres generally offer a high proportion of groceries and staple goods while destination schemes provide a greater number of fashion and comparison goods, with a more comprehensive leisure offer.
“However, there is clearly more to the relationship with community shopping centres than convenience, as revealed by the surprisingly long dwell times and range of goods purchased.”
In terms of visiting times, the report suggests that 44 per cent of trips to community shopping centres last longer than one hour nationally. In Greater London and Northern Ireland, this is 51 and 66 per cent respectively.
Only 30 per cent of trips are less than half an hour long nationally.
In addition, 79 per cent of shoppers undertake journeys of less than 20 minutes to their local retail centres, while 46 per cent of journeys take less than 10 minutes.
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