With the Christmas shopping season well and truly upon us, now is the key time for shopping centres to create the perfect environment for busy shoppers. For AMP Capital Shopping Centres (AMPCSC) the digital environment in its centres is just as important as the physical environment in creating an engaging experience for shoppers.

AMP Capital Shopping Centres’ head of marketing, Belinda Daly, said, “Christmas is the most important time of the year for our retailers, and as foot traffic increases in our centres so too does the traffic to our websites and social channels as shoppers look for crucial information on our stores, trading hours and entertainment offerings.

“On average we experience a 35 per cent increase in digital traffic during December across our portfolio of centres in Australia and New Zealand.”

AMPCSC’s 2016 Recommended Retail Practice (RRP) report found that retailers who integrate online and offline experiences will increase spend, with 85 per cent of people stating they would spend as much or more if online and in-store shopping experiences were designed and coordinated to make shopping more efficient, easy and enjoyable.

To continue to increase engagement across digital and social channels, AMPCSC has launched an innovative digital competition named ‘Hide N Stamp’. The competition, which uses virtual reality technology to create a 360-degree image of the New York skyline, invites shoppers to locate a stamp within the image to win instant prizes and go into the running to win a trip to the Big Apple.

The competition, which is delivered online across 14 centres, raises money for each centre’s chosen charity by making donations on behalf of participants that do not find the stamp.

Daly continued, “At AMP Capital Shopping Centres we are always looking at how we can use new technologies to create engaging experiences for our shoppers. Our 2016 RRP report found that shopping centres are having to work harder to entertain and engage customers, with many shoppers expecting their local centre to also contribute to the community.

“The ‘Hide N Stamp’ competition is a great way to give back to our loyal customers in an entertaining way, while also raising funds for our centres’ local charities across Australia and New Zealand. To date the competition has received over 72,000 entries, and we expect total entries to be well over 105,000 by the closing date, which would be a record for AMPCSC.”

The AMPCSC RRP report also found that 73 per cent of shoppers would spend as much or more if a retailer offered surprising experiences and 85 per cent of shoppers are willing to spend as much or more if retailers reward them with access to benefits beyond discounts, such as unique experiences.