The publication of the annual results is a good opportunity to take stock of the intense leasing activity carried out in 2023, with the inauguration of the project that breathed new life into Officine Storiche in Livorno, the completion of the restyling of Portogrande in the Marche region and the start of work to renovate the Centro Leonardo in Imola. The work of letting and re-marketing existing spaces, along with sound marketing initiatives, contributed to a 4.3% increase in the sales of IGD’s Italian mall retailers. Footfalls were up 4.5% against 2022.
We discussed these results with Laura Poggi, IGD’s Leasing, Marketing and CSR Director.
How do you feel when you look back at the results achieved in what was a challenging 2023?
We are pleased with the work completed. The redevelopment and enhancement work we have carried out in the Officine Storiche spaces in Livorno is a milestone in our investment pipeline, consistent with the most advanced European requalification. We have succeeded in imbuing the retail space at Officine Storiche with an innovative soul, capable of attracting visitors throughout the day thanks to an offer which is very focused on restaurants and entertainment, to which we added a mix of retailers capable of attracting various targets. The entry of a strong brand like Primark, which will open in the second half of the year, will only increase this appeal.
The opening of the Officine Storiche is not the only project that has absorbed your energies in 2023…
Certainly: the inauguration of Officine Storiche last September was a great achievement, but not the only one. On 23 November, in fact, we inaugurated the restyling of the Portogrande center in San Benedetto del Tronto, with an architectural innovation aimed at increasing both its appeal and environmental sustainability, facilitating the inclusion of new stores in the areas left vacant by the downsizing of the hypermarket. The reception of visitors was positive, with a 6.3% increase in footfalls in the first month following the inauguration compared to the same period in 2022. In 2023 we also started work that will give a new look to Centro Leonardo in Imola, near Bologna, one of our key assets. Finally, we have a plan to remodel Centro Lungosavio in Cesena where, after the flood last May, we created a medium sized store in an area previously occupied by several stores.
Overall in 2023, we completed an intense remarketing of spaces totalling nearly 16,000 square meters, in addition to the approximately 16,000 square meters of new openings at Officine Storiche. We are also pleased to point out that if we include the 22 new brands added in 2023, a total of 91 brands have been added in the last three years. This means that we are constantly adjusting the merchandising mix of our malls and have managed to change about 13% of the total retailers present. We focused especially on the merchandise categories that we thought would best meet the demands of our new shoppers and the results provided us with immediate confirmation.
Can you give us an example?
One example is the restaurant sector. While this sector was hit very hard by the pandemic, it has succeeded in renewing itself constantly, proposing new formats and products capable of attracting new patrons. In 2023 alone, this sector accounts for 10 of the new brands we introduced in our malls.
In 2023 the increase of 4.3% in mall retailers’ sales was accompanied by an increase of 4.5% in footfalls. How do you interpret this result?
This positive performance, which allowed us to exceed even pre-pandemic 2019 sales, confirms our belief that we have made the right choices to make our shopping centers attractive. We have seen an increase across all merchandise categories – with the exception of electronics, which is coming off years of increased sales. This testifies to the fact that visitors have found the mall to be a real “space to be lived in,” with a retail proposition capable of stimulating purchases and interpreting new preferences.
What are the marketing actions you put in place in 2023?
In 2023 we organized, on average, one event every two weeks in our shopping centers for a total of 555 initiatives, higher than in 2022. Over time we changed the type of events organized in order to respond to current entertainment trends.
During the year, the activities carried out made it possible to achieve important targets, such as build shopper loyalty, including using the opportunities provided by the tools called for in the Digital Plan; working with and for the community; propose sophisticated leisure experiences, strengthening the role of the shopping center as a space for meeting others, entertainment and culture and increase the opportunities for shoppers and brands to meet through shared on and offline events.
The events organized enabled shopping centers to interact with different targets, which became an important factor in increasing the center’s appeal outside the primary catchment area.
And in terms of the opportunities provided by new technologies?
During the year we fine-tuned our Digital Marketing Plan activities, two years after it was first defined. Toward this end, we focused on three different, deeply connected, digital marketing projects. The core of our strategy is the Spotlight project, which has a specific goal: to increase the number of contacts in our CRM system, so that we have an increasingly more accurate understanding of each mall’s shoppers and can consolidate their loyalty. We have made significant progress in this regard, increasing the number of contacts registered in the CRM by 28%. In 2023 we also structured an annual loyalty program, which will give visitors access to specific services or promotions of individual mall retailers, including through the launch of IGD’s first mobile app in seven shopping centers.
This progress would not have been possible without the Synergy project. All IGD employees were involved in this innovation project, through moments of information and experience sharing which led to the design of new tools and initiatives.
The third pillar of our digital program is the Partners project, which involves co-marketing with tenants. Thanks to the initiative launched in 2022 with Coop Alleanza 3.0, the most important food anchor in our portfolio, we have been able to give visibility to mall tenants’ promotions and special offers by leveraging on the widespread and advanced system of communication tools that Coop has at its disposal.
Riding the wave of this first positive experience with Coop, in 2023 we already implemented exclusive promotions and co-marketing events with other high-profile brands as part of the Partners project.
In 2024 we intend to continue the work begun in 2023, carrying out the development of the three projects with a view to the increasing integration of on and off line experiences.
