Abstract'Branding' is well known for consumer products. Power has shifted from manufacturers' brands towards retailers'. Branding may become more important for shopping centres. The authors firstly investigated qualitatively. Shoppers described centres in 'personality' terms. One in-town centre was 'dull, boring and old-fashioned … not exciting, just OK'. A larger regional centre was 'trendy, prestigious … strong, vibrant, big and colourful'. Secondly, the authors evaluated quantitatively. Their method was applied to six UK shopping centres, via a questionnaire survey of 287 shoppers. The 'strong and vibrant' centre scored significantly higher than the 'dull and boring' one. 'Pro-active marketing' is central to UK shopping centres. Despite 'branding' being little used, active brand management of shopping centres can pay rewards in customer numbers, sales turnover and rental income.

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Shopping centers are an important part of the UK economy and have been the subject of considerable research. Relying on complex interdependencies between shoppers, retailers and owners, shopping centers are ideal for knowledge management study. Nevertheless, although retailers have been in the forefront of data mining, little has been written on Customer Knowledge Management for shopping centers. In this chapter, the authors aim to demonstrate the possibilities and draw attention to the possible implications of improving customer satisfaction. Aspects of customer knowledge management for shopping centers are considered using analogies drawn from an exploratory questionnaire survey. The objectives of a Customer Knowledge Management system could include increasing rental incomes and bringing new life back into shopping centers and towns. 'The process of exploration and analysis, by automatic or semi-automatic means, of large quantities of data in order to discover meaningful patterns and rules.'

No abstract

Shopping centers are an important part of the UK economy and have been the subject of considerable research. Relying on complex interdependencies between shoppers, retailers and owners, shopping centers are ideal for knowledge management study. Nevertheless, although retailers have been in the forefront of data mining, little has been written on customer knowledge management for shopping centers. In this chapter, the authors aim to demonstrate the possibilities and draw attention to the possible implications of improving customer satisfaction. Aspects of customer knowledge management for shopping centers are considered using analogies drawn from an exploratory questionnaire survey. The objectives of a customer knowledge management system could include increasing rental incomes and bringing new life back into shopping centers and towns.