Rewards that reward

Wall Street Journal, USA

Most customer-loyalty programs don’t boost market share. Here’s how to improve the odds. Used by businesses for more than 25 years, loyalty programs aim to entice consumers to make repeat purchases by offering them rewards — things like discounts on future purchases or points toward free airline tickets …

Crossgates Shopping Centre: Truancy team on patrol

Cross Gates Today, UK

Children who skip school classes are being targeted by a new anti-truancy team who were out on patrol at Crossgates Shopping Centre. The squad of police officers and Education Leeds youth workers are aiming to improve attendance rates of schools while tackling criminal behaviour …

Chadstone Shopping Centre drink promo sparks anger

The Herald Sun, AU

Chadstone Shopping Centre is under fire for handing out free alcopops at a discount shopping night last week. Vodka Cruisers were given to customers at the Spring VIP Shopping and Fashion Party, which ran until 10pm on Wednesday. The drinks were given away from 5pm at the event, which was open to all shoppers …

Shopping Center Weekly is proud to announce the launch of our new blog. Starting this week, visit our website for regular updates from the shopping center industry, as well as discussion and other interactive features. You can also contact us with stories of your own. This is a great opportunity to get to know other members of the industry, from your area and around the world.

Our weekly newsletter will still bring the top stories each week straight to your inbox, and you can visit the blog for much more. So come by today, and let us know what’s on your mind.

This month, South Coast Plaza celebrates childhood with the Festival of Children. The California, USA, shopping center hosts the month-long festival for its seventh year.

The festival celebrates the wonder of childhood with fun and engaging activities and events. The events are all free, and include arts and crafts, parenting workshops, animal shows and performances by local children’s entertainers. This year, the festival features CreateASkate, the brainchild of the Godfather of the modern skateboard deck, Paul Schmitt. The CreateASkate workshop gives kids the opportunity to create their own custom skateboard decks – a fun activity that also helps them develop a sense of pride an accomplishment.

Over 60 children’s charities are on hand to showcase their work, and South Coast Plaza encourages visitors to donate a tax-deductible shopping centre gift card to the Festival of Children Foundation.

The Potteries Shopping Centre in Stoke-on-Trent, UK, has just launched its redesigned website. It’s a great site with a lot of new features – a comprehensive search for stores, brands and items; an in-depth job vacancy page, and more. And even better, it uses a clean, modern design that’s easy to navigate.

If you’re thinking about a website redesign for your shopping center, here are a few tips to consider:

1. Think about your customers: How will your customers use the site? Most of your traffic might just need to know the mall’s hours and the best way to reach it, so make the information they’ll use most easiest to find.
2. Think about search engines: A complicated Flash design might be very attractive, but how will search engines view it? Visitors are more likely to find your shopping center through a search engine than they are to remember its URL, so make sure you’re visible.
3. Think about design: While it’s not always great to hop onto the next best thing, modern website design tends to be simple and clean. Fashion moves faster on the Internet, so make sure your site looks up-to-date to visitors, or they won’t give you the time of day.
4. Think about updates: A well-designed website won’t do you any good if no one can update it with the latest news and events. Before committing to a designer, make sure you’ve talked about how you’ll be able to update the site, and make sure someone is prepared to handle the task.

With a little planning ahead, you can make sure you get the most out of your web presence.

In case it passed you by, this week marked the release of the Sex and The City: The Movie DVD in North America. The global phenomenon of Sex and the City seems nearly unstoppable, with fashion shows and release parties celebrating the occasion.

Mirvac shopping centers in Australia are celebrating the Australian release (October 16th) with a glamorous promotion. Shoppers who spend $30 or more on fashion, fashion accessories, or footwear can enter to win a trip for two to New York City, seven nights accommodation, and $10,000 to spend in the Big Apple.

100 runners up will win the Sex and the City: The Movie DVD and Soundtrack, and every entrant will receive a free Bueno chocolate. After all, what’s a girl’s night without chocolate?