As the end of 2021 approaches, Atterbury Europe’s malls are shaking out their Santa suits and getting ready for a festive season of trading. The team across the portfolio share their strategies.

How is the festive trading period traditionally approached in your territory, and what is different this year, with the Covid reality almost considered the new normal?

George Pissis, marketing manager, Mall of Cyprus:  Our activities’ calendar is normally very busy and full during the festive period. We have a variety of interactive activities for families, dance and singing performances by local schools and groups, and host many charity organisations carrying out fundraisers. Our usual highlight events are the Christmas Tree Light-Up in mid-November, usually followed by a concert by a top artist, and a visit by Santa Claus, who comes all the way from snowy Lapland and poses for family portraits with our visitors, at the end of December.

This year, all events in and out of shopping malls have been prohibited as a result of government measures to fight the pandemic. We have therefore planned different sorts of initiatives in order to engage with our visitors and encourage them to do their Christmas shopping at Mall of Cyprus and Mall of Engomi.

Simona Teodorescu, PR manager, Iulius, Romania: No-one is immune to the pandemic and this was reflected in our operations. The year started with modest footfall figures, but in the second half of the year we saw them rebound to 2019 levels, only to take a new hit in October, following the fourth wave in Romania and the new mall-access restrictions.

This year was different not only from the pre-pandemic period, but also from last year, in the sense that since October people can only enter shopping malls based on a green certificate. However, we are optimistic that the end of the year will bring good news and set a favourable context for 2022.

We are optimistic, as this December we have many attractive seasonal activities in all five of our projects. In Iulius Town Timișoara, we have a Christmas fair that rivals any other fair in the country and even those in Vienna or Budapest, where residents in the area used to go. We also opened the ice-skating rinks in Palas Iași and Iulius Mall Suceava, while Iulius Mall Cluj has a light installation that has attracted a very large number of visitors. We have prepared a Christmas experience tailored to the visitor profile in all five of our projects.

We have Christmas campaigns that reward customers for shopping, virtual and in-mall meet-and-greets with Santa Claus, pop-up stores with unique gift ideas, and all these attractions are already reflected in growing footfall figures.

Nevena Martinović, PR and digital manager, MPC Properties, Serbia: Covid has definitely become the new normal, with people wanting to feel safe, get their lives back and resume their shopping habits. Our statistics show that footfall numbers are increasing. We didn’t have new restrictions in Serbia, so we continue implementing all necessary pandemic measures, but we’re also introducing innovations to increase footfall, create loyalty among existing customers and attract new ones. One of these is the new Tvoj Centar app that merges our three malls UŠĆE Shopping Center, BEO Shopping Center and Mercator Center on one mobile platform. The app allows users to collect points by visiting the malls, which translates to prizes, discounts and shopping vouchers. With the app customers also hear about latest trend and novelties from the shops first, and get access to permanent discounts, unrelated to collected points.

Are there public holidays when all stores are closed in your territory, or are stores open for trading throughout this period?

George Pissis: Shops are closed on 25 and 26 December, 1, 2 and 6 January. The food court and cinema operate normally throughout the festive period.

Simona Teodorescu, PR manager, Iulius, Romania: In Romania, there are several legal national holidays when all employees have the day off, but traditionally the first day of Christmas, the first day of the new year and the first day of Easter are the holidays when all shops are closed. Of course, our shopping malls have also adapted to these holidays and we have a special programme on these days. We know how important it is to be with family and loved ones over the holidays, including for people working in the retail industry, for whom December is the busiest and most demanding month. In order to be there for them and thank them for all their hard work over the year, the shopping malls close early on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and remain closed the following day.

There are also some exceptions, as in the case of restaurants and coffee shops in our mixed-use complexes, which have separate access from the outside and wish to be open to the public, usually as of lunchtime. It’s a decision that the tenants are free to make.

What can you share in terms of marketing strategies and planned activations over December/January?

George Pissis:  We are running strong digital campaigns for both Mall of Cyprus and Mall of Engomi, in order to promote shopping, gifting and food court/entertainment offers across both malls. We are utilising Facebook and Instagram, as well as a group of social-media influencers with whom we cooperate on an ongoing basis.

We have launched the mall gift card, which can be topped up with money and then gifted to be redeemed at a variety of shops, restaurants, and cafes across both malls. This is the first such scheme in Cyprus, and we expect that it will be warmly welcomed by our visitors and differentiate us from competition.

At Mall of Cyprus specifically, we launched a new Christmas-decorations scheme, themed around fashion and shopping, which is something unique for Cyprus. We were also fortunate enough to have our Christmas Tree Light-Up event in mid-November, albeit with a performance from a well-known children’s choir rather than a top artist, which would inevitably lead to a big concentration of people. In December, we’re also hosting a duo of stilt-walkers from Greece, again unique in their costumes, appearance and performance qualities. This will be a moving performance, and therefore, not likely to lead to a static concentration of people, which is why the authorities have greenlighted it to proceed.

In Mall of Engomi, we also got to have our Christmas Tree Light-Up event at the end of November, ahead of the total ban imposed on mall events. The event was part of our “Celebration Weekend”, with which we formally introduced the revamped mall to the local community.

Simona Teodorescu, PR manager, Iulius, Romania: We start planning the Christmas theme for our shopping malls in August, to ensure a fairytale experience for our customers and, in these challenging times, a sense of normalcy which we all crave.

In Timișoara, Iulius Town offers a “Winter in my Town” Christmas fair that rivals those in European metropolises. The main attraction is the big wheel, a first for the city. The wheel is surrounded by kiosks with seasonal goodies and gift ideas, food trucks with delicious foods, an autodrome, a chair swing carousel, a Christmas tree market, and many themed photo corners. Inside the mall, clients are transported into the world of circus, which is this year’s decoration theme.

Acknowledging all the space launches that made headlines in 2021, the Palas Iași mixed-use complex is offering a cosmic Christmas. Planets and astronauts orbit around the Christmas tree, and children can experience an imaginary trip to the moon. Even Santa’s chair is designed as a space capsule. We are drawing visitors with a large ice-skating rink (the only one in the city), a festive gifts fair and interactive activities, with a focus on providing experiences that balance out the tension of the second year of this pandemic.

The Christmas theme at Iulius Mall Cluj is anchored in the urban reality. Considering the development plans for the city, which include creating a metro line, this year Santa Claus is coming to town in his subway locomotive instead of his traditional sleigh. Thus, the towering Christmas tree has a stylised locomotive at its base. The fairytale atmosphere is complete with thousands of fireflies “hovering” in the mall and in Iulius Park.

At Iulius Mall Suceava we created a “Musical Christmas”, with musical notes on the Christmas tree. Outside, customers can ice skate.

In Iulius Mall Iași, Christmas is celebrated in a fresh and young style, to match its target audience. Here, we have a Christmas tree adorned with neon decorations that our young clients may then win and use to decorate their own rooms.

Nevena Martinović, PR and digital manager, MPC Properties, Serbia: The winter holiday is a very special time of the year, when we all need that pinch of magic in our lives, and even more so during the pandemic! So, we decided to spread that magic all over UŠĆE Shopping Center and the epicenter of it all is UŠĆE Magical Town, where visitors can enjoy the magic of Christmas amid golden reindeer and Santa’s sledges, with fun yet educational workshops for children. We’re also inviting people to compete in a fun interactive challenge by sending as many virtual hugs as they can within one minute.

Christmas time at BEO Shopping Center is all about parties, music, and fun. We created a roller-skating disco playground on the central square – a specially designed dance podium with disco balls, special lighting and sound that turn the square into the main event venue for the season. During December, for instance a roller-skating instructor will be demonstrating and teaching roller-skating moves to participants, among many other planned activities.