An open letter to Frank Lowy

Dear Frank

I have always been a great admirer of you and the way you have conducted your life. Your story is one of inspiration, success and philanthropy. However, I have been taking notice of some disturbing trends in your shopping centres and malls and would like to bring some points to your attention.

Firstly, when I go in to a shopping centre, I do not expect to be pounced upon by traders from kiosks who "just want to ask me a question" (as if that's all they want!). Now, when I go in to a marketplace full of traders I expect that kind of behaviour and often look forward to some bartering and banter. In the more genteel surroundings of your centre I expect to be left alone until I go in to a retailer. This idea of trying to extract every dollar for every square metre of floor space, including the corridors is ludicrous and results in people wanting to spend less time in your centres than more, which I imagine would be your objective.

Secondly, following the same theme of RoI on floor space, do you have a ratio of access to goods in the leases of your tenants? If not, why not? Your leases cover all sorts of things like opening hours, regular refurbishments etc to maximise the shoppers' experience, but many retailers are so cluttered there's little room for the customers to move around the store. This seems to be the SOP for many if not most of your tenants - and that includes the big grocery stores! When was the last time you went in to a newsagent?

Finally, I would like to suggest that your shopping centres should value-add rather than look for some extra way to raise some minor revenue. I'm talking about your WiFi initiative. For $2.00 an hour a customer can connect up to Westfield's wireless network. Big deal. Don't you think you'd receive more kudos (and ultimately more and happy customers) by providing WiFi for free? Many retailers and retail chains as well as hotels - particularly in the US - already do so. Given the buying power of the Westfield Group I would imagine that your costs in the area would be negligible. Yes, I know that some people, like poor students, would attempt to abuse it but you're clever... do what they do in the US... kick them off after an hour or two and don't let them back on again for an hour. The sign says that they're doing that so that people can enjoy the sunshine & fresh air, but we know better ~wink~

In short, here are three examples of short term thinking that if ditched would lead to long term gain. The reason that people go to shopping centres is for convenience. The reason that you want them to say as long as they can is so that they will continue driving the wheels of commerce. The reason they don't is because the environment isn't as convenient and welcoming as it should be!

Regards

Harry

Good manners? Good business!

Busy people (like yourselves) may not get an opportunity too often to observe and analyse the retail transaction. I also suffer from a dearth of time and tend to "zip in and out" of shops and malls (more on that for a later post).

However, I have noticed a distinct lack of common courtesy amongst retail staff, and have developed an instinctive almost Pavlovian response to the absence of "please" & "thank you".

Case Number 1: On a number of occasions I have been asked by a member of the family to "pick up a muffin" on the way out of the shopping centre. The locale in question is a franchise operation (which I shall not name, giving them a "break" :)) and each time I have been there I have been served by a spotty teenager (escapee from The Simpsons?) who simply replies "Four dollars" to my request for a choc chip muffin. When he hands me the bag I hand him a fiver with the retort "Four dollars please". He says sheepily "four dollars please" and then hands me my change and says "thank you".

This has been going on (off and on) for weeks. I'll not give up hope (yet).

Case Number 2: I walked in to a newsagent on Saturday and picked up a magazine (a rarity in these times of lotto and scratch-its, I know). The young lady behind the counter said "Eight ninety-five", which sounded like "Eight nahnty-fahve" - in her best plummy private school tones.

I replied, "you mean eight ninety-five please, don't you?" and she just looked at me like I'd grown a second head! It was a very My Fair Lady moment: it doesn't matter what you say, as long as you say it correctly! Pretending she hadn't heard me. she asked me if I wanted a bag.

"Yes please," I replied, smiled sweetly and left. There is much work to be done. Obviously common courtesy is no longer common practice!

Retailers (especially franchisees) please note: Every interaction between the customer and your staff should leave the customer delighted. Anything else is a wasted opportunity.

Harry