As part of The Drum’s Retail Focus , we catch up with Westfield’s head of marketing, Sarah Fearon, who tells us how its shopping centers are now about so much more than just shopping. Westfield London hosting Anthony Joshua's weigh-in In April 2023, heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua fought Jermaine Franklin and, as always, the two fighters had their mandatory weigh-in hours before the bell. Joshua came in at 255lb.
His fighting weight isn’t relevant here, but where he ‘weighed in’ is. It was in a shopping mall. Westfield London, to be exact.
That fact alone perfectly captures just how dramatically shopping center retail has changed in recent years. Traditionally, big fight weigh-ins take place in glitzy hotel ballrooms or multi-million dollar sporting arenas. Not in a shopping mall outside the doors of John Lewis.
Shopping center retail is now about much more than shopping and while driving footfall may have been the measure of marketing success in days gone by, today, retail therapy runs much deeper. “Footfall remains a key metric, but our ambition at Westfield is to create memorable experiences,” says Sarah Fearon, head of marketing at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW). “We’re looking to build stronger emotional connections with our visitors and position our centers as go-to destinations.
It’s not just about shopping; we have leisure, food, tech, entertainment and more. The key metric remains footfall, but there’s much more to it than that now.” Staging.
