This year will mark the highpoint of the current retail cycle, with eight major shopping centres opening in cities such as Liverpool, Leicester and London. These centres will boast fit-outs that will set new standards for quality and innovation. The mix of tenants, quality of the stores and overall atmosphere are all differentiators in creating a competitive offer. High footfall, driven by repeat visits, will support sustained turnover for tenants, rental growth and enhanced capital values for the developer.

Through their retail delivery management programmes, developers try to secure the best possible fit-out from their tenants, to provide a great experience for shoppers and raise the bar against competitors.

Shopping centre developers and their tenants must be fully focused on the opening date. Although shopping centres themselves will have taken more than a decade to get from site assembly to completion, retail unit delivery is usually squeezed into the back end of the programme, with only 12 months to do the design, fit-out and merchandising of multiple retail units.

The typical rush to complete the fit-out emphasises the fact that retailers value flexibility. The ability to delay decision-making until the last minute is very important – enabling, for example, the latest trends to be incorporated into a store’s design, or units to be let at short notice. Shopping centre developments, by contrast, rely on tight control and effective management to achieve trading dates. The retail delivery manager provides a single point of contact that balances the needs of retailers alongside the discipline required to meet the opening date.