Town and retail centres; recovery and reimagination

Many towns and some cities have required additional support before and throughout the pandemic simply because resource is limited and exposure and risk attached to not communicating and engaging with businesses and consumers would have been high. Our team have moved at pace to ensure that local authorities and landlords are well prepared to support their local and independent businesses and tenants in recovery, in locations including Northampton, Luton, Liverpool, and Swinton in Manchester.

In addition, the team work on behalf of a number of retail centres to produce annual retail marketing strategies which enables to them to bring an extensive understanding of consumer behaviour and the evolving challenges within retail to the discussions and planning.

Why Engage?

If you do not have a planned communications and profiling programme for the recovery phases of this pandemic, or the capacity and capability to deliver complex messages in retail (centre and out-of-town), regeneration and city centre environments, you’ll need them. The Engage team are adept at bridging the gap between ‘property’ people and the end audience, working as an extension to client teams, supporting with and delivering multi-channel branding, marketing, communications, website and app development, stakeholder engagement, events and enlivenment.

What impact will I see?

That all depends on the nature of your town or city centre, and the outputs you’re hoping to achieve. Attracting people to town centres where residential areas are within walking distance will not initially be difficult but may need support as we move further along the road to recovery. City centres will likely be a different story.

We understand the importance and accessibility of digital tools and communications, and actively work to support occupiers at our retail schemes and businesses in town and city centres to adopt new technology to support their operations. For example, in response to the pandemic, we researched and produced a number of ‘Marketing 101’ and ‘Business Endurance’ guides, providing clear steps to support businesses in adapting to changing customer demands – including: maximising social media, selling online – with and without a website – adapting to offer a virtual service, simplifying click and collect, and guidance on applying for a grant.

Liverpool County Vision

Creating a Vision

Reinvigorating community retail

We pride ourselves in being early adopters of new trends and have advised clients throughout the pandemic on the implementation of new initiatives, from the Sunflower Scheme to visitor apps. As part of any research we conduct, we believe it is important to engage stakeholders to ensure that initiatives are reflective of both local business and consumers.

ARES Retail Parks

Sustaining & improving footfall

Rediscover for recovery

Proven track record

We have provided support to established investors in both the public and private sector, working with local authorities to support their regeneration and visioning of urban areas, or with their strategic response to Covid-19 recovery, and working with the private sector to drive footfall and appeal of their town centre shopping centres or out of town retail parks.