Poles most often visit shopping centres for three reasons: clothing purchases, promotions and sales, and grocery shopping. Other purposes include food services and cinema visits. Further down the ranking are browsing offers without making a purchase, getting out of the house, meeting friends, walking around or simply spending free time. According to the authors of the report, these findings challenge the common belief that such facilities have turned mainly into entertainment venues. The data clearly shows that shopping remains the main driver of footfall, although shopping centres have evolved into hybrid retail, service and social spaces.
The report, titled “Poles in Shopping Centres. The Real Reasons for Visits”, prepared on the basis of a dedicated public opinion survey by UCE RESEARCH and Proxi.cloud, shows why Polish consumers visit shopping centres. Respondents could select up to five answers from a list of 19 options. The survey found that the three most frequently indicated reasons were clothing purchases, cited by 45.6% of respondents, promotions and sales, indicated by 36%, and grocery shopping, chosen by 34.8%. The authors of the report emphasise that this order is highly significant. It shows that the basic logic behind visits to shopping centres remains transactional and economic.
“The entire study makes it possible to separate real shopping motivations, practical functions and the entertainment component. With multiple-choice data, what becomes visible is not one dominant function, but rather an ecosystem of reasons with a clear hierarchy. Consumers come primarily for something specific — a product or a shopping opportunity. Entertainment is not the starting point here, but rather a supplement. This runs somewhat counter to the popular narrative that shopping centres now largely serve as places for spending free time,” analysts from UCE RESEARCH said.
According to Mateusz Chołuj, co-author of the report from the technology company Proxi.cloud, the leading position of clothing purchases confirms the very durable structure of this format. Fashion has been a key segment for shopping centres from the beginning, both in terms of leased space and its role in generating footfall. It gives shopping centres their strongest advantage over e-commerce. For consumers, it is important to try clothes on, check the cut, material and proper fit. There is also the element of comparison: in one space, customers can visit several, and often even dozens of brands, compare their offers and make decisions based on real experience rather than only price or online reviews.
“It is also worth highlighting the role of chain brands and their location strategies. Shopping centres are their primary physical retail channel, which naturally concentrates the fashion offer in one place. As a result, customers feel they have access to the full market in a single building, which increases the attractiveness of a visit. Finally, clothing is a highly seasonal and emotional category. Purchases are often occasional in nature — a wardrobe change, events or seasonal promotions. This encourages visits to shopping centres rather than online shopping, although online purchases of course remain important for Poles,” Chołuj said.
According to UCE RESEARCH analysts, the second place taken by promotions clearly shows that price sensitivity remains one of the key drivers of shopping centre traffic. However, this is not only about hunting for bargains, but also about a psychological mechanism: a promotion lowers the barrier to making a purchase decision and gives the customer a sense of rational choice.
“Promotions for regular customers are part of routine visits. For people who visit occasionally, they are an impulse to come — they often trigger the decision to travel to the centre. Based on market observations, the strongest impact is seen in promotions on clothing, footwear, consumer electronics and home furnishings. In these segments, price differences are most noticeable and relatively easy to compare between stores,” the Proxi.cloud expert added.
According to the authors of the report, the third position shows how important grocery stores have become in the functioning of shopping centres. In many cases, they generate regular, repeat traffic regardless of seasonality or promotional events. Their character is completely different from fashion or entertainment because grocery shopping is frequent, routine and relatively non-flexible. This means that a customer visiting a supermarket in a shopping centre does not do so only from time to time, but often according to a fixed weekly rhythm. As a result, facilities with a well-selected grocery operator gain a stable base of visits.
“At the same time, a large share of these visits is combined in nature. Consumers come for grocery shopping, but at the same time fulfil other needs. In this way, the grocery store becomes the starting point for an entire chain of activities. It is also worth noting that the store format matters. Large hypermarket-type outlets generate more traffic than small convenience stores, which tend to play a supplementary role,” Chołuj added.
The next places in the ranking of reasons for visiting shopping centres are occupied by typical entertainment activities: food services and cinema, indicated by 22% and 19.6% of respondents, respectively. These are followed by browsing offers without buying, at 18.4%, getting out of the house, at 18.8%, meeting friends, at 16.8%, and walking around or spending free time, at 14.4%.
“Cinema and food services rank relatively high, but still clearly below shopping categories. This is an important point that verifies the common belief that shopping centres have turned into typical entertainment venues,” Chołuj noted.
According to the authors of the report, the lower positions in the ranking show that such facilities now play the role of multifunctional places, but not necessarily recreational ones. This is an important distinction because it changes the interpretation of the shopping centre model from an entertainment centre to a centre of everyday, combined consumer and social activities. Entertainment has not replaced shopping; it extends and enriches the shopping visit. It is a complementary model, not a substitute one.
Purely practical functions of shopping centres also turn out to be fairly important. These include collecting online orders, indicated by 12.9% of respondents, using the toilet, at 12.7%, and services such as a hairdresser, bank or gym, at 8.5%.
“This shows that shopping centres also function as infrastructure for everyday needs, not only as trade and entertainment venues. In particular, collecting online orders points to an interesting change. Shopping centres are starting to act as a physical interface for e-commerce, rather than its competitor,” Chołuj said.
The authors of the report also note that shopping and price-related motivations account for 35–46% of responses. The study reveals a very broad range of shopping-adjacent and practical functions, at 10–20%, as well as typical entertainment such as cinema and restaurants, at 20–22%. Children’s entertainment or resting in an air-conditioned place record single-digit values. These data therefore mean that recreation is not the main driver of footfall, but one element of a broader mix of functions. The main conclusion of the report is that shopping centres have evolved into hybrid retail, service and social spaces.
“The strength of shopping centres still rests on retail and price, but maintaining footfall increasingly depends on their ability to provide additional functions — food services, services, meetings and everyday convenience. Their model has not been reversed, but expanded in layers. Shopping remains the core, while the rest acts as a support system that extends contact with the facility,” Mateusz Chołuj from Proxi.cloud concluded.
Research and analytical method
The report “Poles in Shopping Centres. The Real Reasons for Visits” was prepared on the basis of a dedicated public opinion survey conducted in the second quarter of this year using the CAWI method, or Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing, which involves online surveys supported by computer technology. The study was carried out by the analytical and research platform UCE RESEARCH and the technology company Proxi.cloud on a nationwide sample of 1,037 adult Poles aged 18–80. Respondents were selected using a quota-random method, taking into account age, gender and region, with the use of a research panel. Participation in the survey was anonymous.
Source: CEO.com.pl
