AN INITIATIVE to provide consulting services to help smaller retailers boost turnover will be extended to three shopping centres in Old Mutual Properties' portfolio this year.

They are Menlyn Park Shopping Centre in Pretoria; The Zone @ Rosebank in Johannesburg; and Vincent Park Shopping Centre in East London.

The service has been available at Gateway Theatre of Shopping in Umhlanga; Cavendish Square, Cape Town; Riverside Mall, Nelspruit; and Cascades Centre, Maritzburg; and more than 200 retailers have made use of it.

"If the service helps them to perform better, then customers, the centre and the property manager benefit. It shows that a real partnership can be developed between property manager and tenants," says Ian Watt, MD of Old Mutual Properties.

Barry Nesbitt, MD of Resolutions, the independent consultancy providing the service, says the initiative has been a steep learning curve.

He says the process has often resulted in small independent retailers, who were previously struggling to survive, blossoming into profitable businesses and skilled retailers.

Nesbitt says that these small traders are critical differentiators in the tenant-mix of shopping centres and could survive the tough first two years and evolve as a new generation of retail brands.

He says six training programmes addressing key retailing issues brand positioning, product planning/control, selling skills, presentation of product and promotional and performance management have been specifically developed for small and medium-sized tenants in shopping-centre formats.

A one-day introduction to retailing will also be introduced for first-time tenants and existing tenants with low trading densities, he says.

Watt says it is intended to include people chosen from the black business community who could benefit from training and be assisted in establishing themselves as retailers.

Nesbitt says the combined processes of consultations, centre management's involvement and training initiatives will result in a reduction in the number of store closures.

Mike Rodel, GM of Gateway, says over and above the improvement in the individual performances of tenants, the most important outcome of the initiative for centre management is that they have been able to gain a much better insight into the complexities of retail.

"As a result we are better able to work with our tenants for the overall good of the centre."

Smaller retailers at the four centres say the benefits include ascertaining how they can increase market share, gaining the tools to manage staff more effectively, getting stockholdings to the right levels and improving cash flow.

Brent Wiltshire, retail executive for Old Mutual Properties, says that a Seta-registered programme called Imprint has been introduced at retail, commercial and industrial premises developed and managed by Old Mutual Properties to ensure staff and service providers are trained for service excellence.

Feb 04 2004 07:13:48:000AM  Business Day 1st Edition