Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Masters Degree of Technology: Public Relations Management, Durban University of Technology, 2013. / In South Africa, the competition between shopping centres has increased significantly over the years due to the increase in the number of shopping centres and the changing shopping behaviour. The success of any shopping centre depends on the revenue generated by customers who frequent the mall to make purchases or use the services of the retail/entertainment outlets. To attract customers to shopping centres, management has to ensure that malls are effectively promoted to relevant stakeholders. Communication is important in any promotional, public relations or marketing activity and should be effective, persuasive and managed in a formal and structured way which fits into the overall goals of the mall. Shopping centre management may use a number of communication tools such as (and are not limited to) advertising, sales promotions, public relations, personal selling and sponsorship. However, do these strategies play a role in generating revenue to promote the overall success of a shopping centre? This dissertation, therefore, sets out to identify and examine the communication tools used by shopping centre managers within the greater Durban area in South Africa. It does so by interviewing marketing managers and the tenant mix of five competitive shopping centres within the greater Durban area in South Africa. Data will be collected from the respondents through questionnaires and an interview schedule. One of the significant results emerging from this study is that the function of tenant relations; promotions; publicity; and public relations plays an integral part in the effective functioning of a shopping centre.

The position occupied by retailing within the production - consumption debate is the subject of dispute. As neither sphere can be fully analysed in isolation such argument may be somewhat irrelevant. The need to conceptualise the two spheres together, therefore, has informed this research on the created environments of shopping centres. Planned and managed shopping centres are a ubiquitous part of the built environment in 'advanced capitalist' nations. There has been a tendency, however, for researchers to focus upon exceptional centres rather than everyday examples of this particular consumption site. They have concentrated upon how shopping centre environments appear to be created and the appeal researchers assume they may have for an observer. My research for this thesis, however, has been concerned with how managers create shopping centre environments and how they are designed so as to appeal to their centres' perceived markets. This was done by conducting semi - structured interviews with a number of centre managers in Australia and New Zealand . The unified ownership and management structure of shopping centres makes it easier for their created environ ments to be controlled. Shopping centre researchers and those who have attempted to read the built environment as if it were a text have tended to assume that the architectural styles used will reflect dominant ideologies and that they are powerless to interpret or alter them in any other than the manner intended by the designers, developers and owners. Many of the managers recognised, however, that shoppers cannot be forced to visit nor can they be made to purchase. Research was therefore commissioned by management as a way of gaining socio - economic information on the individuals in their catchments , their 'needs' and desires. Selecting tenants which would appeal to their markets and arranging them in a manner which reflected the way people liked to shop was thought to be paramount to the success or otherwise of a centre. Some managers, for example, claimed that there was a difference between 'doing' the shopping (which is a chore) and 'going' shopping (which is enjoyable ) and that this needed to be kept in mind when they positioned retailers within their centres. Consumption does not only involve the purchase of commodities for their use and/or sign value but is also concerned with experience. Managers attempted to provide their shoppers with an enjoyable experience when they visited their centres by, for example, the creation of an appealing ambience and by either suggesting or insisting, respectively, that the common areas and leased spaces be regularly refurbished.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the possibilities for Farsta Centrum so they can increase their visitor count to avoid losing customers in favor of online shopping. It is investigated through several hypotheses that were formed. To accomplish this, a case study which consists of two parts has been completed. Firstly, a literature review was the basis for the hypotheses that investigates previous work concerning the subject. Secondly a questionnaire has been designed based on a standard model with attitude statements and a 7- point Likert scale. The questionnaire was then handed out to consumers as well as employees with a managerial role in the stores at Farsta Centrum. After this the answers were reviewed and analyzed based on average values. The results show that multi-channel shopping is not yet fully integrated with online shopping at Farsta Centrum. However other hypotheses were confirmed, for example that customer loyalty is important and that customers will prefer self-scanning. Therefore, two ways are presented to increase the visitor count to the center based on the results of the report. Firstly to pressure the stores to maintain a virtual store and secondly to force them to use self-scanning where appropriate. / Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka om och i så fall hur Farsta Centrum kan öka besöksfrekvensen för att undvika att kunderna istället handlar online. För att problemet ska kunna diskuteras har en fallstudie av centrumet utförts vilken består av två delar. Först har en litteraturstudie gjorts där tidigare forskningsrapporter och litteratur presenteras. Här ligger också grunden till hypotesformuleringarna. Del två är en enkätundersökning med attitydfrågor som ställts till konsumenter respektive butiksansvariga i Farsta Centrum. Konsumenterna har fått besvara frågor relaterade till bland annat handelsmönster, hur det digitala integreras i handeln eller självscanning. Frågorna är kopplade till hypoteserna och svaren har utvärderats med medelvärden. Skalan som användes var en 7-gradig Likertskala. I resultatet framgår att Farsta Centrum inte är i framkant av den digitala handeln än. Hemsidor och telefoner är inte det viktigaste för konsumenterna och därför behöver inga anpassningar utföras än. Dock framgår till exempel att köptrohet är viktigt såväl som att självscanning är attraktivt. Det finns därför två sätt för Farsta Centrum att förvalta på ett bättre sätt för att öka besöksfrekvensen till centrumet utifrån rapportens resultat. De kan sätta mer press på butikerna att också tillhandahålla en virtuell butik samt forcera butiker att använda sig av självscanning där det är möjligt och passande.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Communication Science in the Department of Communication Science at the University of Zululand, 2017 / The growing power of shopping centres within communities has changed the economic landscape and has also attracted concerns from society. This has inspired an increasing call for shopping centres landlords to play a substantial role in community development. This study explores the relationship between shopping centres landlords and the communities in which they reside-in with regards to corporate social responsibilities. The study is based on the premise that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives are seen as mandatory by shopping centres landlords as to ask what their contributions are to achieving sustainable development and improving the lives of people living in the local communities. In this regard, the study examines the role that shopping centres landlords play in bringing development to their various communities through CSR. The focus is on three shopping centres: Empangeni Sanlam Centre, Esikhawini Mall and Richards Bay Boardwalk Inkwazi Shopping Centre within uThungulu District Municipality. Relational theory and transactional model theory are used to develop a model for shopping centres landlords to embrace CSR as a tool to community development. This study employs a survey method which was conducted among the management of the centres and residents of Empangeni, Esikhawini and Richards Bay. The results of the study indicate that CSR initiatives embarked upon by shopping centres landlords through their management team are not communicated to the local community residents. This brings a gap in communication between the landlords and the local community residents. The practical implications of this finding showed that the model proposed for this study is promising in solving communication problem hindering CSR initiatives implementation.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Masters Degree of Technology: Public Relations Management, Durban University of Technology, 2013. / In South Africa, the competition between shopping centres has increased significantly over the years due to the increase in the number of shopping centres and the changing shopping behaviour. The success of any shopping centre depends on the revenue generated by customers who frequent the mall to make purchases or use the services of the retail/entertainment outlets. To attract customers to shopping centres, management has to ensure that malls are effectively promoted to relevant stakeholders. Communication is important in any promotional, public relations or marketing activity and should be effective, persuasive and managed in a formal and structured way which fits into the overall goals of the mall. Shopping centre management may use a number of communication tools such as (and are not limited to) advertising, sales promotions, public relations, personal selling and sponsorship. However, do these strategies play a role in generating revenue to promote the overall success of a shopping centre? This dissertation, therefore, sets out to identify and examine the communication tools used by shopping centre managers within the greater Durban area in South Africa. It does so by interviewing marketing managers and the tenant mix of five competitive shopping centres within the greater Durban area in South Africa. Data will be collected from the respondents through questionnaires and an interview schedule. One of the significant results emerging from this study is that the function of tenant relations; promotions; publicity; and public relations plays an integral part in the effective functioning of a shopping centre.