As shopping centres increasingly evolve into experience-led destinations, offering engaging and memorable indoor entertainment is a very important factor. The nature of being the in the UK means good weather is not guaranteed, even during the Summer months, there always is a demand for family-friendly indoor attractions. Providing engaging indoor activities is a powerful way to drive footfall, increase dwell time and boost average spending in shopping centres.
Here are five impactful indoor entertainment options that would work well in shopping centre environments:
Interactive Trails
Interactive trails is one of the most versatile activity option as an indoor entertainment. These bespoke trails as self-guided experience can be themed around anything you can think of such as Christmas characters, dinosaurs, superheroes, etc. Trails is one of the best ways to encourage visitors to navigate around the shopping centre, increasing foot traffic and exploration across different areas. Trail leaflets are also a subtle marketing tool, with bespoke branding designs and tools such as QR code - to drive online traffic, capturing valuable customer data too!
Immersive Photo Opportunities
Photo Op installations have always been a huge hit, however, in our digital age, it’s a critical tool to generate social media presence. Giant props always become a big talking point, but immersive themed photo op installations take it a step further by creating ‘instagrammable’, story-driven moments that encourage visitors to stop, engage and post. Immersive photo opportunities are not only to boost online visibility but also enhance the overall engagement and experience, giving your shopping centre a unique visual identity.
Pop-Up Activation Areas
Pop-up activation event zones are brilliant for hosting activities and workshops, such as arts and crafts, live entertainment, and any other activities. It’s a great way to transform an event space to coincide with event/ branding themes, such as a Gingerbread area during Christmas, Spring Garden during Easter, etc. These offer high repeat value, particularly for families with young children, encouraging longer dwell times and in turn, average spend.
Roaming Live Entertainment
Live entertainment is a great way to increase footfall, never fails to draw a crowd. It is also perfect for shopping centres that may be limited to available event spaces. This way, it does not require and set up footprint, but can still help drive foot traffic and dwell time, especially during peak times.
Mobile Climbing Wall (and other installations that you might think are only suitable for outdoor spaces…)
Surprised? Yes, you read that right, our mobile climbing walls can be part of indoor entertainment. Our climbing wall is 18ft in height, so would require 6-metre ceiling clearance and access, our climbing wall makes an unexpected and thrilling activity option to any shopping centre event. Not only do they appeal to all ages (children and adults), but they also provide a high-impact visual draw, being an 18ft tower. We also have other adventure-based activities that most would think are only suitable for outdoors but we can probably make it work too…
Delivering exceptional indoor entertainment in shopping centres is a strategic move to enhance customer experience and support retailer performance. By offering a mix of interactive, immersive and engaging activities, shopping centres can stand out as fun, family-friendly destinations, regardless of the weather. See our latest blog on maximising retail spend using events. Get in touch to explore proven event ideas that drive results and bring your shopping centre to life!