SHOPPING for the new year sales does not have to be a misery of juggling bags in self-service checkouts, packing your own goods at the DIY centre and queueing to get in or out of the car park. Peter Lowy wants to make it better.

Lowy is joint managing director of Westfield, the world’s biggest shopping centre company. He wants to import the perks offered to customers at its glitzy Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles to its White City project in West London, which is set to become the UK’s most expensive shopping centre when it opens in 2008.

After a $150 million (£85 million) redevelopment and expansion, Westfield Century City on Santa Monica Boulevard in LA includes an alfresco-style dining terrace where shoppers can eat off Westfield-branded china using metal cutlery, rather than plastic plates and utensils.

The company decided that if wealthy shoppers pinched the cups and forks, it would hardly be the end of the world if they found their way on to a table at a Beverly Hills dinner party.

The Century City mall also boasts a carpeted family lounge with changing rooms, toilets, nursing rooms, a microwave oven, soft seats, children’s toys and books, baby wipes, bottle warmers and an attendant.

There are parking services such as Valet Mate: shoppers are given a hand-held device which they press a few minutes before they are due to leave the centre, warning a parking attendant that they are on their way. Their car is driven round to meet them at the exit.

Concierge desks pepper the mall staffed by assistants who answer shoppers’ questions. Westfield tends to pay higher than average wages to ensure better service. “We employ the best available people and pay them very well. You can’t pay minimum wage and get top service,” says Lowy.

Staff begin the day with a WOW warm-up — “Way beyond the expected, Own it personally and Win over their hearts”. All staff come together to work out what they are promoting that day and to discuss special events such as carol singers, a live band or a doctor providing flu jabs.

A 16-point plan is given to staff which includes such advice as “We are ladies and gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentleman” and “Use Westfield telephone etiquette. Answer within three rings and with a smile. Callers should not be transferred more than two times”. Other recommendations include “Wherever possible, Westfield team members should escort shoppers to their destination rather than pointing out directions”.

Lowy believes such customer service will help to differentiate the company from its competitors and provide shoppers with a more enjoyable experience.

In Los Angeles, Westfield recently bought a multi-let office building next door to Century City and has emblazoned its own name on the top so that it can be seen for miles. Longer term the company hopes that it may be able to use the site to expand the shopping centre; but in the mean time the signage is good advertising and the office block is a solid income-producing investment.

“Our brand is a global brand. As we have in the US, Australia and New Zealand, we will also brand our centres in the UK. The Eagle Centre in Derby will emerge as Westfield Derby and White City will be branded Westfield White City,” Lowy says.

The move is unusual in the UK — other shopping centre developers such as Liberty International, Hammerson and Land Securities have not branded their centres with their company name.

Lowy insists: “We are not from the cookie-cutter mould. We are long-term investors. Most developers don’t regularly reinvest in their assets.”

He believes that the strategy will encourage more shoppers to its centres, which means the retailers are successful and also then able to pay higher rents to Westfield. “Everything we do is designed to enable the retailer to maximise sales and volumes,” Lowy says.

Malcolm Dalgleish, chief executive for retail in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for CB Richard Ellis, the world’s biggest property consultant, and who advises Westfield and many of the UK’s biggest shopping centre developers, believes that Westfield’s ambitious proposals will improve the UK shopping experience.

“Their best centres in the world are a cut above what is currently provided in the UK market. They will raise standards and others will be forced to follow,” Dalgleish says.

“They are very committed to being successful.”

Competitors say it has taken several years for Westfield to establish itself in the UK and many are sceptical as to whether the focus on customer service will translate from Australia and America to this country.

One developer, who asked not to be named, says: “We have already tried value-added services such as valet parking, but many of these things are costly to run and have a limited take-up.”

Nevertheless, the developer admits: “The world is changing and enhanced customer service is definitely part of the remit we will be competing in. But there is no such thing as a patent on it. If Westfield try to lift the bar on customer service the rest of us will need to look at whether it has strong customer appeal.”

Westfield is adamant that it will prove the doubters wrong.

A MATTER OF TRUST

• Westfield is the world’s biggest listed real estate investment trust by market capitalisation
• It employs more than 4,000 staff worldwide
• It has investment interests in 130 shopping centres in Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK worth more than A$44 billion (£18 billion)
• In contrast with UK developers, Westfield has a large in-house team that works on leasing, design, development and project management rather than relying solely on external property consultants

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