Christmas 2023 Wrap Up

As the festive season concludes, it's important to reflect on the various activations and promotions that drove traffic and sales during this period.

We received lots of positive feedback from customers and retailers with many commenting that it felt festive, with a great atmosphere and buzz in centre whilst remaining busy through the December period.

The centre benefited in an uplift in traffic, particularly through the weekends and on Level 2 throughout the entirety of December. Please see a summary of marketing activity:

Santa photography

The new Santa set provided a more elevated photo moment for customers which enhanced the customer experience.

During November, we offered an early bird discounted rate to entice customers to choose Forest Hill Chase and book their photos, with the first 150 receiving $10 off their booking. All customer booking fees were waivered by Forest Hill Chase throughout the entirety of the season to further drive bookings. These efforts resulted in the following:

+26% growth on the prior year’s photography sales
Over 2,000 customer bookings resulting in a +46% growth of volume on prior year

The success of the photography period also saw the inclusion of additional pet photography sessions to meet customer demand with customers sharing on social media their positive experiences.

Extended Trade Spin to Win Promotion

From Monday 18 December – Friday 22 December we launched our ‘late night spin and win’ promotion to support the Christmas extended trade period and incentivise customers to do their shopping after 5pm each day.

Each day customers could try their luck at spinning the wheel to win a share in over $6,500 of prizes. Instant prizes included Hoyts movie vouchers, free games of bowling at Zone Bowling, coffee vouchers and other retailer products.

There were a total of five major prizes given away across the five days. The prizes included Apple Airpods, Fitbit, Nintendo Switch Console, 55-inch Hisense LED TV and a PlayStation 5 Console.

This was another successful campaign which drove repeat visitation to the centre during the festive period.

1,044 total participations, with 63% of the total from Thursday and Friday’s late-night trade alone.
Between 5pm-9pm on Thursday 21 and Friday 22 December, the centre experienced substantial uplift in traffic to the week prior.
15% of customers entered the promotion more than once demonstrating repeat visitation.
36% of customers who participated live within the primary trade area, 28% of customers within the secondary, 18% within the tertiary trade area which shows customers were willing to bypass our competitors to participate in the campaign.

Campaign Highlights

Shop and Play Black Friday promotion was highly successful which drove repeat visitation and additional spend during the period. All 1,000 allocations were exhausted within days, with customer feedback stating that the promotion was attractive and ensured that Forest Hill Chase was their shopping destination over the Black Friday week sales. We also received feedback from customers that the centre provided a more convenient shopping experience than our competitors.
The centre celebrated Santa’s Arrival on Saturday 18 November accompanied with beloved festive characters including Poppy & Branch from Trolls and a host of musical performers. Characters roamed the centre into the afternoon with balloon artist and face painter in centre until 4pm. To view our Santa’s Arrival wrap up video, see our Forest Hill Chase Instagram page.
Boxing Day resulted in a +9% uplift in total centre traffic, with Level 2 experiencing a +28% growth and Level 3 +42% on the prior year. The breadth of offer was strong amongst some retailers which resulted in positive sales outcomes through driving customer traffic to their stores.
To further promote the Santa photography and extended trade activity beyond our owned channels, we invested in paid media beyond our own channels. This was in the form of digital outdoor media, with a total of five 7-Eleven stores within the trade area broadcasting these promotions. This was an exciting new advertising platform to raise awareness of Forest Hill Chase amongst the local community and to give them more reasons to shop with us.
To support traffic and sales through the December gifting period, we created a series of themed gift guides which were uploaded to our social media channels in partnership with an influencer. The influencer visited selected retail stores talking to a range of products to inspire customers to visit and do their shopping at Forest Hill Chase. The combined total reach for the reels was 9,700 with 742 engagements.
During December, The Nutrition Guy Joel Feren returned to host kid’s Christmas cookie decorating workshops with all four sessions at capacity. This demonstrates the demand for educational children’s workshops amongst our customers.
A Christmas Sparkle charity campaign was well received, with Forest Hill Chase donating $250 towards the We Are Mobilise organisation. We Are Mobilise strives to provide recognition and functional care to people in the local community who are experiencing homelessness, to educate and raise awareness amongst broader society and be a platform that creates change through connection.
To strengthen our community partnerships, the centre collaborated with The Salvation Army to provide the Christmas Gift Wrapping service to customer. Each gift wrapped by their volunteers required a gold coin donation raising $1500 which was donated directly to The Salvation Army.
During the beginning of December, children were invited to craft their letters to Santa, sharing their dreams, hopes and gifting requests. Children could write their letter on the Level 3 Dining & Entertainment precinct and once complete, visit the Santa Set to put their letters in the mailbox.