Ring, ring - it's the shops calling

Mobile phones are about to replace our wallets and will speak to us as we browse through shopping malls.

That's the prediction of Stephen Ogden-Barnes, programme director of the Australian Centre for Retail Studies at Monash University, who yesterday spoke to the Property Council's retail seminar in Auckland.

He told the seminar that new and more advanced cellphones with credit-card capability would enable more buying.

Cellphone users can already pay for carparking in Auckland but Ogden-Barnes said a new era was dawning in which cellphones would be increasingly put to new uses.

Goods would be bought through the phone, which would store credit for payments. Phones would also increasingly carry advertising through near field communication technology.

This would enable shops to identify customers as they roamed within their boundaries. Offers and promotions would be sent to the shopper through their cellphones.

Ogden-Barnes said malls did not always cater for the needs of older men but that trend was changing. He and Stella Minahan have published research, "Greydollarfella: endangered species or market opportunity?" in the United States' Business Horizons.

"We argue that the Greydollarfella should be included in, not sidelined from, retail and marketing considerations," the authors said.

"He is much wealthier and less time-poor than younger men, and deserves a retail environment that suits his preferences and consumer requirements."

Ogden-Barnes said a German shopping centre had built a "creche" for men who did not want to go shopping.

"For €20 ($40.30), the wife can dump the man in the creche where he can get a beer, a meal, has a namebadge so he can meet other men. It has slot-car racing, DIY exhibitions and I understand the bar maids are not bad-looking either."

He also predicted shops would find new ways to sell goods, a trend he termed multi-channelling.

Vending machines were on the rise internationally, selling more expensive products and often not aligned with the store they were in.

Zoom Shop machines in the US dispensed perfume and MP3 players, and Sony's new vending machines sold expensive electronic equipment.

Westfield NZ's general manager of design, Rod Marler, said the new 29-shop Nuffield Street zone in Newmarket would open next month, providing a "High Street" experience, aimed at the luxury end of the market.

About a quarter of the shops were restaurants and cafes.

The collection of old warehouse buildings and the former Mercury Energy Building on the corner of Remuera Rd and Nuffield St had been transformed into a mixed-use retail and office space project.

Shopping trends

Cellphones will become dominant.

They will be used for promotion and marketing.

Men who don't like shopping will be catered for.

"Greydollafella" will become a target, not a lost cause.

Multi-channelling will become more common for retail chains.

Vending machines are on the rise, selling more expensive goods.