Today, I made my trip to Westfield London in Shepherd’s Bush. I took the bus with my husband and two babies to there as I planned.

1. Building Service Management: 9/10
I collected store directory from information centre in Ground Floor. There are touching screens available for visitors to check out the store location. (It’s so convenient for visitors to find the way around) However, the information on the website is a bit complex, I took quite a while to find store directory on the website.
(Management certainly have delivered the best support to visitors in the mall, but their website need to upgrade to the simplest layout for visitors to make their shopping plan.)

2. The layout of shops: 10/10
In general, they divided over 185 stores into two sections: the designers’ shops “in the Village” and high street shops. My suggestion is we really need to look into the wallet before you enter the store. Almost everything there is well presented in stores. It’s great place to shop.
(There is no suggestion that I could think of at moment.)

3. Food and drinks: 9/10
The eating places are located in the loft, southern terrace restaurants, and the balcony. There are over thirty Cafe and restaurants in store directory. They have almost every possible well known restaurant there. (e.g. Yam Yam to go, Wagamama, Nando’s). The only concern is these three places which are allocated so far between each other. Is it possible all allocated in one floor?
(If all restaurants were allocated in one floor, visitors will have a good chance to look all around and make their food choice better.)

4. Value for money: 10/10
Well, they have everything you need, but you can easily blow your budget! Although there's shops for every budget so it suits everyone, and visitors could easily do all their shopping in one place—Westfield London!
(Certainly, this is a great shopping centre, no word to say.)

In conclusion, Westfield London is a great shopping centre for everyone. And they need to improve their website design to simplify for visitors checking information and make their shopping plan. My online shopping centre definitely could help them provide more information of store and sales in one page for their visitors.

1. Date to visit: Tuesday, 7th July 2009

2. Website Address: http://uk.westfield.com/london/

3. Opening Time: Standard 1000 – 2100

4. Getting There by Bus: 148 to Shephard’s Bush, alternately download map http://uk.westfield.com/london/images/london/downloads/transport_map.pdf

5. Parking Fees: 2 hrs free parking: http://uk.westfield.com/london/getting-there/car-park-rates/

6. Offers & Events: Lots of sales offers from more than 40 stores. (e.g. FCUK, Warehouse, Reiss), but there is no RSS Feed Function on the site. So I’m not sure this is latest information. http://uk.westfield.com/london/offers-events/offers/

7. Store: there is a search function on the page. Is there for us to find the store that we are planning to visit. However, there is no PDF format store directory for us to get from page. http://uk.westfield.com/london/stores/

8. Luxury Shopping: there is an A-Z store list there for user to follow and find out the location of Brand Store. Also relevant map for each floor are provided. They have done beautifully for people to use in the page. Surprisingly you could find Download Store Guide from here as well. (http://uk.westfield.com/thevillagelondon/assets/thevillagelondon/pdf/westfield_london_mall_guide.pdf) So I print it out. It will guide me shop there. http://uk.westfield.com/thevillagelondon/

9. Plan your visit: you could find the information you need from here before you visit them. Plan ahead. http://uk.westfield.com/thevillagelondon/plan

10. Services: They provide the wide range of service to their visitors from Free Wi-Fi to Hands free Shopping which are quite helpful. http://uk.westfield.com/london/services

11. Contact: Centre Management Reception +44 (0)20 3371 2300 wlreception@westfield-uk.com http://uk.westfield.com/london/contact-us

12. Facilities: Toilets: for disabled customers and Family room, are located on both Ground floor and First Floor.


13. Food and Drinks: There are lots of choices from CAFES to Restaurants which are arranged at The Balcony and The Loft. (e.g. Nando’s, Wagamama, Pizza Express)

My evaluation of information I got from Westfield website is 8/10.
They provided all possible shopping guides to user, but the layout of website a bit complex. It’s not easy to find the information you really looking for like Store Directory or Site Map.
Therefore, this became good news for my online Shopping Centre. I could offer the simplest website to guide users shop.

On Thursday, I made my trip to Lewisham Shopping Centre. It wasn’t my first visit. So I knew the way there and the parking place, the way to the centre mall.

1. Building Service Management: 6/10
I collected store directory from information centre in the centre mall. The Staff in Lewisham are delivering good service as well. However, the information on the website isn’t that helpful and store directory has no updated information about sales offer and A-Z shops information.
(Management certainly have delivered basic support to visitors, but there are still big area needs to improve.)

2. The layout of shops in Lewisham: 5/10
It isn’t good at all. There is no division of “Teen Zone”. There are over 70 stores and 15 categories in store directory. Everything is on one floor. In my opinion, shoppers would not be attracted to shop here because there is not enough choice and they could be annoyed by teenage school shoppers and this could impact their shopping mood.
(Store relocated service is needed for building management.)

3. Food and drinks: 7/10
The eating places are located in the centre of the mall. There are four restaurants in store directory. But there are more choices outside of shopping centre in Lewisham High Street. (E.g. MacDonald, Sandwich Bar)
(Maybe advertising food store for outside of shopping centre could provide more choices to customer.)

4. Value for money: 7/10
As I mentioned before, there are limited choices from one floor stores’ layout. Lewisham shopping centre is not there for tourists or shoppers outside of Lewisham.
(Their target customers are certainly for local area. But they could spread their building management service to outside of shopping centre, including stores in Lewisham high street.)

In conclusion, Lewisham shopping centre is there for their local visitors. And they need improve their information service. This experiment of visiting them has built up my confidence for starting my online shopping centre. My online shopping centre definitely could help them provide more information of store and sales in their area for their customers.

Date to visit: Thursday, 2nd July 2009

Website Address: http://www.lewishamshopping.co.uk/

Opening Time: 0900 – 2000 (The good shopping time is 1000 to 1200 in the morning, because all items in shop floor are tidy which save shoppers’ time and energy to make choices.)

Getting There by Car: The Shopping Centre is located near the intersection of the A20 and A21. The entrance to the car park is from Molesworth Street southbound carriage way (A21).

Parking Fees: Up to 2-3 hrs £1.80 - £2.50 (Normally shoppers have energy for exploring in 2-3 hrs).

News & Events: Summer Sensation Promotion in North Square

Contact: Centre Management team on 020 8852 0094

Facilities: Toilets: for disabled customers and a parent and baby room, are located just outside the West Walk entrance. Additional public toilets are located on Rennell Street

Food and Drinks: Bhs, Greggs, M&S, Muffin Break, Poti’s ( I picked Muffin Break which Located in Centre Square, Unit 74 and Poti’s is my backup which located in Centre Square)

Store Directory: Not available in website.

My evaluation of information I got from Lewisham website is 6 out of 10. There are two most important information I can’t find out which are shops layout and sales offers.

In fact, this is good news for my online business. I could offer this information on my website and guide people to shop there.